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SYFY WIRE Pet Sematary

Pet Sematary: Second trailer for Stephen King remake reveals a major plot change from the original novel

By Josh Weiss
Pet Sematary 2019 John Lithgow Jason Clarke

If your creepy old neighbor tells you to bury your recently-deceased cat in a patch of cursed dirt, do not, we repeat, DO NOT, listen to him. With that important disclaimer out of the way, let's talk about the brand-new trailer for the Pet Sematary remake from Paramount Pictures.

The second film to be based on the terrifying 1983 novel of the same name by Stephen King, the 2019 adaptation was helmed by Starry Eyes co-directors, Kevin Kölsch and Dennis Widmyer.

Jason Clarke (Dawn of the Planet of the Apes) leads the cast as Louis Creed, a young university doctor, who becomes the victim of an unholy burial ground that resurrects anything interred within it. Of course, there are a few string attached, mainly that the dead thing comes back strange and reeking of death.

Check out the new, skin-crawling trailer below:

Fans of the source material may have noticed that the new trailer already spoils a major deviation from the novel, which we won't reveal here for obvious reasons. We're still not sure how we feel about it, but we're just happy we get to see a glimpse of the Wendigo, the ancient entity/spirit that occupies the magical woods. 

Amy Seimetz (Alien: Covenant) plays Louis' wife, Rachael. Together they have two children, daughter, Ellie (Jeté Laurence), and toddler, Gage (Lucas Lavoie). The family also has a cat by the name of Winston Churchhill (lovingly referred to as "Church"), who, after being run over in the street, serves as a Louis' gateway into the world of the supernatural. From there, his life starts to spiral out of control.

John Lithgow (Interstellar) plays the role of Jud Crandall, the Creeds' neighbor and a man with the horrifying knowledge of what lies just beyond the local pet cemetery out in the woods behind the Creed home; it's misspelled as "sematary" because it was created by local kids back in the day.

Check out the new poster, too:

Pet Sematary 2019 poster 2

Speaking to EW about the aforementioned deviation from the book, producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura said:

“Trust me, we were nervous about it. I feel this way about anything that you remake or update. If we gave you what you had before, we didn’t do the subject matter much good. I’m very protective of movies too, but I want a new experience each time, and feel like filmmakers have really thought about the choice. That was one, we thought, ‘All right, let’s make this choice.’”

Written by Jeff Buhler (Nightflyers) and David Kajganich (The Terror), Pet Sematary rises from the dead and into theaters on Friday, April 5. Just be careful because even Stephen King agrees that this is one terrifying motion picture.