Podcasts
Pet Sematary 2 Turns 30: Revisiting Mary Lambert’s Underrated Stephen King Sequel [The Losers’ Club Podcast]
After conquering the box office in 1989 with Pet Sematary, director Mary Lambert returned to Ludlow, Maine in 1992 to dig up another ghastly tale deep within the Micmac burial grounds. This one would not be penned by Stephen King, but Little Nemo and Lionheart scribe Richard Outten, who strayed far, far away from the path of King’s grisly 1983 novel.
Starring Edward Furlong, Anthony Edwards, and Clancy Brown, Pet Sematary Two received mixed to negative reviews upon its arrival in August 1992. Since then, however, the sequel has amassed a cult following, namely from horror hounds who praise Clancy’s out-of-control turn and Lambert’s stylish touch that carries much of the film.
Join Losers’ Club co-host Michael Roffman over the deadfall as he presides over a star-studded assembly of guests, specifically Meagan Navarro of Bloody Disgusting, Rachel Reeves of Rue Morgue, and Brett Arnold of The New Flesh Podcast. Together, they discuss the ’90s appeal of Furlong, the leading man qualities (?) of Edwards, the mashed potatoes coming out of Brown’s mouth, and why Lambert’s original idea would have fared better.
Stream the episode below and return next week when the Losers dust off all the uncollected stories that wound up in Creepshow. For further adventures, join the Club over long days and pleasant nights via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, RadioPublic, Acast, Google Podcasts, and RSS. You can also unlock hundreds of hours of content in The Barrens (Patreon).
Maybe you haven’t thought about your good friend Sweeney Todd in a while, or maybe you have. The 2007 movie is a bit of a memory, though a fond one – it has a healthy 86% on Rotten Tomatoes, for what it’s worth. But 2023’s Broadway revival starring Josh Groban, who your mom thinks is “so talented” (she’s right!), was enough of a hit that its run was extended.
It appears we’re in a bit of a Sweeneyssaince.
For the uninitiated, Sweeney Todd is the story of a barber who kills his customers and disposes of the bodies by passing them off to pie shop owner Mrs. Lovett, who uses them as a special ingredient. But there’s more below the trap door.
Sweeney Todd isn’t just a late 70s musical that turned into a movie; it started as a penny dreadful called The String of Pearls: A Domestic Romance (author unknown), told week-to-week in the 1840s. Penny dreadfuls were essentially fiction zines featuring serialized stories that were usually horror-based and cost a penny, leading to the very literal nickname.
The String of Pearls differs from the more well-known Sweeney Todd plot in that it follows the investigation of a missing persons case that leads to the reveal of Sweeney and Mrs. Lovett’s arrangement, as opposed to the more modern iteration which treats audiences to the duo hatching their homicidal plan and then giving the worst haircuts ever. What a delightfully wild reveal that must have been if you were a reader in Victorian London after weeks of wondering what had become of the missing sailor carrying a string of pearls to deliver to a lovely girl.
Kristen and Will discuss the history and future of Sweeney Todd and works inspired by it this week on Guide to the Unknown. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts to get a new episode every Friday.
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