Written by the ‘King of Horror,’ Stephen King, Pet Sematary is an American supernatural horror film. King writes fantasy, horror, crime, science-fiction, psychic, and suspense novels granted him recognition and several awards. Thus, you might guess the quality of the film. Pet Sematary, released in 1989, is based on the novel of the same name written by the same writer. The film made a box office collection of $89.5 million with a budget of $11.5 million.
King wrote the screenplay and advised the filmmakers to film in Maine while selling the rights. Getting mainly involved in the filming process, King used to ask the director, Mary Lambert, for changes she wanted in filming. The film received mixed reviews and average ratings because some viewers appreciated the horror flick while some called it clichéd and cheap.
Filming took place from 15 September 1988 to 11 November 1988, and the filming locations were Hancock, Bangor, Ellsworth, Sedgwick, Bucksport, N. Hampden, Mt. Desert, and Seal Harbor.
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Pet Sematary Filming Locations
Grand Theater
Thousands of locals gathered in the Grand Theater to audition for shorter roles in the film. It is on the Mainstreet, Ellsworth, Maine. The Non-profit Arts Center got established in 1938.
University Of Maine
One of the historic places, the University of Maine, got used as the Orono Hospital in the film. The university stands on a reconstructed Ellsworth Town Hall designed by Edmund Gilchrist. The filmmakers took a permit from the city to dress university offices as hospital rooms.
Mount Hope Cemetery
Stephen King made a cameo in the film by appearing at the human cemetery, presiding over Missy’s funeral as a minister. The human cemetery is the Mount Hope Cemetery at 1048 State St, Bangor, Maine.
The southern part of the cemetery got used for all graveyard scenes in the movie. It contains a steep hill near a stone staircase. Louis returned to dig up Gage in the same cemetery in the film.
Creed’s House
A private residence near Hancock got shown as the Exterior of the Creed’s House. The interior got set on a soundstage in Ellsworth. The filmmakers, looking for a house with a tree, did not find such a house. Thus, they got a tree planted near the home they liked.
After the filming ended, the house owners kept the tree until it died after a few years. The path that takes one from the yard’s edge to the Pet Sematary got constructed for the film.
Jud’s House
Only the principal front of the building got constructed around an existing house. It got portrayed as Jud’s house across the street. As the filmmakers had to burn the mock-up later in the film, they insulated the existing home with fire-proof material so it would not get damaged.
Bangor Arsenal got used to showing the interiors of Jud’s House. The garage and the house have been there since around 1956. However, the tree in the front yard got cut in 2013.
Pet Sematary
One cannot easily recognize the Pet Sematary as the filmmakers did a lot of dressing for the original spot. An appliance store behind the Elks Lodge got used to filming the Pet Sematary.
As of 2017, the place still had a tree root out of the fourteen shown in the film. Similarly, each deadfall end had boulders. These pieces of evidence were enough to believe it got filmed as the Pet Sematary.
Miꞌkmaq Burial Ground
An isolated granite quarry got used as the path to the Miꞌkmaq Burial Ground. Louis and Jud were going through that path along the Deer Brook Trail in the film. The quarry is on Mount Desert Island, the fifty-second largest island in the US, in Acadia National Park southwest of Bar Harbor.
Every single rock in the Granite quarry was the same as shown in the film as of 2017. Talking about the Miꞌkmaq Burial Ground, the white-washed rocks remained in circles and piles till 2017, as shown in Pet Sematary. The burial ground is half a mile away from the main road. So, people must walk instead of driving through the hard rocky road.
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