#mark l lester

Class of 1984, 1982 (dir. Mark L. Lester)

Class of 1984, 1982 (dir. Mark L. Lester)

Day 21

Reflections on Firestarter(1984)

• The music by Tangerine Dream is excellent, obviously.
• The cast is stacked! Tiny Drew Barrymore does a ton of cutesy baby voice, but it’s allowed because she’s only 8. David Keith plays her father and looks like a poor man’s Kurt Russell (see photos 3 and 9 above). Heather Locklear, in her first film role, plays Barrymore’s mother.
• Louise Fletcher, who is usually fabulous, kinda phones it in. Good for her.
• Freddie Jones plays a weirdly similar role here to his character Thufir in Dune (1984) - both are experts whose frustrations and concerns go ignored. Moses Gunn also plays a similar role to his character in The NeverEnding Story (1984) - both are scientists reluctantly in charge of the deteriorating health of important, powerful young girls. Wow! All 3 of these movies were released the same year. Weird. 1984 was a big year for Freddie and Moses and sci-fi in general! 
• Speaking of big, Martin Sheen seems so little but obviously compensates by having such TALL HAIR. 
• George C. Scott plays an unrepentant maniac in leather, sometimes an eyepatch, and a long grey ponytail. The first time his character is on screen it looks like he’s made of bronze. It took me until nearly the end of the film to realize that his character was supposed to be Cherokee :(
• Director Mark L. Lester was also responsible for such cinematic gems as Roller Boogie(1979),Class of 1984 (1982) and Commando (1985). This was probably better than all of those - which is impressive! If you haven’t seen any of these titles I recommend them all.
• This was shot entirely in lush, green, kudzu-covered North Carolina. The cinematography is gorgeous! Extreme wide angle lenses are used in many scenes which warp straight architectural lines in a pleasingly wiggly way.
• Excellent horse acting. One of the horses is named Necromancer. Nice.
• The film climaxes with a combination of frog, horse, and synth sounds. I couldn’t ask for anything more - except maybe that a white dude didn’t play an Indigenous man. 

Firestarter(1984)

This is a Movie Health Community evaluation. It is intended to inform people of potential health hazards in movies and does not reflect the quality of the film itself. The information presented here has not been reviewed by any medical professionals.

Firestarter has several moments when people watch explosions happen, and strobe effects are shown as they watch. There is an extended sequence in a thunderstorm, where the lightning effects range from mild to severe strobes. A few TV screens are shown, one of which strobes severely while a character plays video games.

At the beginning of the film, some of the camera work is handheld, with brief shots taking place inside moving vehicles. After the opening sequence, all of the camera work is either stationary or very smooth.

Flashing Lights: 9/10. Motion Sickness: 1/10.

TRIGGER WARNING: A Native American character is played by a white actor. A child feels personal guilt over the death of a parent. The same child is forcibly separated from the other parent.

NOTE: Our evaluation of the 2022 remake of this film is now available on the $1 Tier and above on our Patreon page!

Mark L. Lester directs Arnold Schwarzenegger on the set of Commando.