Summary

• Pet Sematary: Bloodlines explores the origins of Jud Crandall and uncovers a dark secret guarded by the town of Ludlow.
• The movie delves into the life of Jud Crandall and presents a major turning point for the character, providing an intriguing expansion on Stephen King's haunting tale.
• Makeup Department Head Annick Chartier discusses the difference in approach for Bloodlines, the subtle horror of undead characters, and recreating the 1960s era with co-writer/director Lindsey Anderson Beer and the special effects team.

Learn the origins of one of Stephen King's most memorable characters in Pet Sematary: Bloodlines. The movie centers on a younger Jud Crandall as he attempts to leave his hometown of Ludlow, though when a childhood friend returns from the Vietnam War in mysterious fashion, he learns of a dark secret those in the town have been guarding.

Jackson White leads the ensemble Pet Sematary: Bloodlines cast as Jud alongside Forrest Goodluck, Jack Mulhern, Henry Thomas, Natalie Alyn Lind, Isabella Star LaBlanc, Samantha Mathis, Pam Grier and David Duchovny. Putting the spotlight on an underexplored character and a major turning point in his life, the movie is an intriguing expansion on one of King's most haunting tales.

In honor of the movie's digital release, Screen Rant interviewed Makeup Department Head Annick Chartier to discuss Pet Sematary: Bloodlines, the difference in her approach from the 2019 King adaptation, the subtle horror of its undead characters, and recreating its late '60s era.

Annick Chartier Breaks Down Pet Sematary: Bloodlines

Screen Rant: I'm very excited to chat with you, your work on this film and in the first Pet Sematary is fantastic. Now, when did you first hear that they wanted to bring you back for Bloodlines?

Annick Chartier: Oh my God, it's already been a while since we shot this, isn't it? I think, up front, they came to the city and we kind of interviewed for the job, but I think the idea that I had done the first one, obviously, I had history with them, so that probably helped. But, also, I had a really great connection with Lindsey, and so that really helped the situation, obviously.

When you first got Lindsey's script, and given that you had also seen the script for the first movie, what was it like seeing her vision for this project in comparison to the 2019 adaptation?

Annick Chartier: Well, I love that we were going in 1969, which was a lot of fun, you know, it's always fun to do a little period. So, we were really departing from what had been done before, we were doing all the preface of that, which was kind of interesting. In one way, you kind of want to keep the reference, but you want to also start with a clean slate, as if you're starting to build a story. In that sense, it's always fun to do things like that, really get into it, everybody doing research, presenting mood boards.

Also, it's a way of seeing how the director, who she was also the writer of the script, to see what is on her mind, what she's seeing. I always say, "It's turquoise, blue, or green for you," so we have to kind of establish what we're all going with it, which was a very, very positive process.

I do feel like the revived people in this movie look far more terrifying than they did in the first one, and that's not to put down your work in the first one! There's just definitely a different feel to it this time around. So what was it like working with Lindsey and the special effects team to really find that perfect new vision for these characters?

Annick Chartier: Well, all of the actors also played a big part in 2019. We had Jeté, the young girl. She was quite scary, she scared the heebie jeebies out of everybody. [Laughs] It was like, "You're a little girl!" But she was very good. In this case, we had Jack playing Timmy, who we could not know that he was dead at first. So, all of his action and his look, we had to kind of think they were from being depressed from having PTSD from the war, whatever happened in the war that was really kind of [made clear] when we interacted with his father, and things like that. So, we didn't know what was going on with that young man, we knew there was something very weird.

Also, the skintone, we tested to not go too far, [but still] far enough. We played a lot behind screen doors and shadows before we saw him. We saw him at the party as well. There's an evolution of all of that, with the dog and events happening until we see him in the tunnel. Then we know [with the] lenses and all of that, but before that, we cannot reveal any of these things. Otherwise, we kind of sound the scoop, you know, so it was always a very fine line. But the actor definitely colored it in beautifully with his acting, because that really was creepy the way he was behaving.

What do you think is one of the key details, whether it be the skin tone or little bits of dirt here and there, to hinting to the audience that he may be undead while still holding back just enough to keep audiences guessing?

Annick Chartier: Well, I think it's a fine line, and it really is a participation between the actor, the makeup, the lighting, and how we're going to suggest. Years ago, I did a whole series of Are You Afraid of the Dark? and we didn't have that much money for the monsters, so the less you show the monster, the better it is. You have to build it up, and you have to have revealed that, by then, the mind has already kind of ed what you're in for, but you don't know how it's gonna present itself, so it kind of works in our favor. I think that's how we did it with this film for this character.

