Why King never wanted to publish 'Pet Sematary'

Author Stephen King never wanted to publish "Pet Sematary", which went on to become a big hit.

Instead, after he had written it, he hid the novel in a drawer for three years, because he said it was too horrifying to see the light of day.

King only agreed to publish the novel when he was persuaded to do so by his wife Tabitha, to meet a contract agreement, read a statement.

The idea for "Pet Sematary" came from a personal experience when King's daughter's pet cat Smucky, was killed on the road outside their house. Later another truck came close to killing his two-year-old son, Owen, on the same road.

"If things had changed by just five seconds, we'd have lost one of our kids" said King about the moment he grabbed Owen just before he ran onto the road.

The movie adaptation of the novel, starring Jason Clarke, will release in India on April 12. A Paramount Pictures movie, it will be exclusively distributed in India by Viacom18 Motion Pictures.

"Pet Sematary" follows Dr. Louis Creed (Clarke), who, after relocating with his wife Rachel (Amy Seimetz) and their two young children from Boston to rural Maine, discovers a mysterious burial ground hidden deep in the woods near the family's new home. When tragedy strikes, Louis turns to his unusual neighbour, Jud Crandall (John Lithgow), setting off a perilous chain reaction that unleashes an unfathomable evil with horrific consequences.

There is a big twist in the film as the filmmakers decided to kill off the big sister Ellie, and not her little brother Gage, as in the original novel.

--IANS

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