We love a Zac Efron movie and your teens and tweens probably do too. But is Firestarter (2022) too scary for kids? This parents guide will help you decide if it’s safe for tweens and teens in your house to watch.
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About Firestarter (2022)
In a new adaptation of Stephen King’s classic thriller from the producers of The Invisible Man, a girl with extraordinary pyrokinetic powers fights to protect her family and herself from sinister forces that seek to capture and control her.
For more than a decade, parents Andy (Zac Efron; Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile; The Greatest Showman) and Vicky (Sydney Lemmon; Fear the Walking Dead, Succession) have been on the run, desperate to hide their daughter Charlie (Ryan Kiera Armstrong; American Horror Story: Double Feature, The Tomorrow War) from a shadowy federal agency that wants to harness her unprecedented gift for creating fire into a weapon of mass destruction.
Andy has taught Charlie how to defuse her power, which is triggered by anger or pain. But as Charlie turns 11, the fire becomes harder and harder to control. After an incident reveals the family’s location, a mysterious operative (Michael Greyeyes; Wild Indian, Rutherford Falls) is deployed to hunt down the family and seize Charlie once and for all. Charlie has other plans.
Watch the Firestarter Trailer here.
Is Firestarter (2022) Too Scary For Kids? Parents Guide and Review
Gen X parents: you know what’s up.
This is a horror movie, and we all know your mileage can vary in that genre.
And with Zac Efron as a lead, you know your teens and tweens will be asking if they can see it.
You’ll need to read this guide to decide if Firestarter is too scary for kids.
In this parent’s guide and review, we’re breaking down the language, sex and nudity, gore, and violence that happens in the movie to help you determine if watching Firestarter (2022) is safe for kids in your home.
Language: Firestarter Parents Guide
There is a bit of language in Firestarter, but if you are considering this one for your teens and tweens, we’re guessing language is not the key issue in your family.
We counted at least 15 different uses of swears including uses of a deity.
There are certainly movies out there with more swearing in them, but it should still be on your radar if considering this one for younger tweens.
Sex and Nudity
Zac Efron is seen without a shirt on and a baby is shown briefly nursing a mother’s breast, but there’s no sex or nudity to be concerned with.
Violence and Gore In Firestarter (2022): Is It Too Scary for Kids?
There are absolutely scary and violent scenes in Firestarter that may make it too scary for you younger teens.
First of all, Charlie is bullied in school.
A student’s eyeball is shown up close (assumption they ripped out their own eye), an eye bleeds, people are shot and blood spews, a young girl has a knife held on her, and animal violence occurs when a cat is set on fire. A man’s face is burned off and explosions happen as well.
You will also see up-close images of burned-up bodies.
This is, after all, a horror movie.
Trigger alert for parental death.
Firestarter Age Rating
Firestarter is rated R for mature content, violence, language, and violence including fire.
There are intense scenes of death and destruction that play out on screen.
Can Kids Under 13 Watch Firestarter?
As always, you know your kids best.
If they do ok with moderate gore and violence, then they could probably handle Firestarter. It’s not on a gore/violence scale like Halloween 2022.
You’d be best off pre-screening or watching with your teens and tweens.
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Patty Holliday is a parent movie reviewer, writer, and podcaster living in the Washington, DC area. Her goal is to bridge the gap between casual fandom and picky critic with parent movie and television reviews. As a lifelong fangirl and pop culture connoisseur, she’s been creating online since 2009. You can find her work at No-Guilt Disney.com, No-Guilt Fangirl.com, No-Guilt Life, and as host of the top-rated No-Guilt Disney Podcast.