Stephen King’s scariest book was doing ‘elevated horror’ back in the ’80s. And now, as King-mania reaches fever pitch, PET SEMATARY is set to be 2019’s most unnerving horror. Total Film goes on set in the dead of night to dig into some extremely grave matters…
Biffer, Biffer, a helluva sniffer. Total Film is standing in a forest clearing an hour’s drive from Montréal, Canada. It’s 2am and the smell of wet pine needles and damp earth gets into your throat and lungs. It tastes like… death. Or maybe that’s the concentric circles of gravestones inscribed with the higgledy-piggledy handwriting of bereaved children, for here, in the clearing signposted Pet Sematary, lay the dear departed pets of generations of local kids.
Marta our pet rabit. Hannah the best dog that ever lived. Smucky the cat, he was obediant. Trixie, kilt on the highway. Biffer, Biffer, a helluva sniffer.
Two silhouetted figures enter the graveyard. One of them clutches a shovel and a green plastic bin bag that knocks heavily against his legs. The men trade whispers in the dark and the one clutching the bag starts off alone, past the tombstones towards a 12ft wall of fallen trees and broken branches. It almost seems like a barrier, designed to block passage. But the man begins to climb. Higher and higher he goes, at last reaching the top and swinging first one leg over and then the other. He slithers out of sight.
Beyond lies the forest. And, as fans of Stephen King’s 1983 bestseller will certainly know – once read, it’s in your bones for life – another burial ground, this one ancient and belonging to the indigenous Micmac tribe. Its stony earth holds the power to return the dead to life, or so the locals murmur. Only sometimes dead is better…
“I held off on reading Pet Sematary because the back of the novel said, ‘The most terrifying book ever written,’” grins director Dennis Widmyer, who first started bingeing on King paperbacks at the age of 11. And when he finally plucked up the courage to crack open its pages, aged 12, “It shook me to the core.”
Denne historien er fra March 2019-utgaven av Total Film.
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Denne historien er fra March 2019-utgaven av Total Film.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
Back With a Vengeance - Sir Ridley Scott returns to the Colosseum with Gladiator II, the long-awaited sequel to the greatest historical epic of this century. Total Film meets the director and cast to discover how Maximus' legacy is echoing in eternity.
Ridley Scott is not a filmmaker to repeat himself. It's a trait that's all the more remarkable when you consider how prolific he's been over the nearly five decades since his feature debut, 1977's The Duellists. Alien prequels Prometheus and Alien: Covenant are the only times he's gone back to the same world, and those films are radical departures from the original.
Bad Romance - Timestalker Alice Lowe falls in love with the wrong man time and time again...
Her antidote to that? Timestalker a dark not-quite-romcom set over the course of centuries. Her protagonist Agnes finds herself attracted to the same man, Alex (Dunkirk's Aneurin Barnard), in every lifetime as she's reincarnated in the 1680s, 1790s, 1980s and the 22nd century. As romantic as that may sound, there's a bit of a catch: 'He's sort of a dickhead. On the surface he's appealing, but under, he's not.'
McQueen & Country
A moment of national pride and terror comes to the screen with World War Two historical drama Blitz. Total Film speaks to writer/director Steve McQueen and his stars Saoirse Ronan and Stephen Graham about uncovering the truth and celebrating the triumph of a defining moment in modern British history.
'I WAS, AND AM STILL, SURPRISED BY EVERY OPPORTUNITY. I'VE BEEN CONTINUOUS AND FEEL AT THE TOP OF MY FORM' JEFF GOLDBLUM
Seth Brundle. Dr. Ian Malcolm. Grandmaster. Jeff Goldblum has played some titanic characters over his 50-year career, and is celebrating a half-century on our screens by going bigger than ever. First he played Zeus in Netflix show Kaos, and now he's the Wizard of Oz in Wicked. Total Film meets the man behind the curtain...
STICKY SITUATION
Seven years on from his last big-screen appearance, marmalade's biggest fan returns for Paddington in Peru. Total Film talks to director Dougal Wilson, actor Hugh Bonneville and the visual-effects wizards who make the magic happen...
BORN TO BE WILD
BROTHERS IS THE MOST SURPRISING ACTION COMEDY OF THE YEAR, AND NOT JUST BECAUSE JOSH BROLIN AND PETER DINKLAGE PLAY CRIMINAL TWINS. TOTAL FILM ROUNDS UP THE STARS TO TALK ABOUT DYSFUNCTIONAL FAMILIES, THE 'HARD AS NAILS' COMEDIES THEY GREW UP WITH, AND MASTURBATING MONKEYS...
TRIPPING THE LIGHT FANTASTIC
ALL WE IMAGINE AS LIGHT Payal Kapadia's film shows the Mumbai you've never seen...
HUMPH DAY BOGART: LIFE COMES IN FLASHES
Behind every great man is a great woman. Or in Humphrey Bogart's case, four great women...
CALLING THE SHOTS
NEVER LOOK AWAY Lucy Lawless directs a bio-doc about a trailblazing camerawoman...
A FAMILY HEIRLOOM
THE PIANO LESSON Malcolm Washington's feature debut is all about family...