Firestarter (2022 soundtrack)

{{Short description|2022 horror film soundtrack}}

{{use mdy dates|date=January 2025}}

{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}

{{Infobox album

| name = Firestarter (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)

| type = film

| artist = John Carpenter, Cody Carpenter and Daniel Davies

| cover = Firestarter 2022 soundtrack.jpg

| alt =

| released = {{Start date|2022|5|13}}

| recorded = 2022

| venue = Back Lot Music

| studio =

| genre =

| length = 42:56

| label = Sacred Bones

| producer = John Carpenter, Cody Carpenter, and Daniel Davies

| misc = {{Extra chronology

| artist = John Carpenter

| type = film

| prev_title = Halloween Kills

| prev_year = 2021

| title = Firestarter

| year = 2022

| next_title = Halloween Ends

| next_year = 2022

}}

{{Extra chronology

| artist = Cody Carpenter

| type = film

| prev_title = Balance of Extremes

| prev_year = 2022

| title = Firestarter

| year = 2022

| next_title = Halloween Ends

| next_year = 2022

}}

{{Extra chronology

| artist = Daniel Davies

| type = film

| prev_title = Lost in Departures

| prev_year = 2021

| title = Firestarter

| year = 2022

| next_title = Halloween Ends

| next_year = 2022

}}

}}

{{Album reviews

| rev1 = AllMusic

| rev1score = {{rating|3|5}}{{cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/firestarter-2022-original-motion-picture-soundtrack--mw0003714435|title=John Carpenter, Cody Carpenter, and Daniel Davies: Firestarter|publisher=AllMusic|access-date=January 21, 2025}}

}}

Firestarter (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) is the soundtrack album to the 2022 horror film Firestarter, directed by Keith Thomas. John Carpenter, Cody Carpenter and Daniel Davies serve as composers.

The album was released by Sacred Bones Records on May 13, 2022, in conjunction with the film's release.

Development

During filming of The Thing, Universal offered John Carpenter to direct the original Firestarter film, who hired Bill Lancaster to adapt the novel into a screenplay, which Stephen King approved of.{{cite web|url=http://www.the13thfloor.tv/2016/02/15/5-stephen-king-adaptations-that-died-in-development-hell/|title=5 Stephen King Adaptations That Died in Development Hell|last=Maddrey|first=Joe|date=February 15, 2016|website=blumhouse.com|access-date=January 21, 2025|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161030095043/http://www.blumhouse.com/2016/02/15/5-stephen-king-adaptations-that-died-in-development-hell/|archive-date=October 30, 2016|url-status=dead}} Months later, Carpenter hired Bill Phillips to write another version with Richard Dreyfuss as Andy, but when The Thing underperformed financially, Universal replaced Carpenter with Mark L. Lester, who brought Stanley Mann to write a screenplay that stayed closer to the novel than the abandoned screenplays that Carpenter had commissioned.{{cite web|url=http://thepinksmoke.com/markllester.htm|website=The Pink Smoke|first=John|last=Cribbs|title=The Films of Mark L Lester|year=2011}}

In February 2022, he, along with Cody Carpenter and Daniel Davies, were hired to score the remake for Blumhouse Productions, having previously collaborated with the studio on Halloween (2018) and Halloween Kills (2021).{{cite web|title=John Carpenter, Cody Carpenter & Daniel Davies Scoring Keith Thomas' Firestarter|website=Film Music Reporter|url=http://filmmusicreporter.com/2022/02/09/john-carpenter-cody-carpenter-daniel-davies-scoring-keith-thomas-firestarter/|date=February 9, 2022|access-date=January 21, 2025|language=en-US|archive-date=February 9, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220209180453/https://filmmusicreporter.com/2022/02/09/john-carpenter-cody-carpenter-daniel-davies-scoring-keith-thomas-firestarter/|url-status=live}} The score was digitally released on May 13, 2022, by Back Lot Music and on LP/CD and Cassette on October 14, 2022, by Sacred Bones Records.{{cite web|url=http://filmmusicreporter.com/2022/04/20/blumhouse-firestarter-2022-soundtrack-album-details/|title=Firestarter Soundtrack Album Details|website=filmmusicreporter.com|date=April 20, 2022|access-date=January 21, 2025|archive-date=April 20, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220420195408/https://filmmusicreporter.com/2022/04/20/blumhouse-firestarter-2022-soundtrack-album-details/|url-status=live}}{{Cite web|url=https://open.spotify.com/album/5xV4QPhMXZjNbwM05Ng9gX|title=Firestarter (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) - Album by John Carpenter, Cody Carpenter, and Daniel Davies|publisher=Spotify|access-date=January 21, 2025}}

Track listing

{{Track listing

| all_music = John Carpenter, Cody Carpenter and Daniel Davies.

| headline = Firestarter (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)

| title1 = Mother's Love

| length1 = 3:08

| title2 = Lot 6 (Main Titles)

| length2 = 2:58

| title3 = Are You Scared of Me?

| length3 = 1:00

| title4 = Dodge Ball Heats Up

| length4 = 2:16

| title5 = Corporate Menace

| length5 = 1:36

| title6 = Burned Hands

| length6 = 2:50

| title7 = Rainbird Fights Vicky

| length7 = 1:48

| title8 = Bless Mommy

| length8 = 1:21

| title9 = Flashback Kills

| length9 = 2:51

| title10 = Police Arrive

| length10 = 2:22

| title11 = Sniper Attack

| length11 = 3:44

| title12 = Charlie Alone

| length12 = 0:36

| title13 = Charlie's Powers

| length13 = 1:53

| title14 = I'll Find You

| length14 = 3:03

| title15 = Charlie's Rampage

| length15 = 4:42

| title16 = Rampage Ends

| length16 = 2:52

| title17 = Firestarter (End Titles)

| length17 = 3:46

| total_length = 42:56

}}

Personnel

Reception

Frank Scheck of The Hollywood Reporter 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."{{Cite web |last=Scheck |first=Frank |date=May 13, 2022 |title=Zac Efron in 'Firestarter': Film Review |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/zac-efron-firestarter-1235145897/ |access-date=January 21, 2025 |website=The Hollywood Reporter |language=en-US}} Benjamin Lee of The Guardian also wrote "Scott Teems{{'}}s drearily perfunctory script is at least not as howlingly bad as his script for Halloween Kills, 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".{{Cite news |last=Lee |first=Benjamin |date=May 13, 2022 |title=Firestarter review – soggy Stephen King remake struggles to ignite |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2022/may/13/firestarter-review-stephen-king-zac-efron-sydney-lemmon-ryan-kiera-armstrong |access-date=January 21, 2025 |issn=0261-3077}}

Accolades

The soundtrack was nominated at the 2023 Golden Scythe Horror Awards for "Best Original Score".{{cite web |url=https://www.instagram.com/goldenscythehorrorawards/ |title=Golden Scythe Horror Awards |website=Instagram |access-date=January 21, 2025}}

References