A new trailer for the Paramount+ prequel Pet Sematary: Bloodlines dropped today. The supernatural horror film directed by Lindsey Anderson Beer stars Jackson White, Jack Mulhern, Natalie Alyn Lind, Forrest Goodluck, Isabella Star LaBlanc, Pam Grier, David Duchovny, Samantha Mathis, and Henry Thomas.
In the Pet Sematary: Bloodlines trailer, we get a hint as to why Jud Crandall (White) believes “sometimes dead is better.” The official synopsis reads, “In 1969, a young Jud Crandall has dreams of leaving his hometown of Ludlow, Maine behind, but soon discovers sinister secrets buried within and is forced to confront a dark family history that will forever keep him connected to Ludlow. Banding together, Jud and his childhood friends must fight an ancient evil that has gripped Ludlow since its founding, and once unearthed has the power to destroy everything in its path.” The trailer features a weird-looking dog, angry birds, a creepy pet cemetery — the sign for which is misspelled, of course — and an anxious-looking Duchovny.
Pet Sematary: Bloodlines Is a Prequel to 2019’s Pet Sematary
All of the Pet Sematary movies out there are distributed by Paramount and based on the 1983 novel of the same name by Stephen King. It appears that Pet Sematary: Bloodlines is a prequel to the 2019 film Pet Sematary starring John Lithgow as Jud Crandall. Some outlets are reporting that the new Paramount+ film is a prequel to 1989’s Pet Sematary starring Fred Gwynne as Jud Crandall, but this is true only in the sense that Jud is a character in that movie as well. The confusion is understandable, though, because 1989’s Pet Sematary grossed $89.5 million worldwide and remains popular with horror fans. Although 2019’s Pet Sematary grossed over $113 million worldwide, it got mixed reviews and is not the adaptation most fans think of first.
In 2019, just before the release of the second film adaptation of Pet Sematary, King spoke with Entertainment Weekly about the novel. “I just had the greatest time writing the book until I was done with it,” said King. “Not that it was badly written, necessarily. But all that stuff about the death of kids. It was close to me, because my kids lived on that road.”
About the line “sometimes dead is better,” King explained in the same interview that it is not about taking your own life. “It’s about anybody who’s ever had to deal with a lingering illness or a relative that won’t let go,” said King. “Sometimes the desire to live is just a biological thing, and it’s better when it’s over. Everybody—everybody’s dealt with that, you know? You deal with your parents, your grandparents, and at some point, you just have to let go, that’s all.”
Pet Sematary: Bloodlines premieres October 6 on Paramount+.
