IGN presents the exclusive first trailer for the supernatural horror film Pet Sematary: Bloodlines, a prequel to 2019’s Pet Sematary debuting on Paramount+ on October 6. The trailer can be viewed via the player above or the embed below.
Billed as “the untold chapter” of Stephen King’s 1983 novel Pet Sematary, Pet Sematary: Bloodlines is set in 1969 and follows a young Jud Crandall (played by Jackson White) as he first encounters the evil forces that plague his hometown of Ludlow, Maine – an evil he will later face again as an old man (as depicted in the original 1989 film and its 2019 remake).
In addition to Jackson White, the cast includes Forrest Goodluck, Jack Mulhern, Henry Thomas, Natalie Alyn Lind, Isabella Star LaBlanc, Pam Grier, and David Duchovny. The movie marks the directorial debut of Lindsey Anderson Beer, who also co-wrote the script with Jeff Buhler.
In an e-mail interview with IGN, Beer explained why she wanted to explore the origins of the titular Pet Sematary and why it was important to update and alter elements of Stephen King’s source material.
Prequels are inherently tricky because we already know the fate of some protagonists. How does Pet Sematary: Bloodlines reckon with that? And why was it important to explore the early years of Jud Crandall?
Lindsey Anderson Beer: For me, Jud Crandall, played first brilliantly by Fred Gwynne and then John Lithgow, steals the show in both movie adaptations. He’s such a mysterious and contradictory character, who acts illogically by telling his friend Louis about the sour ground in Ludlow with the power of resurrection, even though he knows terrible things will come from it. There was a big question mark in his actions that I felt as a fan I wanted answered; as the book suggests that Jud’s encounter with the evil in the form of Timmy Baterman in his early years made him a target of the evil forces of Ludlow, who finally whispered to him when his mind was less sharp. The book calls Jud the “guardian of the woods.” But how did he become its guardian? That suggested to me an untold legacy and history that I was excited to explore, and pull more on all the interesting mythological threads in King’s text. Pet Sematary is also so heavily focused on the poor decisions of parents, that I was excited to tell this story from the perspective of a younger generation looking at their parents and their choices. I’m always interested in generational trauma and generational sin.
Of course, we know Jud survives. But we don’t know how he became the iconic figure we know, or what the fates are of everyone he loves: his parents, his best friend Manny and his sister Donna, and the townsfolk who are like family to him. As the older man we’ve seen, he seems like a loner who has lost a lot of people in his life. The scariness comes from his fear, and thus our fear, of Jud losing his whole world.
Making a prequel allowed me to do not just Jud’s origin story, but Ludlow’s origin story, and show how the burden of this evil affects every townsperson. Something just doesn’t add up about Ludlow, and its history.
I wanted to make this film because it was a prequel, which allowed me to give fans and new audiences something they hadn’t seen before – both within the world of Pet Sematary, and hopefully in horror films in general. I wanted to make a film that surprises people. It’s technically a horror movie, but it’s also a drama that just happens to be really, really terrifying. Rather than a contained story like the original and its remake, I wanted to make an unpredictable experience that takes viewers through the paces of war. The tagline is “death is different here,” and hopefully that shines through in all ways. This movie is different, it’s wild. I grew up on experimental film and am most excited about projects that defy genre. Life is not a horror movie or a comedy or a thriller. It’s everything.
What elements of the lore created by Stephen King are expanded upon in your film? Are there brand-new aspects to it that weren't originally from King?
Beer: So much was expanded upon that King briefly writes in the original text. The story of Timmy Baterman only occupies a few pages of the book, so there was a lot to flesh out to bring his journey to life and undeath. While many of the names of the townsfolk we see, such as Marjorie Washburn played by professional badass Pam Grier, are taken from the book, those names had to be fleshed out into real characters, with storied journeys. There is so much interesting lore in King’s book, and a lot of the mythology is just hinted at, inviting the reader to speculate. So I wanted to run with that speculation and give myself, as a fan, answers I had always wanted. What is the purpose and origin of the Pet Sematary, other than a place kids learn about death? The book is called Pet Sematary, but that’s not the place with the power: that’s across the deadfall, in the woods that Jud comes to guard. Where does the evil come from?
I would also only take on this project if I could do away with the Wendigo and the cursed indigenous land from the book and its previous adaptations. I wanted to offer a refresh on what is now a trope and give more meat to the idea of a conspiracy in Ludlow. The circumstances of the founding of Ludlow, and the origin of its name, are something I had to invent because it isn’t directly stated in the book. Another invention of mine is this idea of a pact and coverup between the founding families of Ludlow. I wanted fans to feel, like Jud, that they had been lied to. The stories we were told before were cover-ups or superstitions. The people of Ludlow are connected in a metaphorical spiral -- lies and sins that span generations. The spiral, the most prominent symbol in the book, is pagan, not Mi’kmaq. Historically, Christianity would have come to the area already by the time Ludlow was founded. So I expanded upon the meaning and the use of the iconic Pet Sematary spiral, as well as the animal masks and the physical Pet Sematary itself.
I love the idea that through the centuries, the people of Ludlow turned to every religious practice possible to fight an evil as old as the world itself, not an indigenous curse. Central to subverting the trope of the mystical indigenous was creating POV characters who were Mi’kmaq. I did so in consultation with the indigenous community and in deep collaboration with the fantastic and thoughtful actors themselves, Forrest Goodluck and Isabella Star LaBlanc. I deeply believe that underrepresented groups need more say in their own stories. It makes for better stories, and better societies.
What did King's novel mean to you? When did you first read it?
Beer: Pet Sematary was the first Stephen King book I read at nine or ten. I saw it on the library shelves and was falsely lured in by the notion of pets. But I loved it so much, I read it in one night. I loved the comedic inner monologue of Louis that made me understand, even as a little girl, the worries, and weights of a father. It takes what could be an absurdist idea, and steeps it in humanity, and pathos: the most basic human experience of loss and grief and learning to let go and embrace impermanence. To actually accept that death is certain, and perhaps even better than the alternative. It only becomes a horror movie halfway through, but by then it’s utterly terrifying.
I was particularly taken by the book’s untold chapter of Timmy Baterman, a teenager who had died at war, and was brought back by his father, Bill. I then snuck the ‘89 movie from my dad’s friend, and made my sister watch it over and over. She hated it, she was so scared. So much so that when I took this job directing, she said congrats, but also … F you for our childhood! The book awakened a lifelong fandom of Stephen King for me, and then I went on to read and watch just about everything anything King, including Stand by Me.
There are odes to all things King in this film. I wanted to root my movie in the friendship between Jud, Timmy, and Manny. I thought – what would the Stand By Me boys be like post-adolescence, when life gets more complicated? If you keep an eye out, you’ll find a lot of fun easter eggs throughout. I’ll give you one: the diner is named Fred’s, after Fred Gwynne.
Pet Sematary: Bloodlines premieres exclusively on Paramount+ on October 6.
For more horror movie coverage, check out our The Nun II review and the new trailer for The Exorcist: Believer.
