One of my favorite authors of all time is Mr. Stephen King and one of my favorite Stephen King books of all time is PET SEMATARY. I guess you could imagine then that one of my favorite horror movies is Mary Lambert's 1989 adaptation starring Fred Gwynne and Dale Midkiff.
And since we're (fittingly) beating this dead horse, you could also assume that one of the upcoming horror flicks I'm looking forward to the most is directors Dennis Widmyer and Kevin Kolsch's (STARRY EYES) remake. Speaking of which, the film's screenwriter Jeff Buhler (MIDNIGHT MEAT TRAIN) recently sat down with our buddies over at DC and dropped some new info on the upcoming reimagining including how the film is "on track to make it one of the scariest Stephen King adaptations ever!"
Jeff Buhler:
Jason Clarke has come on board and casting is active at the moment. Paramount is really excited about the script.
He continues:
When we first started our conversations, (Director) Dennis and Kevin and I really connected around the idea of bringing the story back to the source material, to find a modern telling of the book that really spoke to some of the big scenes and big moments that Stephen King had originally written and as much as all of us are huge fans of the original film, there are moments that are larger than life and feel borderline campy. Our desire was to tell a really grounded, character-driven and psychologically horrific version of Pet Sematary, which in my belief, is the scariest book that King ever wrote.
And finally:
There may be Victor, there may be some Zelda, and there will definitely be some Louis and Rachel and Gage and Ellie. I will say this, if you love the book, you’ll love this movie. (Directors) Dennis and Kevin are both such visionaries in terms of how they’ve approached it, from not only a horror standpoint but also a character standpoint, and it’s been really gratifying to work with those guys. I think we’re on track to make it one of the scariest Stephen King adaptations ever!
While I'm all-in for Buhler's comments, one part does have me worried. He says there MAY be Victor, there MAY be some Zelda. But he never confirms there WILL be… Maybe I'm overthinking things (or just f*cking scared to death the film would leave them out!) so let's just call that bit Mike freaking out over nothing. For the time being. We'll let you know when we hear more!
PET SEMATARY hits theaters April 19, 2019.