Source: Paramount/Viacom Inc. dropped the first trailer for their anticipated remake of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary. Directed by Kevin Kölsch and Dennis Widmyer (the folks behind the superb Starry Eyes) and adapted by Jeff Buhler, this will be the second film version of King’s acclaimed 1983 novel. Amusingly (and sadly), the first film, made 30 years ago, was noteworthy for having a female director, Mary Lambert, but this one has two male directors at the helm. Make of that what you will.

Nonetheless, this first trailer is both quite effective (the imagery and editing get the job done) and quite confusing. While fans will know what they are seeing, I would argue that this first teaser goes so far out of its way to avoid revealing the taboo subject matter (dead animals and dead kids) that it becomes somewhat disjointed. Having said that, this is the first trailer and I imagine the next one will spell out more of the plot, perhaps in a red-band format.

Moreover, both the book and the 1989 movie are popular enough that I’d wager most folks watching this teaser over the last six hours have a pretty good idea of what they are looking at. As for the “Why remake Pet Sematary?” question, it actually has three answers. First, obviously, horror is huge right now, and the horror sub-genre (in all of its forms) is operating as a best-case scenario for the studios. They are getting blockbuster-level grosses from the likes of Get Out, It and A Quiet Place for mid-to-low budget.

Creepy as fuck: