We’re never short of Stephen King adaptations—and with good reason. The horror maestro’s mind is chock full of chilling, thrilling, and downright sinister stories. The latest, fiery adaptation, Firestarter—based on his 1980 book of the same name—is a tug of war over pyrokinetic powers and the adolescent who possesses them. The film stars Zac Efron as Andy, the patriarch of a family on the run for a decade, trying to escape the government agency that wants to get its hands on his daughter, Charlie. But they can only run for so long, especially as Charlie’s powers become more difficult to manage.

A new clip from the film shows off exactly what happens when Charlie fully unleashes her powers.

In the clip, which features the confrontation between Michael Greyeys and Charlie and Andy, we can precisely see how Charlie’s powers reflect her moods. We can hear the terror in her voice and the way things start to burn around them. But the agent clearly underestimates Charlie’s powers even as Andy warns him off, pleading for Charlie’s release. That is until the flames really start to burst.

Here’s the full synopsis from Universal Pictures:

For more than a decade, parents Andy and Vicky (Sydney Lemmon) have been on the run, desperate to hide their daughter Charlie (Ryan Kiera Armstrong) 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) is deployed to hunt down the family and seize Charlie once and for all. Charlie has other plans. 

Charlie unleashes her full fire powers in the film Firestarter
Universal Pictures

Keith Thomas directed Firestarter with a screenplay from Scott Teems. Kurtwood Smith, John Beasley, and Gloria Reuben round out the cast. Jason Blum and Akiva Goldsman are among those producing. Excitingly, the film also boasts a score from John Carpenter, alongside his Halloween Kills collaborators Cody Carpenter and Daniel Davies.

Firestarter releases in theaters and on Peacock on May 13, 2022.