Unearthed & Untold: The Path to Pet Sematary

[hagios]

From filmmakers John Campopiano & Justin White comes Unearthed & Untold: The Path to Pet Sematary, the new documentary that focuses on the adaptation of Stephen King’s “Pet Sematary.”



“Unearthed & Untold: The Path to ‘Pet Sematary’ is an independent documentary taking an extensive look at the making of Pet Sematary, the origins of the story, the stories of cast and crew, memories of the Maine locals who helped make the film, and the legacy the film has established among horror fans and scholars of Stephen King’s work. In addition to featuring many cast and crew members never before interviewed about their involvement in the film, this documentary will also take fans on a tour of all the filming locations. With never-before-seen photographs and footage from behind-the-scenes, original props from the film, media coverage of the 1988 production, and new stories about the Hollywood production being on location in Maine, Unearthed & Untold: The Path to ‘Pet Sematary’ is an all-encompassing documentary by fans for the fans.”

UNEARTHED & UNTOLD: THE PATH TO PET SEMATARY - *Official Trailer* 2013 - YouTube

In the past we've seen fan documentaries for the Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday the 13th franchises, as well as Return of the Living Dead, and now it's time to shine the spotlight on one of my personal favorite films...

...a movie that forever erased the happy memories the name Zelda at one point in time instilled in me; Pet Sematary.

Super fans and filmmakers John Campopiano and Justin White have been hard at work on Unearthed & Untold: The Path to Sematary, a thoroughly extensive documentary about the making of the film that's set for release sometime later this year.

[cinemaphile]

does every single movie need its own feature-length documentary? No.

...but actually, I gotta admit... I'll watch it. I gobble this kind of stuff up. I love all these documentaries being made lately (anybody know of a list anywhere?). The problem is, I wouldn't PAY to watch any of them, and they're not the kind of thing my library is going to carry, so I don't see most of them.

[Monterey Jack]

The movie isn't NEARLY as terrifying as the book. I'd actually welcome a remake of this.

[MikeScott]

The movie scared the crap out of me when I was younger. Still creeps me out. I'd watch this documentary and I'd welcome a remake as well. Could be awesome.

[Dubstar]

I haven't read or seen the movie in quite some time, but wasn't the demise Victor Pascow graphically depicted in the book, but not in the film. I remember reading from Fangoria at around the time of the release of the gory makeup for his death scene

[The Great Owl]

I first read the Stephen King novel in the mid-1980s when it was initially released in paperback. I was in middle school at the time. When I finished that first reading, I believed that nobody would ever be able to make a decent movie adaptation, because I felt that Pet Sematary was an "unfilmable" story.

I still believe that.

Pet Sematary is a dark novel, even by Stephen King's standards, and it is more like a classic Victorian horror story, as opposed to being a Stephen King horror story.

Stephen King's Pet Sematary is also one of the clearest examples of how the medium of literature cannot always mesh with the medium of cinema. There are certain nuances of every written story that are simply not conducive to a visual interpretation, and the conclusion of the Stephen King novel will probably never be adapted in a way that does not turn out to be unintentionally comical.

This 1989 film adaptation of Pet Sematary is just flat out comical in every way to me. I'm inclined to think that Stephen King invested so much emotion in the novel that he did not see the need for a film adaptation to be treated with any semblance of reverence.

The conclusion of the novel is chilling and it reverberates long after one puts the book down.
The conclusion of the movie is slapstick, pure and simple.

I don't know if this movie necessarily deserves a full-length documentary, but I am admittedly curious about the thought process that was involved in adapting this particular novel to film.

[HorrorBlu]

It's been probably over a decade since I read the book, but from what I remember the movie was an extremely faithful adaptation. There's not a huge difference.

As with any book-to-film adaptation, there are going to be little nuances and scenes that won't make in into the film. But going from memory, they were pretty much the same.

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by HorrorBlu

It's been probably over a decade since I read the book, but from what I remember the movie was an extremely faithful adaptation. There's not a huge difference.

As with any book-to-film adaptation, there are going to be little nuances and scenes that won't make in into the film. But going from memory, they were pretty much the same.

The funny thing about it is that the film adaptation of Pet Sematary actually was faithful to the novel storyline.

It's a great case study, however, for the notion that the horror of what we see on the screen during a movie adaptation can often never match the horror of what we see in our own imaginations when we are reading the source novel. The conclusion of Pet Sematary is a case in point.

The way that the (awesome) Ramones song kicks in at the final second of the film has always struck me as the director's wink at the audience, as if to verify the fact that any attempt to duplicate the effect of the novel's conclusion is futile.

I do not think that Pet Sematary is a bad movie, but I do think that the filmmakers are winking at us the entire time. I mean, Fred Gwynne, who played Herman Munster, playing the role of Jud Crandall, the most reflective and sobering presence in the novel? I cannot think of any other explanation.