For Donna, we knew by then. When things have happened, we don't know how it's going to present itself, but definitely, the build-up is very much — we always played the house in the shadow, the lighting, the DP, everybody participated coloring the palette, but definitely the actor really does take what we give them, and they just run with it.

You mentioned the dog a minute ago, and I was actually curious how much involvement you had in making up the dog to look sort of matty, but also still somehow just enough alive, but then had the lenses like you mentioned. Can you walk me through how much involvement you had there?

Annick Chartier: For the dog, we always have dog handlers, animal handlers on movies, and what we do sometimes is, according to blood and things like that, dogs are very protected on movie sets. So, everybody should be happy with that, I think they're more protected than even humans. [Chuckles] Which is fine by me, I love animals. So, we have whatever dirt we're going to be using, and in of once we decide the palette, the color palette and and the blood, we have to make sure that all of the ingredients are fine, and we have someone from the animal protection that verifies all the ingredients and then the people that handle the dogs — not me, I did that [on a previous project] once when I had to turn a dog that was black into white, and I'm never trying that again. [Laughs]

We were on an island with nobody else, but here, we have teams where they take care of their animals, and they're used to doing all of this with the cats. On the first one, we had the cat, which was the same kind of story where we have to make them all look matty and things, so the trainers and the handlers, the people that the animal is used to, to do that.

I take it you give them the instructions or the rundown of how they were supposed to look?

Annick Chartier: We all have meetings together [about] the dirt, the coloring, and they present some of the textures, and they also do their own tests and show our director what that may look like. Then we go, "More, or less, or this dirt, this is clean for the dog." I order enough for everybody, so they handle that, but they've obviously done that before, they're professional scary movie dogs. [Chuckles]

That dog actor does a great job.

Annick Chartier: I saw it not too long ago, the movie, and it was like, "Oh my god, I've forgotten how scary it is."

That was actually going to be my next question was what was your reaction like when you when you saw the dog in full makeup on the set of the project?

Annick Chartier: Well, first you feel a little sad, because you're looking, "Aww," but then he's in action, and you go, "Okay, he's a professional, he knows where he's going already." It's actually kind of cute when you're on set, but the real play-by-plays when you see the movie, because with the lighting, the mood of the film coming together, that's really when you see, "Oh, that's great, it really did a good job."

Who did you find more terrifying once they were fully made up, the cat actor that played Church, or the dog actor in this movie?

Annick Chartier: Oh, that's a good question, you're taking me back here. I think both. I feel a little bit more sorry for — I think that dog was more scary. I thought they had the [same] stance, but when a cat can hiss and looking like that, yeah, that could be scary.

Yeah, that image of Church in the newer movie is still burned in my brain for how terrifying it is. Another thing I love about this film is the representation of Indigenous people, especially in the flashback sequence. What was it like working to ensure that they felt authentic, while still being true to the time periods that they were in?

Annick Chartier: Well, in this case, we had a lot of mood boards from different kinds of makeup, or body painting, and things like that, taking into consideration, we don't want to identify [just] one [tribe]. Being that it's almost like a magical space, you take a bit of licensing, and we don't know how long the chief had been there beating his drum in this village, and how horrifying whatever has been going on. And he had to wear the mask over the makeup as well, so we wanted something tattered, and that's drying up.

We tested different ways, as well, on the actor to see how we felt how he looked, how we played with it. Then, we went with the decision that we did, so it was a collaboration of different looks that we got. We wanted to be careful, because you don't want necessarily to do makeup from one First Nation style or anything like that, it was more of a collage of things that worked, and with the pulling off the mask, putting [things in] take 2 and take 3 and things like that. I think it worked with the dirt, because we did that on the body as well. The actor was wonderful. Everyone was happy, so that means a lot.

What was it then like making up the soldier in that flashback sequence? Because it's easy enough to just throw dirt on those actors and make it feel like they've been through the rough, but there's still a level of cleanness to them that evokes a different level of atmosphere, and that they're fresh to this danger.

Annick Chartier: Well, first of all, in of period, you have the hair, the wigs, the facial hair, and things like that to consider. And in the movie, as you , as you get closer to this area, it's hot. So people are sweating, and you don't know why, but you come into like almost an oven, so there's these elements that the audience can feel, you have all the smoke plumes and everything. So, it's just to [remind the viewer] how it gets hot. So, once people sweat, we had dirt on them, but we also have sweating, so some of it just kind of dissipated. That's how we played it for that scene.

We've talked about Timmy Baterman, we've talked about the dog, we've talked about the chief. Who would you say was your favorite character to get to help design for this movie?

