Stephen King film adaptations are all the rage nowadays. Thanks to the insanely popular “It: Chapter 1,” there’s been a bit of a King renaissance in recent months with studios anxiously snatching up everything with the author’s name attached. One of the projects that will hit the big screen soon is another adaptation of the popular King book “Pet Sematary.” And according to a set visit and some new pictures, it looks like fans of the horror author might have another great film on their hands.
This isn’t the first time that “Pet Sematary” has been adapted for the big screen. Back in 1989, filmmaker Mary Lambert did her best to bring King’s book to life. While most of the film is largely forgettable, there are a couple moments and characters that truly stand out. But by and large, similar to the popular “It” remake, no one is mad that another studio is taking a shot at the book.
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The remake, as well as the book and original film, follows a family dealing with the aftereffects of burying the family cat on a supernatural burial ground that seems to bring living things back to life. And while the film is placed in the horror, star Jason Clarke likes to think of this new “Pet Sematary” as more than a typical scarefest.
“That’s what makes it more than a horror movie,” says Clarke, in a set report posted to EW. “I was like, ‘Where’s the horror? I’m disturbed.’ That was it for me, I found it insanely disturbing. [King] reaches inside you in some way, he always does. There is great intellect and great subconscious and subtext and thought and reason behind it.”
Now, as mentioned, the original 1989 film is probably best known for two things — a scary cat and Zelda. The new film, as shown in one of the first looks below, definitely features the famous resurrected cat, albeit with a new breed of feline. However, the filmmakers, Dennis Widmyer and Kevin Kölsch, are a little less forthcoming with how they’re going to treat the character of Zelda.
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For those not familiar with the novel or the film, Zelda was the sister of the mother in the film, Rachel, who died at a young age and was shown in the film as incredibly emaciated. The Zelda reveal in the 1989 film stands as one of the biggest scares in the entire story. So, clearly, the filmmakers are expected to somehow top it with the new film.
“It’s more accurate to the book, I’ll just say that,” Widmyer reveals about Zelda. “In the original movie, it’s a 21-year-old guy in drag playing it, and in the book, as you recall, it’s a 10-year-old girl.”
He continues, “You go, ‘How do you top Zelda?’ It was big and scary and awesome, but if you think about the reality of the Zelda situation, what that would do to a family, with her wasting away in this bedroom, and a younger sister being frightened of her older sister’s debilitating illness, that on its own is pretty scary.”
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Instead of focusing on some sort of shocking reveal, the director reveals that the new film will add more to the atmosphere to truly unsettle audiences. He describes the scene, “The nurse, the medical equipment, what that room would feel like as a layer of dust went on everything.” He continues by saying the film will show “how that would seem from the perspective of an 8-year-old, going into that room to bring food to her, and how scary that would be.”
Audiences will be the final judge on whether or not the filmmakers and cast can make the new “Pet Sematary” stand as one of the best King adaptations, and continue the trend of the King renaissance. The film opens April 5, 2019.
Here are some more first-look photos:
