Guillermo Del Toro is the only director capable of giving this Stephen King book the adaptation it deserves

In Stephen KingIn the wide range of novels published in recent decades, no book has been as dark as Pet Sematist. The horror author was notoriously reluctant to publish the story, deeming it too dark to bring into the world. Worldwide, however, it has given rise to two major film adaptations. The 1989 adaptation of Pet Sematist is the most respected, covering most of the Creed family’s ordeals and even featuring a King cameo early on. Following Dr. Louis Creed (Dale Midkiff), Pet Sematist depicts his decision to move his family from Chicago to rural Maine when he takes a new position as an academic physician. The move goes better than expected and he even becomes friends with his kind neighbor, Jud Crandall (Fred Gwynne).

Things take a worrying turn, however, when the family cat, Church, is hit by a truck. Terrified by the way his daughter, Ellie (Blaze Berdahl), will react, Louis follows Jud’s advice and buries the animal in a sacred place beyond the animal cemetery. Louis is surprised when Church returns, but just as he was when he died. Feeling the rotting corpse and its wounds still visible, Church is no longer the pet his daughter once played with, but a reanimated vessel.

What makes Pet Sematist so dark is not the grief surrounding the loss of a pet, but the grief of a child. King had expressed his own fear of losing a child after one of his own narrowly avoided being hit by a truck. Louis’ grief in the book is King’s hypothetical grief, which makes it all the more real and terrifying. The 1989 film covered these themes and three decades later the book was adapted again, but with many more changes. Despite these attempts, no director has truly managed to perfectly adapt the source material. That honor should go to the master of creature traits, Guillermo del Torowho has not been lacking in his career.

Guillermo del Toro would achieve a perfect blend of light and dark

Guillermo del Toro’s films are often populated with adorable creatures and practical effects, but his work in Netflix’s Cabinet of Curiosities showed his ability to tackle the sensitive subject of mourning. In each episode of the horror anthology series, a different director tackled a different story. Del Toro directed one and wrote the bases for two. One of the most disturbing was “The Murmuring,” based on a short story by del Toro. The episode follows two ornithologists married in the 1950s, who are recovering from the death of their child. During their journey, they encounter the specters of a mother and the son she killed. Pet Sematist didn’t invent grief, but he certainly took advantage of it.

In del Toro’s hands, the director would not only show grueling depictions of history adapted faithfully, but also handle these traumatic themes with grace. Del Toro also experiences the childlike wonder that was present in Louis’ children before he was completely ripped away. With his practical effects skills, he could also make three-year-old Gage’s death much more effective, especially when he returns from the grave. Previous adaptations have struggled to make the third act work in this regard, which would not be the case in the filmmaker’s hands. Pet Sematist has one of the darkest endings present in King’s fiction, but del Toro might be just what it takes to bring this story to life. Viewers can currently watch both adaptations of Pet Sematiststreaming on Paramount+.