Annick Chartier: Well, we have one that wasn't in the movie, which was a lot of fun. But I think Jack was — everybody was wonderful, we had such an amazing cast, to be honest, they were brilliant. We were not always filming in easy conditions, that summer we had humid heat with bugs. People don't see that necessarily, but it was challenging.

But if I have to [pick one], when I look at it, the impressive part of Jack Mulhern's work with playing the subtle note and then getting more into it was pretty scary. I really enjoy David Duchovny with him as the father. And Pam Grier was so much fun as well, she really got into it, and she held nothing back, she was willing for anything, which was quite wonderful, because she took a beating in the story, and we don't see it. But she enjoyed every minute of it, and she's a real trooper, she's a real pro. So things like that, we have quite an amazing group of people coming on this movie, so that was quite special to be working with them.

Speaking of Pam Grier, you mentioned her looking beat up a little bit. How much involvement did you have in crafting the after-attack look of hers?

Annick Chartier: We work together, because when movies become this big, usually, we have a special effects team that works with us, which are amazing. We would do the makeup, or they do the prosthetics, and then we do finalize the makeup, because she still does use that, even though half her face is covered. [Laughs] There's also this little comical aspect of it. But yeah, so we work together, we have two or three trailers, because we have quite a bit of stuff going on.

Did you find it challenging to work around the prosthetic that she had on her cheek there?

Annick Chartier: Yeah, I've done prosthetics as well, so we always work together on things like that, sometimes at the same time, sometimes not, because there's just too many hands. But, it's easy. We just, we know what we touch, we don't touch, and we work really closely together. So we establish all the levels of things and it works beautifully. It was a charm to work with everybody. We had a person in charge of the special effects that came from Vancouver doing this, and everything went wonderfully. And Pam is a hoot.

I can only imagine how much of a character she is off camera as she is on.

Annick Chartier: She has so much energy, I have to tell you, she would draw things. She is a busy, busy person, she has a lot of energy.

We talked about the fine line of hiding the dead versus keeping the mystery there, but what was it like walking that fine line between making sure that everyone looked as good for camera, while also still ensuring that they were very much rooted in this rural area of the film?

Annick Chartier: Yeah, we always take a little bit of licensing, because obviously, like the mother of Jud, you think that she'd probably have no makeup at all, but because of the period, women often wore lipstick, wore something, so we gave a little bit of something just to underline the period and to help give you a little bit of spice with all these beautiful dresses that they wear, because we have to feel [it's] 1969.

But with the young women, we didn't want to overdo it with makeup. They have magazines or the television, but they don't have access to the information like we have today, but young people then would definitely look at the magazines, peel through them, there's [movie] stars, and get that red lipstick or the eyeliner and stuff. I don't think they want to get lashes, but yes, we kind of tried to have fun with it a little bit where we could, but not overstate it, where we felt that it would be overdoing it.

Lindsey has talked about her hopes to continue exploring stories within this universe, and that could mean going to the '70s or '80s. It could mean following up directly to 2019. If you were invited back, which time period would you like to explore next within the Pet Sematary universe?

Annick Chartier: I'm so happy that you said that, I did not know, you're informing me of this. What would I like? Did she talk about the 1920s? That'd be interesting. Let me think. I think I would really like the 1920s, let's take it back a few notches, and let's go and explore that area, see maybe before it all started, or even the 1800s.

About Pet Sematary: Bloodlines

In 1969, a young Jud Crandall has dreams of leaving his hometown of Ludlow, Maine behind, but soon discovers sinister secrets buried within and is forced to confront a dark family history that will forever keep him connected to Ludlow. Banding together, Jud and his childhood friends must fight an ancient evil that has gripped Ludlow since its founding, and once unearthed has the power to destroy everything in its path. Based on the untold chapter from Pet Sematary, Stephen King’s chilling novel, Pet Sematary: Bloodlines is a terrifying prequel and the untold story of why sometimes dead is better…

Pet Sematary: Bloodlines, a Paramount+ original movie in association with Paramount Pictures’ Players Label, is a Di Bonaventura Pictures Production and based on the novel Pet Sematary by Stephen King. The film is directed by Lindsey Anderson Beer, in her directorial debut, with a script written by Beer and Jeff Buhler, and produced by Lorenzo di Bonaventura, and Mark Vahradian.

Check out our previous Pet Sematary: Bloodlines interview with co-writer/director Lindsey Anderson Beer!

Pet Sematary: Bloodlines is now streaming on Paramount+. The DVD and Blu-ray release date is set for December 19, and the movie will be available on Digital HD from Amazon Video and iTunes on December 5.

Source: Screen Rant Plus