The Writer of The PET SEMATARY Remake Says it will Be Scariest Stephen King Movie Ever

As directors Dennis Widmyer and Kevin Kolsch (Starry Eyes) prepare to start shooting their remake of Pet Semetary, screenwriter Jeff Buhler opened up about the movie a bit and says that it will be "one of the scariest" Stephen King film adaptations ever.

While talking to Dread Central, Buhler talks about what he and the directors are looking to accomplish with the film and wanting to keep the story grounded:

"When we first started our conversations, Dennis and Kevin and I really connected around the idea of bringing the story back to the source material, to find a modern telling of the book that really spoke to some of the big scenes and big moments that Stephen King had originally written, and as much as all of us are huge fans of the original film, there are moments that are larger than life and feel borderline campy. Our desire was to tell a really grounded, character driven and psychologically horrific version of Pet Sematary, which in my belief, is the scariest book that King ever wrote."

I agree. The book was terrifying! But, I also thought the original movie was terrifying. In my opinion, the original film is one of the scariest damn films of all time! Buhler went on to talk about his experience with the novel and how he connected with it saying:

"It fucked me when I read it in high school,” the writer continued, “and I always remember hearing that it was the one book King chucked in the garbage, because it was too scary and dark, and it was his wife and his friend Peter Straub who were like, ‘You have to publish this.’ Now, as a father of a five year old and a nine year old, I really connected to this story of grief and loss and what it could do to a family in a different way, in that, how far would a parent go to return to their life prior to a tragic event? All of that feels so poignant and universal. It’s our desire to really reconnect to those elements of the story and bring them into a world that speaks to the modern horror audience."

As for whether or not the movie will include the characters Victor Pascow or Zelda, he says, " There may be Victor, there may be some Zelda, and there will definitely be some Louis and Rachel and Gage and Ellie." He then goes on to say that he thinks this will be the scariest King adaptation ever!

"I will say this, if you love the book, you’ll love this movie. (Directors) Dennis and Kevin are both such visionaries in terms of how they’ve approached it, from not only a horror standpoint but also a character standpoint, and it’s been really gratifying to work with those guys. I think we’re on track to it make one of the scariest Stephen King adaptations ever! That’s our goal anyway."

I hope that turns out to be true! It's going to be really hard to outdo what the original film did in terms of bringing on the sheer terror, but if they actually pull this off it could be awesome. Do you think that they will pull it off?

So far the remake stars Jason Clarke as Louis Creed and John Lithgow as Jud Crandell. I'm sure more casting will be announced soon.