Director Lindsey Anderson Beer was a preteen when she first readStephen King’s terrifying 1983 novelPet Sematary.
The filmmaker remembers being “a super big nerd” around the age of 9 or 10.
“I loved to go to libraries.
Natalie Alyn Lind in ‘Pet Sematary: Bloodlines’.PARAMOUNT+
I remember seeing it on the shelf,” she recalls.
“I’m like, ‘Pets!'”
“I became very addicted to reading Stephen King,” she says.
Henry Thomas and Jackson White in ‘Pet Sematary: Bloodlines’.PARAMOUNT+
“That is because his father buried him in the ‘sour ground’ that is famous inPet Sematarylore.”
Beer explains thatPet Sematary: Bloodlinesis an origin story.
I thought it was really important.
Jackson White and Forrest Goodluck in ‘Pet Sematary: Bloodlines’.PARAMOUNT+
“David is so generous,” Beer says.
“There’s a flashback scene that you see in the movie with him and young Timmy.
He must have played catch with that kid for two hours off set.”
The director cast screen legendPam Grieras another member of Ludlow’s increasingly concerned citizenry.
Of course, you need at least one pet in a film calledPet Sematary.
“He’s actually deaf, which posed a logistical challenge,” Beer says of her four-legged thespian.
But Jellybean was really good at looking creepy and walking weird."
“It’s an untold story fromPet Semataryitself,” Beer says.
“In the novel, Timmy Baterman went off to World War II.
We moved up the timeline to Vietnam.”
David Duchovny is excellent.
The secret, as always, is caring about the characters."
Between the 2019 film and this prequel, King’s novel has now been thoroughly stripped of narrative meat.
“There’s certainly other chapters that you could explore,” she says.
“You could take any section of history because this has existed for so long.”
Best not to put away that shovel just yet.
Pet Sematary: Bloodlinespremieres on Paramount+ Oct. 6.
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