Pet Sematary (film)

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Pet Sematary
Theatrical poster
Directed by	Mary Lambert
Produced by	Richard P. Rubinstein
Written by	Stephen King (novel and screenplay)
Starring	Dale Midkiff Fred Gwynne Denise Crosby Brad Greenquist Miko Hughes Blaze Berdahl Susan Blommaert
Music by	Elliot Goldenthal
Cinematography	Peter Stein
Editing by	Daniel P. Hanley Mike Hill
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release date(s)	April 21, 1989 (USA)
Running time	103 min.
Language	English
Budget	$11,500,000
Followed by	Pet Sematary II
IMDb profile

Pet Sematary (sometimes referred to as Stephen King's Pet Sematary) is a 1989 horror film adapatation of the Stephen King novel of the same name. Directed by Mary Lambert, the film stars Dale Midkiff as Louis Creed, Denise Crosby as Rachel Creed, Blaze Berdahl as Ellie Creed, Miko Hughes as Gage Creed, and Fred Gwynne as Jud Crandall.

This film was the first adaptation of a Stephen King novel to include his name in its title. Stephen King wrote the screenplay himself, having become frustrated with how his novels were represented in film adaptations, and appears briefly in the film as a minister at a funeral.

1 Synopsis
2 The Movie vs. the Book
3 Cast & Crew
4 2006 DVD
5 Trivia
6 External links

[edit] Synopsis

The plot revolves around the corporeal reanimation of deceased pets and humans in an abandoned Mi'kmaq burial ground outside the town of Ludlow, Maine. The Creed family moves into a new home and befriends their new neighbor, Jud Crandall, who tells them about a pet cemetery and the burial grounds nearby.

[edit] The Movie vs. the Book

The movie is more faithful to the novel's story line and structure than is common for novel-to-movie adaptations in the horror genre. Even so, several plot elements, such as Louis's troubled relationship with his in-laws, his sorrow after Gage's death and his consequent justifications for resurrecting his son, were either combined, truncated or dropped entirely due to the limitations of a movie-length script. The repeated line from the book about "Oz the Gweat and Tewwible" was replaced by repeated appearances of Pascow and Zelda. In addition, the movie glosses over the concept of the Wendigo in the forest, and completely skips over the implication that there is a singular, specific intelligence which guides the resurrected creatures and speaks through them. Additionally, there is the particular omission of one of the book's more disturbing implications: that this intelligence, by way of Gage's body, has raped Rachel in addition to killing her ("something had been at her").

The role of Steve Masterton, an employee at Louis' medical center and the only character whose future is disclosed, is greatly reduced in the film. His only appearances are when the people bring Pascow into the infirmary and at Gage's funeral. The film also omitted Norma Crandall, Jud's wife, and changed some of the dates; for instance, the year that Jud claims to have buried his dog Spot is changed from 1914 to 1924.

[edit] Cast & Crew

Produced by Mitchell Galin, Richard P. Rubinstein, and Tim Zinneman. Directed by Mary Lambert. Stephen King wrote both the novel and the screenplay for the movie.

Cast
Dale Midkiff .... Louis Creed
Fred Gwynne .... Jud Crandall
Denise Crosby .... Rachel Creed
Brad Greenquist .... Victor Pascow
Michael Lombard .... Irwin Goldman
Miko Hughes .... Gage Creed
Blaze Berdahl .... Ellie Creed
Susan Blommaert .... Missy Dandridge
Mara Clark .... Marcy Charlton
Kavi Raz .... Steve Masterton
Mary Louise Wilson .... Dory Goldman
Andrew Hubatsek .... Zelda
Matthew August Ferrell .... Jud as a child
Lisa Stathoplos .... Jud's mother
Stephen King .... Minister
Elizabeth Ureneck .... Rachel as a child
Chuck Courtney .... Bill Baterman
Peter Stader .... Timmy Baterman
Beau Berdahl .... Ellie Creed II

[edit] 2006 DVD

Released on September 26, 2006, Paramount released a Special Collector's Edition DVD. It features:

Commentary by Director Mary Lambert
Documentery: Stephen King's Pet Sematary: Stephen King Territory
Documentery: Stephen King's Pet Sematary: The Characters
Documentery: Stephen King's Pet Sematary: Filming the Horror

The Documenteries feature interviews with Dale Midkiff, Brad Greenquist, Denise Crosby, Stephen King himself, director Mary Lambert, the late great Fred Gwynne, and other members of the cast and crew.

[edit] Trivia

George A. Romero was originally set to direct this film. But due to unforseen circumstances, he couldn't do it. When asked how he would have done Pet Sematary, he is quoted as saying "Better!"

Tom Savini also turned down a chance to direct this film.

Bruce Campbell from the Evil Dead Trilogy fame was the first choice to play Dr. Louis Creed.

Christina Ricci tried out for the role of Ellie Creed but lost out to Blaze Berdahl and her twin sister Beau Berdahl.

Stephen King demanded that the film be shot on location in his homestate of Maine, where the novel takes place and that his screenplay be followed.

The author of the novel and the screenwriter, Stephen King, makes a cameo appearance as the priest, saying mass/last rites at Missy Dandridge's funeral in the film.

Seven cats (Russian Blues) were used to play the cat Winston Churchill/Church.

The character of Zelda was played by a man, Andrew Hubatsek, because the part called for a woman who looked emaciated and they couldn't find one that looked the part.