Earlier this year, rumors circulated about Paramount‘s interest in revisiting one of Stephen King‘s more popular novels, Pet Sematary, which was published in 1983 and turned into a motion picture six years later. After that circulated, things got eerily quiet in regards to the potential remake, though we now have some new information for you. Genre guru Alexandre Aja could be taking the helm to bring this morbid story about reanimated kids and animals back from the grave.
Twitchfilm were the ones to break the news, stating:
His name turns up on a lot of wishlists for this sort of project but Pet Sematary has moved beyond that stage with Paramount now actively trying to sign him up.
Horror fans know that Aja has never had any qualms when it comes to remaking classic genre outings. He’s the man who brought us The Hills Have Eyes remake in 2006, as well as the recent remake/sequel known as Piranha 3D. In addition to those, he’s currently signed on to a potential TV version of David Cronenberg’s Scanners. His 2008 outing, Mirrors, was also a remake in spirit, taking a lot of inspiration from a previously released film.
For the uninitiated, Pet Sematary tells the story of an American family who moves into what they assume is a quiet place in the country. Shortly after they get there however, all manner of Hell breaks loose after their young toddler is killed by a transport truck. In a spat of unimaginable grief, the father decides to bury his son on a piece of land he’s heard about, which is said to have regenerative powers. As can be expected, things don’t go as planned.
This remake will apparently be written by Matt Greenberg who wrote another Stephen King adaptation (the creepy 1408), as well as Reign of Fire. It will have producers Lorenzo di Bonaventura and Steven Schneider at the financial helm.
Pet Sematary was one of the first horror movies I ever watched, back when I was around 10 years old. It, as well as some other genre classics, helped turn me into the horror fan that I am now. Of course, like most of my contemporaries, I feel that there have been very few good ones in the last while.
However, Alexandre Aja made quite a name for himself with Switchblade Romance (known as High Tension in North America), which is one of the best scary movies I’ve seen in years. He also did a good job with The Hills Have Eyes property, outdoing Wes Craven‘s version in my opinion.
With all that being said, I’m for this choice, though I hope this remake does its original sources justice.
