Pet Sematary review

PET SEMATARY:

SOMETIMES REMADE IS (A LITTLE) BETTER, EXCEPT WHEN IT ISN’T! 

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: ** ½ out of 4

PARAMOUNT PICTURES

Jason Clarke in Pet Sematary

            A family moves into a new house next to a pet burial ground that transforms their lives into a nightmare in Pet Sematary based on the Stephen King novel of the same name and the second film adaptation of the book after the 1989 version. I haven’t read the book, but I did watch the original movie again in preparation for this review and I got to admit…it hasn’t exactly aged well.

            Don’t get me wrong I still enjoy most of the movie and there are a lot of legitimately haunting moments, but a lot of the film drags, and the scares can range from terrifying to laughably silly. The 1989 version does have its fans and it gained a cult following over the years despite earning mixed reviews from critics at the time of its release.

I guess it makes sense to do a remake closer to its source material, so now we have the second film adaptation of Pet Sematary with Lorenzo di Bonaventura (Transformers franchise, Salt, The Meg) as producer and the duo of Kevin Kölsch and Dennis Widmyer (Starry Eyes) directing. If It can get a surprisingly solid film adaptation better than its predecessor, I don’t see why Pet Sematary can’t have one to improve on the original film’s flaws.

So, how does the new version of Pet Sematary hold up? Well…I liked it when they were doing different things with the story while the frequent callbacks to the original movie wear out their welcome after a while. It’s arguably superior to the original but I found it to be mostly a mixed-bag type of remake for me, not bad but nothing great either.

The film follows Louis Creed (Jason Clarke-Lawless, Zero Dark Thirty, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes) a doctor from Boston, and his family moving to their new home in the small town of Ludlow, Maine. It turns out their backyard is home to an ancient pet cemetery (Spelled “Sematary” on the sign) where many people have buried their dead pets.

After tragedy strikes, Louis turns to his unusual neighbor, Jud Crandall (John Lithgow-3^rdRock from the Sun, Shrek, The Accountant) who is apparently an expert on the pet cemetery setting off a chain reaction that unleashes limitless evil upon this family. 

The film also stars Amy Seimetz (The Girlfriend Experience, Alien: Covenant, Lean on Pete) as Louis’ wife Rachel Creed and newcomers Jeté Laurence and Hugo and Lucas Lavoie as Louis and Rachel’s children Ellie and Gage Creed.

Overall, Pet Sematary (2019) manages to be both better and worse than the 1989 adaptation at the same time. I’m assuming this version is closer to the source material than the original film and has more details of how the pet cemetery works and there are a few elements from the first movie with a twist, but when I’m constantly reminded that these events happened in the original it takes me out of the suspense and becomes another generic horror remake with clearly some good acting and beautiful production design behind it.

The cinematography and production design are gorgeous and succeed in capturing both the horrific and surprisingly whimsical sides of the great unknown. As you’re watching the film you feel like you want to explore this forest environment for yourself and immediately have second thoughts about it whenever something spooky happens out there.

Can’t really say the same about the scare factor which, big shock is bombarded with jump-scare galore and no real suspense. The original Pet Sematary has its share of jump-scares but to its credit and also because it was a product of its time was a lot more shocking and impactful in its scares, this is basically every single scary cliché from a million other horror films stretched for most of the runtime.

Part of the 1989 film’s charm is how cheesy and dated a lot of its effects are, but they still looked very frightening except for…the zombie cat, seriously it looked more like a cat that got possessed by a Black Mage than a cat from the undead. This version on the other hand fixed that problem because I was never terrified of the cat from the original film, here it actually looks like a zombie (or a cat that hasn’t bathed in years) and some of the things it does are legitimately creepy “Congratulations movie, you managed to make a cat scary unlike End of Days”. 

This version also explores more of the pet cemetery and even showing a ritual of people wearing animal masks and playing drums while carrying the corpses of their dead pets into the cemetery which I don’t recall ever seeing in the 1989 film. Maybe it was deemed too odd at the time and probably would have been awkwardly executed especially if Stephen King made a mini-series based on the story, but the scene manages to balance between creepy and a bit humorous.

However, there is a change made to this version that I am personally not a big fan of, without giving much away and if you’ve seen the original movie…the wrong kid died! No other way to put it, maybe that was how it happened in the book but for someone who enjoyed the 1989 film’s campy and over-the-top tone it left me disappointed and it felt more like a scenario from The Ring or The Grudge…or even one of the Conjuring movies than Pet Sematary.

Most of the acting is pretty solid though especially from both Jason Clarke and John Lithgow, Clarke as the father trying to get over his sudden loss and hopes to use the pet cemetery to bring this person back, you’d think he’s completely insane for trying to cheat death and the natural order of things but you legitimately feel sorry for him and it’s surprisingly heartbreaking. 

Meanwhile, Lithgow is the character you would expect to be the antagonist or just some creepy neighbor and while he does have a threatening appearance that is not the case. He’s the guy who knows everything about the pet cemetery and how it works, and he tries to help Clarke’s character and his family whenever he can. 

Pet Sematary (2019) expands on the potential of its 1989 predecessor but doesn’t quite offer the same shock value or surprises and its slow pacing may be a turnoff point for mainstream horror enthusiasts. It’s pretty much a “Pick Your Poison” type scenario do you want the campy, exploitative 80s flick or the more atmospheric remake, just don’t have yourself buried in the “Pet Sematary” after picking that poison. 

And by the way: 

Image from Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story courtesy of Columbia Pictures