Firestarter (2022)

#ZacAttack returns again (like it’s a normally-scheduled podcast)
to cover Zac Efron’s *other* new movie from 2022: Firestarter!
Before we dive into the movie, we talk about his profile in
Men’s Health and Vanessa Hudgens’s profile in Nylon.
Then, we dive into Firestarter (which we eventually settle on
calling “Strange Things”) as we explore the final state of this
movie, how it compares to other versions, and the limitations of
“creepy kids with powers” stories. We talk about the lack of word
of mouth about this movie, the decision to release it basically
alongside Stranger Things, and how Zef could have fit into Stranger
Things. We also point out new elements of Zef’s role/character in
Firestarter, the seeming total absence of Sydney Lemmon as the mom
in the narrative, and the sort of ambiguously sad place this movie
ends up.