In the first draft of Stephen King's screenplay for Pet Sematary - which is, of course, about resurrecting the dead - George Romero's Night of the Living Dead makes an appearance. This first draft, dated November 15, 1984, is unfinished. It was written and originally developed with Romero as the intended director, but unfortunate timing led to the producer moving on from Romero and drafting the great Mary Lambert to create her own iconic version of King's novel. But Romero worked on develping the film with King for multiple years, getting far enough in the process for Romero to draw his own storyboards.

In the 1984 incomplete draft, Louis is watching Night of the Living Dead on TV "in Beautiful Black and White," when his daughter Ellie approaches to ask him "Daddy, do you think Missy Dandrige went to heaven?" 

The first full draft would be dated April 1985, and it would not retain the jokey reference to Romero's debut. 

It would, however, retain another in-joke, to Michael McDowell. McDowell is now best know as the writer of Beetlejuice and The Nightmare Before Christmas, but at the time he was a novelist who had worked with Romero on the Tales from the Darkside television series, including one adapting "The Word Processor of the Gods," a short story written by King and one of the series' signature episodes.

The relevant exchange, between young Ellie and her father Louis, comes almost exactly halfway through the script: 

ELLIE: At school Michael McDowell said she was gonna fry in hell. Michael McDowell says all sewersides fry in hell.

LOUIS: Well, I think Michael McDowell is so full of shit he probably squeeks [sic] when he walks... but don't you dare say that. 

The moral of this particular archival story would appear to be that Stephen King has a lot of fun when he writes, and that includes saluting and/or roasting his friends.

-Adam Charles Hart