‘Pet Sematary’ to release in India in April

New Delhi, Feb 8 (IANS) Jason Clarke's "Pet Sematary", which will have a big twist from the novel it is based on, will release in India on April 5.

Based on Stephen King's novel of the same name, "Pet Sematary" is directed by Kevin Kolsch and Dennis Widmyer. It also stars Amy Seimetz and John Lithgow.

A Paramount Pictures project, the film will be exclusively distributed in India by Viacom18 Motion Pictures, read a statement.

"Pet Sematary" follows Dr. Louis Creed (Clarke), who, after relocating with his wife Rachel (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 neighbour, Jud Crandall (Lithgow), setting off a perilous chain reaction that unleashes an unfathomable evil with horrific consequences.

There is a big twist in the film as the filmmakers decided to kill off the big sister Ellie, and not her little brother Gage, as in the original novel.

"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," Widmyer said in a statement.

To this, producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura said: "I've been lucky enough to have worked on something like 80 different book or graphic novel (adaptations). 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."

Kolsch said: "You have also got to be sure that you are making changes for the right reasons, not just a shock factor. And changing it to Ellie makes absolute sense to the story."

Widmyer says "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," Widmyer added.

Bonaventura also said: "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."