Taglines: They don’t come back the same.
Eager to slow down a little bit, Louis and Rachel Creed–along with their children, Ellie, and toddler, Gage–relocate to Maine, on the outskirts of the sleepy rural town of Ludlow. With their new home being alarmingly near to a busy country road, Louis will soon learn firsthand the otherworldly power of the mist-capped burial ground beyond the strange pet cemetery in the woods, when tragedy strikes the Creed family. Now, a grief-smitten Louis has no other choice but to believe in the dark force of the old Indian necropolis’ stony and sour soil; however, some boundaries are not meant to be broken. Is it true that, on the mystical hilltop, death has no power?
Pet Sematary is a 2019 American supernatural horror film directed by Kevin Kölsch and Dennis Widmyer and written by Jeff Buhler, from a screen story by Matt Greenberg. It is the second adaptation of the 1983 novel of the same name by Stephen King, after the 1989 film. The film stars Jason Clarke, Amy Seimetz, and John Lithgow, and follows a family that discovers a mysterious graveyard in the woods behind their new home.
Talks for a new adaptation of Pet Sematary began in March 2010, with Greenberg initially writing the screenplay. Lorenzo di Bonaventura and Steven Schneider were revealed to be producing the remake with Juan Carlos Fresnadillo in talks to direct it. By December 2017, Paramount Pictures had greenlit this new film-version of King’s novel, with duo filmmakers Kölsch and Widmyer directing. Principal photography commenced on June 18, 2018, in Montreal & Hudson, Quebec, Canada, and wrapped on August 11, 2018.
Pet Sematary premiered at South by Southwest festival on March 16, 2019, and was theatrically released in the United States on April 5, 2019, by Paramount Pictures. The film had grossed over $113 million worldwide and received mixed reviews from critics, who praised the dark tone, atmosphere and performances, but disliked the slow pacing and reliance on jump scares. Critics and audiences were both divided on the changes between the film and book, though many named it better than the 1989 adaptation.
3 Reasons Paramount Is Remaking Stephen King’s ‘Pet Sematary’
Paramount/Viacom Inc. dropped the first trailer for their anticipated remake of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary. Directed by Kevin Kölsch and Dennis Widmyer (the folks behind the superb Starry Eyes) and adapted by Jeff Buhler, this will be the second film version of King’s acclaimed 1983 novel. Amusingly (and sadly), the first film, made 30 years ago, was noteworthy for having a female director, Mary Lambert, but this one has two male directors at the helm. Make of that what you will.
Nonetheless, this first trailer is both quite effective (the imagery and editing get the job done) and quite confusing. While fans will know what they are seeing, I would argue that this first teaser goes so far out of its way to avoid revealing the taboo subject matter (dead animals and dead kids) that it becomes somewhat disjointed. Having said that, this is the first trailer and I imagine the next one will spell out more of the plot, perhaps in a red-band format.
Moreover, both the book and the 1989 movie are popular enough that I’d wager most folks watching this teaser over the last six hours have a pretty good idea of what they are looking at. As for the “Why remake Pet Sematary?” question, it actually has three answers. First, obviously, horror is huge right now, and the horror sub-genre (in all of its forms) is operating as a best-case scenario for the studios. They are getting blockbuster-level grosses from the likes of Get Out, It and A Quiet Place for mid-to-low budget costs.
Second, Stephen King has always been a popular author and a valuable source for thematically rich material that has brand awareness and core interest. And while there may have been a time when most King adaptations were considered bottom-of-the-barrel horror flicks (think The Lawnmower Man or Maximum Overdrive), that hasn’t been the case for a very long time. The movies got better in the early 1990’s, horror as a genre grew in critical esteem (as the slasher fans grew up to become the critical establishment) and the kids who grew up with King books and flicks are now old enough to make their own prestige horror movies.
Third, for what it’s worth, Pet Sematary, about a burial ground that (spoiler?) brings dead things back to life, spawned one of the more successful horror movies ever made at the time. The film earned $57 million in 1989, bigger than any prior Jason, Freddy, Chucky, Leatherface, Pinhead or Michael Myers flick of that era. Adjusted for inflation, it earned $134m, meaning that in 1989 it had sold more tickets than any zombie movie since 1980 and any R-rated horror flick save for Friday the 13th, Predator, Carrie, The Shining, Halloween, Aliens, The Omen, Alien, The Amityville Horror and The Exorcist.
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So, yeah, that’s why we’re getting a remake of Pet Sematary, from the same studio (Paramount/Viacom Inc.) that struck it rich 30 years ago. Pet Sematary, starring Jason Clarke, John Lithgow and Amy Seimetz, opens April 5, 2019. That’s the same weekend where A Quiet Place (a PG-13 original, for what that’s worth) opened with $50 million. Good luck…
Pet Sematary (2019)
Directed by: Kevin Kölsch, Dennis Widmyer
Starring: Jason Clarke, Amy Seimetz, John Lithgow, Naomi Frenette, Jeté Laurence, Maria Herrera, Obssa Ahmed, Sonia Maria Chirila, Alyssa Brooke Levine, Jacob Lemieux, Bailey Thain
Screenplay by: David Kajganich
Production Design by: Todd Cherniawsky
Cinematography by: Laurie Rose
Film Editing by: Sarah Broshar
Set Decoration by: Léa-Valérie Létourneau, Ann Smart
Art Direction by: Mathieu Giguère, Félix Larivière-Charron
Music by: Christopher Young
MPAA Rating: R for horror violence, bloody images, and some language.
Distributed by: Paramount Pictures
Release Date: April 5, 2019
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