‘Pet Sematary’ Cast Grows, With Amy Seimetz In Talks To Play A Lead Role In The Updated Stephen King Work
Since the release of Stephen King’s IT last October, a resurgence of interest in the writer’s previous works has resulted in a number of forthcoming film adaptations. Today, Pet Sematary moves a step closer to finalizing the cast, as Amy Siemetz of Alien: Covenant fame is in talks to play one of the lead roles in the upcoming Paramount feature, according to Variety.
Siemetz would be joining actor Jason Clarke (Zero Dark Thirty, Terminator: Salvation) in the movie slated for an April, 2019, release. Also attached to star is John Lithgow (Dexter, Footloose) as Judd Crandall in a role originally played by late The Munsters actor Fred Gwynn. Amy Seimetz is no stranger to the horror genre, having appeared in such films as The Sacrament and You’re Next. An actress once lauded by The Hollywood Reporter as a breakout at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival for her performance in The Off Hours, Seimetz has been busy, appearing in three different films in 2017.
In 1989, the original Paramount Pictures release was a huge box office success, raking in more than $57 million on a budget of $11.5 million. Receiving mostly negative reviews initially, the movie has since gone on to become something of a classic among horror movie fans. It also spawned a sequel starring Terminator 2?s Edward Furlong, titled Pet Sematary 2, which was released in 1992. Although the follow up wasn’t as profitable as its predecessor, it was still considered a commercial success, couping more than $17 million on a budget of about $8 million. On the other hand, Pet Sematary 2 had the misfortune of garnering abysmal critical reviews, and hindsight hasn’t been as kind to the follow up as it was to its predecessor.
It would appear the stage is set for 2019’s remake of Pet Sematary to perform extremely well. That said, without the evil clown face of Pennywise to catch the eye of movie-goers, or the inclusion of The Loser’s Club — an incidentally similar coming-of-age premise to the Netflix hit-series Stranger Things — a box office run comparabale to IT seems unlikely. Or does Paramount Pictures have any tricks up their sleeve to draw audiences in to such dark subject matter?
Both in Stephen King’s book and the 1989 film, Pet Sematary involves a local doctor, haunted by images of a deceased and bloodied college student warning him against burying bodies in an ancient Indian burial ground. This burial ground brings people back from the dead, and he ultimately ignores the warnings after witnessing the violent death of his 3-year old son.
