''Firestarter (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)'' is the soundtrack album to the 2022 horror film '' Firestarter'', directed by Keith Thomas.

John Carpenter John Howard Carpenter (born January 16, 1948) is an American filmmaker, composer, and actor. Most commonly associated with horror film, horror, action film, action, and science fiction film, science fiction films of the 1970s and 1980s, he is ...

, Cody Carpenter and Daniel Davies serve as composers. The album was released by

Sacred Bones Records Sacred Bones Records is an American independent record label founded in 2007 and based in Brooklyn, New York. The label has released recordings from artists including Zola Jesus, David Lynch, John Carpenter, Spellling, Blanck Mass, Crystal S ...

on May 13, 2022, in conjunction with the film's release.

Development

During filming of '' The Thing'', Universal offered

to direct the original '' Firestarter'' film, who hired

Bill Lancaster William Henry Lancaster (November 17, 1947 – January 4, 1997) was an American screenwriter and actor. The son of screen legend Burt Lancaster, he was perhaps best known for his screenplays for ''The Bad News Bears'' and ''The Thing (1982 film) ...

to adapt the novel into a screenplay, which

Stephen King Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author. Dubbed the "King of Horror", he is widely known for his horror novels and has also explored other genres, among them Thriller (genre), suspense, crime fiction, crime, scienc ...

approved of. Months later, Carpenter hired Bill Phillips to write another version with

Richard Dreyfuss Richard Stephen Dreyfuss ( ; Dreyfus; born October 29, 1947) is an American actor. He emerged from the New Hollywood wave of American cinema, finding fame with a succession of leading man parts in the 1970s. He has received an Academy Award, a ...

as Andy, but when ''The Thing'' underperformed financially, Universal replaced Carpenter with Mark L. Lester, who brought

Stanley Mann Stanley Mann (August 8, 1928 – January 11, 2016) was a Canadian screenwriter. Born in Toronto, Ontario, he began his writing career in 1951 at CBC Radio, and was nominated for an Oscar for his work on the 1965 film ''The Collector'', based on t ...

to write a screenplay that stayed closer to the novel than the abandoned screenplays that Carpenter had commissioned. In February 2022, he, along with Cody Carpenter and Daniel Davies, were hired to score the

remake A remake is a film, television series, video game, song or similar form of entertainment that is based upon and retells the story of an earlier production in the same medium—e.g., a "new version of an existing film". A remake tells the same s ...

for

Blumhouse Productions Blumhouse Productions, LLC, doing business as Blumhouse (; also known as BH Productions or simply BH), is an American independent film and television production company founded in 2000 by Jason Blum and Amy Israel. Blumhouse is known mainly fo ...

, having previously collaborated with the studio on ''

Halloween Halloween, or Hallowe'en (less commonly known as Allhalloween, All Hallows' Eve, or All Saints' Eve), is a celebration geography of Halloween, observed in many countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christianity, Western Christian f ...

'' (2018) and ''

Halloween Kills ''Halloween Kills'' is a 2021 American slasher film directed by David Gordon Green, and co-written by Green, Danny McBride, and Scott Teems. It is the sequel to ''Halloween'' (2018) and the twelfth installment in the ''Halloween'' franchise. ...

'' (2021). The score was digitally released on May 13, 2022, by Back Lot Music and on LP/CD and Cassette on October 14, 2022, by

Track listing

Personnel

–

production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stat ...

, keyboards * Cody Carpenter – production, keyboards * Daniel Davies – production, keyboards

Reception

Frank Scheck Frank Scheck is an American film critic. He is best known for his reviews in the ''New York Post'' and ''The Hollywood Reporter''. He formerly edited ''STAGES Magazine'' and worked as a theater critic for the ''Christian Science Monitor ''Th ...

of ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...

'' complimented the score, summarizing "in a nicely poetic touch, Carpenter, along with his musical collaborators Cody Carpenter and Daniel Davies, has provided a terrifically spooky electronic music score for this effort — perhaps its most distinguished element." Benjamin Lee of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' also wrote "

Scott Teems Scott Teems is an American film director, screenwriter, and producer best known for his work on '' That Evening Sun'' (2009), '' The Quarry'' (2020), '' Halloween Kills'' (2021), '' Firestarter'' (2022) and '' Insidious: The Red Door'' (2023). ...

s drearily perfunctory script is at least not as howlingly bad as his script for ''

'', a small mercy, although both films bizarrely share John Carpenter in charge of the music, his throwback synth score working at odds with Thomas's pedestrian aesthetic".

Accolades

The soundtrack was nominated at the 2023 Golden Scythe Horror Awards for "Best Original Score".

References

{{Authority control 2020s film soundtrack albums 2022 soundtrack albums Back Lot Music soundtracks Cody Carpenter soundtracks Daniel Davies (musician) soundtracks Film scores Firestarter (franchise) Horror film soundtracks John Carpenter soundtracks Sacred Bones Records soundtracks