Why You Should Be Excited About The New Pet Sematary Directors
A horror duo of substantial promise.
After the massive box office success of IT, there was never much question that more high-profile Stephen King adaptations would be winging their way to screens. Subsequently, yesterday's announcement that Paramount are working on a new take on Pet Sematary - King's 1983 novel, first filmed in 1989 by Mary Lambert - wasn't necessarily too big a surprise.
However, on the off-chance that some fans are quick to dismiss a new Pet Sematary as just another cash-grab remake jumping on the King renaissance bandwagon, there is considerable cause for optimism here in Paramount's choice of directors Kevin Kolsch and Dennis Widmyer, duo behind one of the best horror movies of recent years that not nearly enough people have seen: Starry Eyes.
Made in 2014, Starry Eyes centres on young actress portrayed by the brilliant Alex Essoe, who finds a major opportunity in an audition for a leading role - but it turns out to be a considerably more sinister deal than anticipated. As well as being a sophisticated and sensitive study of ambition and its capacity to corrupt, Starry Eyes is also one of the most stylish and atmospheric horror movies of recent years. Considering it arrived around the same time as It Follows, it's a crying shame it didn't get attract the same amount of attention.
However, landing Pet Sematary should be a tremendous step forward for Kolsch and Widmyer (who have since directed episodes of TV's Scream, and a chapter of anthology horror Holidays). King himself has declared Pet Sematary to be the only one of his own books that really frightened him, and while Mary Lambert's film isn't bad, there's room for improvement and updating, much as there was with It.
Kolsch and Widmyer definitely have what it takes to make Pet Sematary as scary as possible, and after It's success we can surely expect Paramount won't be concerned about the rating. Happy days for horror fans ahead.