Bloodlines’ Director Talks Stephen King and ‘Sleepy Hollow’

To celebrate the upcoming physical release of Pet Sematary: Bloodlines on December 19, 2023, I sat down with the film’s writer/director, Lindsey Anderson Beer, to unearth the terrifying prequel.

Beyond her successful Stephen King origin story, Beer talks about her upcoming Sleepy Hollow reboot for Paramount, working with Quentin Tarantino, and her stint developing a Wizard of Oz sequel.

Check out my conversation with Lindsey Anderson Beer below.

Dread Central: Stephen King has alluded that Pet Sematary is, in some ways, his scariest work. Do you agree with that?

Lindsey Anderson Beer: I do. I think I do agree with that. It’s the only book of his that I read, and I felt physically ill, so I think I would say yes.

DC: Are there any other Stephen King works that you think could expand with a prequel?

LAB: I think that all of his books are so richly drawn with such complex worlds and characters that almost any of them could really justify a prequel. But there’s not one where I’m like, oh my God, this demands a prequel. But because I love all of his stories, I think as a fan, I would sit back and watch a prequel to anything he’s ever written.

DC: You’ve included substantive Indigenous characters in Pet Sematary: Bloodlines. Why was that important, and how did you go about doing that with care?

LAB: That was incredibly important to me. Pet Sematary was written at a certain time when it was very common to use tropes of the mystical Indigenous, and that had been used in Pet Sematary, but without the point of view of Indigenous people. And for me, politics aside, anytime something becomes a trope, I think it’s time to maybe revisit it. And so, it was important to me not only to revisit the mythology but also to make sure that we had people representing the Indigenous point of view in this movie.

I not only worked with consultants but also let the actors, Isabella and Forrest, have a lot of input into their characters.

DC: I noticed hints of queerness with Manny. Is that something that you’ve thought of before?

LAB: I think it can be totally open to interpretation. I think there’s so much love between him and Judd. However, if somebody wants to interpret it, it is totally up to them. But there could definitely be a romantic dramedy from the cutting room floor.

DC: I understand that you come from a background in AI and robotics. How does that world overlap with storytelling and cinema for you?

LAB: I studied AI and robotics as a background to wanting to have a career in filmmaking and science fiction and thrillers and horror. So for me, it was subject matter that I felt very just ripe for understanding the human condition and kind of subtle futurism. But I think that there’s a connection between science and the arts anyway. There’s, I guess, a yearning to understand how the universe works and make sense of the human experience.

DC: What was it like working with Quentin Tarantino in the writer’s room for his unproduced Star Trek?

LAB: That was amazing. He is so energetic and just full of ideas, and he talks a million miles per hour, and he loves what he does so much, and I’m always really inspired by people who have a pure joy for what they do, and that’s always really contagious. So yeah, I loved working with him.

DC: What other IP have you worked on?

LAB: The list is too long, and in Hollywood, television is so fast, but features are so slow, and sometimes it can take a decade or 20 years for something to get made, The Wizard of Oz is one I really hope actually gets made because I was really proud of that script. It’s not easy to make a Wizard of Oz sequel that feels worth making, but I was proud of that one.

DC: What was that like, tonally?

LAB: It was a mix between darkness and the whimsy of the original, but a little bit of that darkness that I think a modern-day audience may need to feel realistic.

DC: What’s next for you?

LAB: I’m working on a Sleepy Hollow reboot for Paramount, and that’s really fun. I read the short story in elementary school, and I was definitely obsessed with the Tim Burton movie as well. It delves a lot more into the original stories, mythology, and true ghost stories from the Hudson Valley, and it’s a fun one.

Find out why sometimes dead is better when the terrifying prequel Pet Sematary: Bloodlines becomes available to buy on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray™, and DVD on December 19 from Paramount Home Entertainment. 

Based on the untold chapter from Stephen King’s bone-chilling novel Pet Sematary, Pet Sematary: Bloodlines follows a young Jud Crandall in 1969.  The blood-curdling thriller stars Jackson White as Jud and an outstanding ensemble cast including Forrest Goodluck, Jack Mulhern, Henry Thomas, and Natalie Alyn Lind, with Pam Grier and David Duchovny.

Pet Sematary: Bloodlines and Pet Sematary (2019) will also be available in a 2-Movie Collection on Digital or DVD.  Experience two generations of horror in this terrifying double feature, which makes a  perfect gift for collectors and fans of Stephen King.

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