One
Stephen King adaptation that is often overlooked is the late 80's yarn
Pet Sematary, a technically pedestrian and workaday affair- and yet this small scale production retained much of the novels inherently unsettling qualities- pre-dominantly because it was scripted by King himself. Yet, on the back of the developments recently with
The Stand and
Dark Towers series that are soon to be coming to the silver-screen, Paramount Pictures have announced they still intend to remake the King Pet Sematary original, first announced as a possibility last year.
The L.A. Times reports that the writer of Mimic, Halloween: H2O and the adaptation of King's 1408,
Matthew Greenburg, will soon turn in a script for the remake. Given the respect the studio appear to be showing toward scripting, and the fact that the 1989 original doesnt really need to be remade, it is likely that this will be the least anticipated of the trio of new King films. For those who haven't seen the original or read the book, the plot goes like this;
A family trades the city life for the country life in Maine, then discovers that they have moved near a pet cemetery that rests on an ancient burial ground. When the husbands toddler son is killed in an auto accident, the father takes the boys body to the cemetery, where it is resurrected in demonic form.
Paramount are readying to seek out a 'high-level director' for the film.
After a decade in which he became somewhat unfashionable, both as an author, and as a source of inspiration to film-makers,
Stephen King sure appears to have acquired a new and sudden popularity. Though still handsomely remunerated for his writing, it has been some time since King has commanded exorbitant funds for his iconic, pulpish science-fiction and horror-tales of the 1980s, never the less there are now no less than three major films in development based on his literature. Even in his pomp, King has always had something of a love-hate relationship with the medium of cinema. Some of his best novels have been poorly treated by film-makers, often robbing them of their uneven charm- failing to grasp his unusually frank psychological insights, especially into the minds and lives of children. It was an especially good example where the messy, abstract, yet fearless imagery of the books final act was almost entirely altered- spoiling what had threatened to be a very good horror film.
There are too many adaptations to discuss them all, of course, but David Cronenburg produced a worthwhile version of The Dead Zone, Misery drew one of Kathy Bates finest career performances and The Shawshank Redemption was a runaway hit. It is probably a shame that Kings most famous film is Kubricks iconic- but hopelessly misjudged- The Shining. Hopefully Pet Sematary, The Dark Tower or The Stand will set a new precedence for his work on film.