In 1999 when the Green Mile hit movie theaters, Stephen King did an interview where he listed his own favorite movie adaptations made from his books. I think it was Entertainment Weekly, maybe not, but probably. Anyway, It was King’s favorites, not the critics and not ours, which means of course, as we all well know by this point in time, The Shining was most definitely absent from the list. For those of you who have seen Ready Player One, the Master of Horror’s dislike for Stanley Kubrick’s version of his book has become so well known that is has become pop culture trivia worthy of deep levels of proud nerd-dom.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwyoKJiB9Vk

In ’99 however, it wasn’t as well known a fact. I knew it, and certainly anyone who read the article found out because The Shining did not make the list. But Pet Semetary did. The 1989 film written for the screen by King himself, is about to make a comeback next month and given his praise for the piece I am honestly surprised.

But let me come back to that…

A lot has been written about “The King Come Back” lately and being the GIGANTIC fan that I am, well I am going to add one more! I searched high and low for the article I keep referring to but I can’t find it, so you are going to have to rely on my memory. Which ain’t too bad honestly so you’re in luck!

Not surprisingly your favorite author and mine named Stand By Me as his favorite film in the article. The close second was Shawshank of course, and Green Mile came in right after that. At this point in time Frank Darabont is his buddy and the only man alive that really succeeds in getting S.K.’s special style of dialogue directly from page to screen. (The Mist didn’t come along until a few years later so it didn’t make the list). Think you can guess his other picks?

Now its 1999 and remember, this is a list of a dozen or so of King’s favorites, so they may or may not be the absolute best of the best…just for fun I will give you the Rotten Tomatoes score for each.

• Misery: Obviously. God I remember when this came out. My brother was only 17 and it was rated R. My dad had to go with us, forced to watch the worst moment in foot crushing history. I don’t think I have watched the movie since. 89%
• Delores Clairborne: Starring Kathy Bates. Once again. Its not super, but its really frigging good. If you haven’t seen it I highly recommend. Critics liked this one too. 83%. SO far so good.
• Carrie: First movie has to be on the list. 93%. I’m not sure how it fared originally but the cult following it has gotten over the years has made this a classic.
• Cujo: Kid doesn’t die in the movie but it doesn’t matter. Its still really good. Dropping to 60% but still not bad.
• Christine: Not sure why he liked this one. I mean I loved it as a kid. I remember thinking it was hilarious every time the car played a different song when it killed someone. My brother and I found it especially amusing when the bullies try to get into the car and Christine start’s blasting Little Richard’s “Keep on Knocking But You Can’t Come In.” Surprisingly the movie sticks at 69% on Rotten tomatoes…even higher than Cujo.

• Now here is where my memory gets fuzzy. I KNOW my friend Mr. King did not agree with the critics on everything, not even a little. I’m inclined to think he stuck Maximum Overdrive in there because he directed it himself and no one would ever accuse him of lacking humility. But at a whopping 17% on the Tomato reader and we know that’s not true.
• Firestarter is a possibility. I want to hope it was on the list. Drew Barrymore at the height of her early childhood career. George C. Scott, Martin Sheen, David Keith. Great movie, obviously better book. It probably didn’t make the list. But in my head it did. 38%
• The Dead Zone: Definitely on the list! Gah I forgot about this one! 1983 Christopher Walken before I even knew who Christopher Walken was! And Martin Sheen. Again! Yeah, this one made it I guarantee.

Which brings me to the last on the list and our subject at hand…Pet Semetary. 1989. I saw this in the theater. I was 15 and at the time the Fayetteville Mall stood in place of the current Town Center. It wasn’t there long, but right where Target and its neighbors now live, there was a tiny little movie theater with 2 or 3 screens in it. I can’t remember who I went with. It wasn’t my mom. Right around the time Pet Semetary came out, coincidentally the same time she had introduced his books to me, she had sworn off King for good. Once little Gage wanders into the street in front of that semi, poor mom closed her final Stephen King book and didn’t open another for a good twenty years.

I want to say my former babysitter Lisa took me to the theater. The only famous person in the movie was dear old Fred Gwynne, formerly Herman Munster, just wonderful as the old guy who introduces the dad in the family to the pet cemetery of the title. The editing in the movie is choppy as hell as I remember it. But Fred is great. Ditto the random guy that plays Victor Pascow the poor biker who gets hit by a car at the top of the story and comically haunts Louis throughout the film. There are some downright terrifying moments, two or three that I will NEVER forget and one in particular that keeps me from ever wanting to see the film again. I mean, that is saying something right?

At the time of the article, my friend Stephen had a quick and dirty little sentence or two written for each of his top movies. A reason why he had chosen each one. The reason I remember Pet Semetary being on the list was the utter hilarious simplicity of his explanation for putting it there. He said and I quote, “The critics hated it, I loved it. Screw ’em.”

Pet Semetary still hangs at 50% on Rotten Tomatoes. It already looks like this new release is going to bury the old one…wow…no pun intended. I certainly hope it performs better and I hope the critics treat it and Mr. King with the respect he is long over due. But I also kind of hope he and everyone else remembers…we didn’t actually NEED this remake. Pet Semetary had its turn. To be fair, so did IT. I’m perfectly happy to see another. But we don’t really, actually need it. After all, we still got plenty more stories to go don’t we?