‘Pet Sematary’ Directors Detail That Major Plot Twist From Original Stephen King Story

A new trailer for this year’s Pet Sematary adaptation has debuted, revealing a twist on the original narrative created by Stephen King. While the original story focused on three-year-old Gage Creed being killed by a truck and coming back to life after being buried in ground with supernatural properties, this new interpretation features the death and resurrection of his older sister Ellie.

“That twist was in the script when we came on board, and straight away you could see that it was one of the smartest things in the script. It was new and fresh but also absolutely kept the essence of the novel,” co-director Dennis Widmyer explained in the film’s press kit [H/T Bloody Disgusting]. “One of the things we liked about the novel is that it’s always the character of Ellie who is asking about these things. She’s asking about her cat dying one day and asking all these big questions. So, it felt right for it to be her, to echo these questions to her Dad, to resolve these earlier conversations that we’ve had. It felt like a nice way to connect that theme.”

Co-director Kevin Kolsch pointed out, “You’ve got to be sure that you’re making changes for the right reasons, not just a shock factor. And changing it to Ellie makes absolute sense to the story.”

Early reactions on the internet have been mixed, with some fans appreciating the twist while others feeling as though this was an arbitrary change that could remove a core component of the original story that made it so memorable. With the novel having previously been adapted into a film in 1989, producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura explained his thoughts on why this film needed to make these changes.

“I’ve been lucky enough to have worked on something like 80 different book or graphic novel [adaptations],” the producer explained. “And I think the truth of any success is that if you treat it literally you get in trouble because it feels very static and stale. But if you make too many changes then you’ve lost the essence of what it is. This treads the perfect line. It is about embracing what the book is trying to say, and not trying to change its tone, its rhythm, and its perspective, while also evolving things forward.”

Fans can see how this new interpretation compares to the source material when Pet Sematary lands in theaters on April 5th.

What do you think of this twist? Let us know in the comments below or hit up @TheWolfman on Twitter to talk all things horror and Star Wars!