A wise old Mainer once said, “Sometimes dead is better. And Pet Sematary: Bloodlines is here to remind us why. Paramount has released the official trailer for the latest film inspired by Stephen King’s iconic horror novel, which takes us back to the titular spooky cemetery this fall.
The original Pet Sematary story follows Louis Creed, a doctor who moves his family to rural Maine. When their young son Gage is hit and killed by a truck, Louis can’t resist burying him in the hidden pet cemetery—where things have a habit of not staying dead. Louis learns about the cemetery from his elderly neighbor, Jud Crandall, played in the 1989 movie by Fred Gwynne and in the 2019 remake by John Lithgow. Young Jud is the main character in Bloodlines, and he’s played by Jackson White:
Jud’s backstory has always been something that seemed worth exploring, and was only briefly touched on in King’s novel and both movie adaptations. Bloodlines seems to get into something else that neither of the previous adaptations (or the 1992 sequel) explore: the original purpose of the pet cemetery, which—like many horror properties of the ’80s—has Indigenous origins. The choice to maintain and expand upon that in Bloodlines is interesting, but we’ll have to wait and see how it’s handled.
Here’s the official synopsis for Pet Sematary: Bloodlines:
In 1969, a young Jud Crandall has dreams of leaving his hometown of Ludlow, Maine behind, but soon discovers sinister secrets buried within and is forced to confront a dark family history that will forever keep him connected to Ludlow. Banding together, Jud and his childhood friends must fight an ancient evil that has gripped Ludlow since its founding, and once unearthed has the power to destroy everything in its path.
Blaxploitation icon Pam Grier is starring in an undisclosed role, and that’s pretty exciting. In the images and in the trailer, Grier can be seen wielding a shotgun like the badass she’s always been. Bloodlines also stars Natalie Alyn Lind (Big Sky), Forrest Goodluck (How To Blow Up a Pipeline), and Jack Mulhern (The Society), along with David Duchovny and Henry Thomas (The Haunting of Hill House). Lindsey Anderson Beer is making her directorial debut with the prequel, which she co-wrote with Jeff Buhler.
Pet Sematary: Bloodlines will be released on Paramount+ on October 6.
(featured image: Paramount+)
