‘Pet Sematary’ Announces Casting of Iconic Horrifying Role

The upcoming adaptation of Stephen King‘s Pet Sematary has officially wrapped, with the production confirming that Alyssa Brooke Levine played the memorable role of Zelda in the film.

While Zelda might only be briefly featured in the story, viewers who saw the 1989 adaptation of the novel know how frightening the sequences were.

Zelda was Rachel Creed’s sister who suffered from spinal meningitis. In the film, actor Andrew Hubatsek portrayed the role, using his physicality to convey an unsettlingly contorted depiction of the character, burning the image into our mind for decades.

It’s unclear if directors Dennis Widmyer and Kevin Kolsch will go the same route as the previous adaptation and the character’s physical trauma or if they’ll aim to avoid recreating the role as to not be compared to the original.

Based on the seminal horror novel by Stephen King, Pet Sematary follows Dr. Louis Creed (Jason Clarke), who, after relocating with his wife Rachel (Amy Seimetz) and their two young children from Boston to rural Maine, discovers a mysterious burial ground hidden deep in the woods near the family’s new home. When tragedy strikes, Louis turns to his unusual neighbor, Jud Crandall (John Lithgow), setting off a perilous chain reaction that unleashes an unfathomable evil with horrific consequences.

King is in the middle of a massive resurgence in popularity, with a variety of different film and TV projects drawing inspiration from his stories. Last year’s IT proved a defining project in the creator’s career, as the storyline had previously been adapted into a miniseries, with last year’s film proving a new creative approach could breathe life into a story that had previously been adapted.

The film’s writer, Jeff Buhler, claimed that not only will this new incarnation of the story be more successful than the last adaptation, but could ultimately be the most effective King adaptation ever.

“I will say this, if you love the book, you’ll love this movie,” Buhler shared with Dread Central. “Dennis and Kevin are both such visionaries in terms of how they’ve approached it, from not only a horror standpoint but also a character standpoint, and it’s been really gratifying to work with those guys. I think we’re on track to it make one of the scariest Stephen King adaptations ever! That’s our goal anyway.”

Fans will see how the new film stacks up when Pet Sematary lands in theaters on April 5, 2019.

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

[H/T Bloody Disgusting]