Introduction
Cinema Scholars’ own Ben Miller recently sat down with director Lindsey Anderson Beer to discuss her new feature film, Pet Sematary: Bloodlines. They talked about her directorial debut, the film’s inspiration, and the female gaze in horror.
(Lighted edited for clarity)
Ben Miller:
I’m always curious about first-time directors and whenever this is your first film, do you go into it with an idea of how you want to prepare? Do you go into it thinking “I’m gonna be this type of director” and storyboard and this-or-that, or do you kind of just take it as it comes?
Lindsey Anderson Beer:
I guess I’m a little bit of both. I’m a big planner in life, but I also like to open things up to possibility and be flexible. I’m somebody who when I’m shooting…if there’s what you plan, there’s what you storyboard, there’s what you write…then you get into a physical space with real physical people and there’s always an opportunity to beat what you had in your head. So my approach is always “That’s what we are planning for, but what’s better?” Where’s the opportunity here, what is this cool angle we weren’t even thinking about because we weren’t in this physical space? What’s a better line? I like to let the actors improve if they want to. I’m not beholden to every sentence as I wrote. I guess planning, but flexibility would be the key.
Ben Miller:
Has your experience as a director changed how you think about scriptwriting? Do you view it as a director’s eye on how to write a film?
Lindsey Anderson Beer:
It’s a funny question and it’s one I get a lot. Because I actually came here wanting to direct. When I’ve been writing previously, it’s actually an exercise in restraint trying not to be overly specific. It’s somebody else’s job to think up the cinematography and the production design elements. I’ve been called out by quite a few directors who have read my scripts and said, “You want to be a director, don’t you?” So, once I was finally rewriting knowing I was directing, and rewriting other things knowing I was directing, it’s a very freeing experience being able to write everything I see in my head rather than holding myself back.
Ben Miller:
You mentioned not being beholden to a script and letting actors improvise. With the stacked cast, you have…Henry Thomas! Pam Grier! The experience of these actors…knowing these guys are pros and know how to deal with this stuff having been through every single type of production. Does that really help the process?
Lindsey Anderson Beer:
Absolutely. Especially since it’s a large cast and it’s very split between some younger up-and-comers, who I think are totally phenomenal, and a more experienced cast who play more of the old guard in the film. From [David] Duchovny to Pam Grier, to Henry Thomas, all of them were just so wonderful on set and very easy to work with.
Ben Miller:
In the sense of this being a prequel to a very well-known story based on a book, with this being a prequel, how loyal are you to the previous film? Do you use it as a gospel, or more as a rough outline?
Lindsey Anderson Beer:
No, I didn’t use any of the films at all as a gospel, just the book. I think the film started as a prequel to the 2019 film because the previous writer on the project, Jeff Buhler, was a writer on the 2019 film and it’s the same producer. When I came aboard, I felt like there was so much I wanted to change. I love the 89 film too, but what made me fall in love with Pet Sematary was the book. The book is so amazing, that for me had to be the basis for what we are writing about. So I consider it a prequel to the book.
Ben Miller:
I was really caught by something in the film. In horror, there is a tendency to be a male gaze. You think of the torture porn genre and all these girls have to be scantily clad in these dire situations. I feel like there was an intentional amount of guy skin in this movie.
Lindsey Anderson Beer:
Are you talking about the shirtless Jud scene?
Ben Miller:
Yes, the shirtless Jud scene, but he’s also in a tank top for the last 30 minutes of this movie, and this guy is so jacked…it’s actually refreshing. The characters even make a comment about it in the film. Was it intentional?
Lindsey Anderson Beer:
Umm…there is definitely a little bit of intention there when it comes to subverting the male gaze of horror, for sure. How jacked Jackson [White] came to set was not something I had planned or was asking for. I think he really went on a journey working out for all the action that came in the last half of the film. In terms of the tank top, that was just interesting when we were doing costume fittings. He felt most comfortable in that. It was less a purposeful subverting of the male gaze and more trying to be attuned to what he was responding to. I’ve heard a lot of people comment on that stuff, and just because he reminds me of my brother I’ve never thought about it that way…at all.
Ben Miller:
He could have gotten into a quagmire of impression of John Lithgow with Jackson, but he doesn’t do that. Since you are basing this off the book, is that something you had talked about?
Lindsey Anderson Beer:
It is something we talked about a lot. He talked more about Fred Gwynne than John Lithgow and he felt a lot of pressure to fill that role. But we wanted to do our own thing with it. Also, when you are younger, you just aren’t the same person you were decades later. We didn’t feel a responsibility for him to be the same person we had seen in other films. Since this was a prequel to the books and not the films, we felt freer for him to do his own thing.
Ben Miller:
One of my favorite things about horror films is brevity. This film at 84 minutes does not feel lacking. Was that ever an intention or did you just fill it with what it is filled with and that just happened to be the time? Or was it intentional to not make it go too long?
Lindsey Anderson Beer:
It was very intentional and a long exercise in economy. Pet Sematary as a property is such an interesting mix of character drama and horror. I have a lot of scenes of character drama that are on the cutting room floor. It became just an exercise of “how much of that do we need to understand who these characters are, and how much of it is indulging me, Lindsey, a person who loves these characters?” I’m really happy with the balance we ended up with. You understand the friendships, you understand the characters, and none of it comes at the expense of the tension.
Ben Miller:
I wanted to talk about the character Timmy and actor Jack Mulhern. When you see him in the film, he’s not a large, intimidating figure, but he casts such a long shadow and is utterly terrifying. Talk about the discovery of that guy.
Lindsey Anderson Beer:
Yeah. Timmy was one of the last people I cast. There were a lot of really talented people who raised their hands, but his audition was such a heartbreaking mix of vulnerable and human and absolutely terrifying. He has that switch in him. The Pet Sematary version of what a possessed character is, to me, was necessary and a standout. He lost 40 pounds for this role…I did not ask him to do this. It’s a testament to him and his acting ability. He still feels so unsettling and imposing, even in that smaller frame.
Ben Miller:
Congratulations on your debut and thank you for talking with me.
Lindsey Anderson Beer:
Thank you for taking the time.
Starring Jackson White, Natalie Alyn Lind, Pam Grier, and David Duchovny, Pet Sematary: Bloodlines premiered at Fantastic Fest on September 23, 2023. The film was released by Paramount+ on October 6, 2023, in the United States.
