Pet Sematary - Film, TV or Theatrical Adaptations

Film, TV or Theatrical Adaptations

Pet Sematary was made into a film in the autumn of 1988 (released April 1989) and directed by Mary Lambert, starring Dale Midkiff as Louis, Fred Gwynne as Jud, Denise Crosby as Rachel and Miko Hughes as Gage. A man, Andrew Hubatsek, was chosen for Zelda's role because the filmmakers could not find a woman bony enough to portray the terminally ill girl. The Ramones recorded the title song for the film which can be found on their album Brain Drain. Although the song is heard only during the closing credits, their song "Sheena Is a Punk Rocker" is played when Gage is killed.

Pet Sematary was filmed in King's home state of Maine, utilizing locations such as Mount Hope Cemetery (Bangor) and Ellsworth. King also makes a cameo appearance as a minister who officiates at the funeral of Missy Dandridge. This scene was shot at Mt. Hope Cemetery.

Fangoria magazine had exclusive coverage of Pet Sematary, and its reporter, Rod Labbe, visited the set twice. His articles ran in Fangoria and its companion magazine, Gorezone. Labbe has written a twenty-year "monster memories" of Pet Sematary for Fangoria, to be published in 2013.

There was also a sequel, Pet Sematary Two.

In 1997 BBC Radio 4 broadcast a dramatisation of the story in six half-hour episodes. It was adapted by Gregory Evans and starred John Sharian, Briony Glassco and Lee Montague. The director was Gordon House.

In March 2010, it was announced that a remake was in the works, with Matt Greenberg (writer of another King adaptation, 1408) currently working on the screenplay. On 21st September 2010, Guillermo del Toro announced that he would like to direct the Pet Sematary remake, along with a new adaptation of another Stephen King novel, It, but stated that his busy schedule made it unlikely that he would be able to work on either film any time soon.