The production line of Stephen King adaptations is destined to continue rolling on for eternity, with the latest underwhelming translation of the horror icon’s work creating a ripple effect that’s seen both versions of Pet Sematary rise from the grave and return to prominence on streaming.
Redundant prequel Bloodines was always going to debut at the very top of the Paramount Plus’ most-watched charts by virtue of its status as a King movie with inbuilt name recognition, but it appears as though subscribers have opted to take a full-blown deep dive into the chilling tale’s entire cinematic history.
Per FlixPatrol, the 1989 original that endures as a cult favorite despite a middling Rotten Tomatoes score of 51 percent has returned as the unlucky 13th top-viewed title on the platform, whereas the marginally better do-over that still only scored 56 percent on the aggregation site on its way to a decent $113 million haul at the box office is much further down the rankings.
Clearly, the shady goings-on in rural Maine that find ominous local Jud Crandall intoning that maybe it’s best to avoid childhood trauma by ensuring the recently-deceased family cat is returned to life by way of the cursed titular graveyard have become appointment viewing in the wake of Bloodlines debuting, even if none of the three are what you could justifiably call top-tier King movies.
They won’t be remembered or held up as among the finest page-to-screen efforts in the half-century history of the writer’s association with Hollywood, but that clearly hasn’t stopped folks from watching.