Y’know, every movie should have a little John Lithgow. One of the most prolific actors of all time, Lithgow has made a name for himself in everything from HARRY AND THE HENDERSONS to 3rd Rock From The Sun to RICOCHET to CLIFFHANGER to to Dexter to RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES and yes, even with that dreadful DADDY’S HOME sequel and beyond. Now, Lithgow will be adding his horrorifically great talents to the latest adaptation of Stephen King‘s classic novel PET SEMATARY as Jud Crandall, the secretive man who introduces the main protagonist in the story to the titular “sematary”. The protagonist, Louis Creed, has already been cast with ZERO DARK THIRTY’s Jason Clarke.

The part of Crandall in the 1989 film was played by the late Fred Gwynne of The Munsters fame, while Creed was played by Dale Midkiff. Obviously, the success of IT has propelled every Stephen King property under the sun into some form of production, including the sequel to IT, so it’s no surprise that Pet Sematary is on the assembly line as well. STARRY EYES directors Kevin Kolsch and Dennis Widmyer are at the helm here and that film proved that they have some bloody good sensibilities for a tale like this. The ’89 film always creeped me out, although that damn Ramones song stuck with me more than anything else. It’s catchy as hell. I’ll embed it below just to pass on the curse.

PET SEMATARY is currently slated to be released on April 19th, 2019.