Saturday, March 26, 2011

Paramount Moving Forward With New ‘Pet Sematary’ Movie

Stephen King Pet Sematary movie Paramount

There appears to be somewhat of a new Stephen King obsession going on in Hollywood right now. Last September we heard about a huge movie/TV crossover adaptation of King’s epic Dark Tower series; a new movie based on IT has been in the works for almost two years; and just a couple of days ago we heard word of Warner Bros. developing a new film based on King’s beloved book The Stand.

To add to those three we’re going to be getting a new adaptation of one of King’s  beloved novels: Pet Sematary, the book which the author himself regards as his scariest.

We reported on the new new Pet Sematary movie way back in March of last year, with 1408 screenwriter Matthew Greenberg being hired to pen the script. Since then we haven’t heard much about the status of the project… until now.

24 Frames reports of the news that Paramount is moving forward with the new Pet Sematary film, with Greenberg set to turn in a draft of the script soon. It’s noted that this info comes from someone familiar with the project who wasn’t supposed to speak about it publicly. The studio is said to be seeking a high-profile director to helm the film, although no names were specifically mentioned and Paramount declined to comment.

This is, of course, not the first time King’s haunting Pet Sematary has made its way to the big-screen. In 1989 a movie was made from a script King wrote himself and starred Dale Midkiff, Fred Gwynne and Denise Crosby. It’s certainly not one of the most highly-regarded King films, but I still have memories of it having a very creepy atmosphere. A sequel to that film was made in 1992 with a surprisingly notable cast which included Clancy Brown, Edward Furlong and Anthony Edwards.

Pet Sematary tells the story of a family who moves into a new house but soon discover a mysterious pet cemetery  not far from their new home. What unfolds involves all manner of death-related incidents involving both animals and humans. It’s certainly not for those of you who have a strong fear of cats! :-P

I, for one, am actually okay with this particular remake/new adaptation. The original isn’t exactly the best translation of a King story and in the right hands a lot of very cool and scary things could be done with a new movie. I wasn’t the biggest fan of Greenberg’s adaptation of King’s 1408 and that fact that he wrote the lackluster Halloween H20 doesn’t exactly inspire much confidence.

However, I am personally more interested in who Paramount will pick as a director. Hopefully it’s someone with experience in horror filmmaking who will still steer Pet Sematary in the right direction. I suppose Frank Darabont – writer and director of King-based films like The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile and The Mist – would be too much to hope for?

More on this new version of Pet Sematary as news comes out.

Source: 24 Frames


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