Stephen King’s ‘Pet Sematary’ Rising From The Grave In 2019
We’ve been hearing about a new adaptation ofStephen King’sPet Semataryforyearsnowas directors have come and gone. All it took to give it some momentum was another King adaptation becoming an unlikely box office juggernaut.
In all official statements, Paramount setting a release date for the newPet Sematarysurely has nothing to do withItgrossing nearly $700 million worldwide earlier this year. But come on, let’s get real. We’re going to seea whole bunch of new Stephen King adaptationsarrive in the next few years and they’re all going to be chasing that sweet, sweetItmoney.
According toVariety, Paramount will releasePet SemataryonApril 19, 2019. It is the first film to snag that release date.
Originally published in 1983,Pet Semataryis one of King’s darkest books, which is saying an awful lot. In fact, the prolific horror author famously wrote it and decided to not publish it, only dusting it off when he needed one more novel to fulfill a contract. It’s bleak stuff, following a family that moves into a new house next to a mysterious burial ground (the sign reads “Pet Sematary”) that brings back to life whatever dead thing is buried in it. As you may imagine, terror ensues. It’s one of King’s least fun books, but it is also undeniably riveting and grotesque and terrifying.
Pet Sematarywas previously adapted into a 1989 film directed by Mary Lambert. It is a pretty good adaptation, the kind of horror movie that is scary enough that certain scenes linger in the mind even as the rest of the film doesn’t hold up as well as the source material. It was followed by a 1993 sequel that only those accused of heinous crimes should be forced to watch.
A proper adaptation ofPet Semataryneeds filmmakers who are willing to commit to the story’s unrelenting darkness and Paramount seems tohave found somein directorsKevin KolschandDennis Widmyer. The duo previously directedStarry Eyes, a stomach-churning horror film that begins as a slow moving engine of dread before unleashing mayhem in its final act. It’s brutal stuff, the kind of movie that suggests they won’t be watering down King’s work.
In the meantime, you have plenty of options to get your Stephen King movie fix.Ithits home video soonwhileGerald’s Gameand1922(both very good) are streaming on Netflix. As long as you ignoreThe Dark Tower(and everyone ignoredThe Dark Tower), the world of Stephen King adaptations has never been more exciting.
