The newest Stephen King horror adaptation has finally been released.
Directed by Keith Thomas, Firestarter follows a young girl named Charlie McGee (played by Ryan Kiera Armstrong) as she and her family try to evade a dangerous government agency seeking to study (and possibly weaponize) Charlie’s special powers. While her parents have powers, too ⏤ her father Andy (Zac Efron) is telepathic and her mother Vicky (Sydney Lemmon) is telekinetic ⏤ Charlie has pyrokinesis and can start fires with her mind.
This is not the first time that this particular King novel has been adapted for the screen, as a version of Firestarter starring Drew Barrymore and directed by Mark L. Lester was released in 1984. While this updated version is not faring well in reviews, it does have its redeeming qualities, including a wonderfully creepy score by John Carpenter, Cody Carpenter, and Daniel Davies.
If you do plan on watching the 2022 version of Firestarter, it’s important to know whether or not there’s a post-credits scene at the end of the film.
Warning: Spoilers for the end of Firestarter to follow.
Does Firestarter have a post-credits scene?
The end of Firestarter sees Charlie attempt to rescue her father from the facility in which the antagonists of the film, known as “The Shop,” are keeping him. After managing to find her father, Captain Hollister, the leader of “The Shop,” stands behind Andy and explains that if he uses his powers one more time, which they call “The Push,” he will die. Andy, who had been hesitant for Charlie to use her powers throughout the film, decides that there is only one way out for his child: for her to burn the facility down.
Thus, Andy uses “The Push” one last time and controls Charlie, using her to kill both Captain Hollister and himself. Charlie then goes on a rampage in the facility and is eventually greeted by Rainbird, the bounty hunter with powers who was sent after her family and killed her mother, who was also locked up in the facility. The film ends with Charlie burning down the facility and walking down a beach with Rainbird, with the credits rolling on top of them and no follow-up post-credits scene.
Firestarter ends somewhat abruptly and feels like the filmmakers have left it open for a sequel. Unfortunately, the film does not seem like it will do well enough to warrant a sequel, meaning that this might be the first time we meet these characters and the last. That said, just because the film doesn’t have a post-credits scene doesn’t mean you have to leave the theater right away. The credits themselves are quite short and the score that plays over them is very well done.
Firestarter is now in playing in theaters and is also available to stream on Peacock.
