The “unrelentingly dark” movie Guillermo del Toro said he “would kill” to direct
Guillermo del Toro is an Oscar-nominated director and screenwriter brimming with original ideas whose hallmark blend of horror, fantasy, and fairytale has produced some true modern classics, in terms of both striking visuals and captivating stories.
A unique voice in cinema, the Mexican superstar is also partial to adapting other people’s work for the big screen, with his two most recent movies being takes on stories that are baked into the very fabric of fiction, Pinocchio and Frankenstein, each transcribed in del Toro’s inimitable style.
Even his ‘original’ ideas take cues from other people and works of art, such as The Shape of Water, which is heavily inspired by The Creature from the Black Lagoon, while Pan’s Labyrinth, which borrows indiscriminately from Greek mythology to Alice in Wonderland, but given how big an impact both men have had on the horror sphere, it’s surprising that del Toro has never worked with Stephen King.
It’s clear that there’s a mutual appreciation between the two, as the acclaimed author is a big fan of the director’s first American film, Mimic, although del Toro would rather he wasn’t, and the filmmaker, in turn, is clearly an admirer of King’s, with one book in particular standing out.
In 2015, del Toro posted the following on his X account: “Book of the Day: PET SEMATARY by Stephen King. Unrelentingly dark and emotional. Compulsive reading. Would kill to make it on film”.
Pet Sematary (yes, it’s spelt that way on purpose) was first published in 1983, detailing the Creed family, who move to a new house in Maine (where else?) next to a graveyard where local children bury their dead pets. The twist is that the graveyard has the ability to bring things back to life, which is exactly what happens to the family’s cat when it’s run over by a truck; however, when the Creeds’ young son dies in the same way, his resurrection goes horribly wrong.
The first film adaptation of Pet Sematary came out in 1989 and was directed by Mary Lambert, where Dale Midkiff plays Louis Creed, the head of the family, while the demonic zombie child Gage was portrayed by a three-year-old Miko Hughes. The film was a big success, buoyed by an original theme song performed by the Ramones, but the less said about the sequel, which was based on entirely new characters and ideas, the better.
The film was remade in 2019 by Kevin Kölsch and Dennis Widmyer, with Jason Clarke playing Louis, while John Lithgow appeared as wise neighbour Jud, and once again, the movie was a big financial success that spawned a god-awful follow-up, a 2023 prequel called Pet Sematary: Bloodlines.
Del Toro has reached the point in his career where he can do pretty much whatever he wants, and having described Frankenstein as a dream project, he could definitely take on another one. Sadly, the stink of Bloodlines is still very much in the air, but when it passes, there’s every chance we could get a brand new version of the story that could blow all the others out of the grave.
