Pet Sematary Review

The 2019 version of Pet Sematary is the second adaptation of Stephen King’s 1983 novel of the same. It release comes after the success of 2017’s It.

The Creed family move from Boston to rural Maine so they could have a quieter life and allow the family patriarch Louis (Jason Clarke) to spend more time with the children. At the back of their home is a pet cemetery which the locals use for ceremonies. There is also a barrier that their neighbour, Judd (John Lithgow) warns them not to cross.

When the family pet dies Louis and Judd cross the barrier in an attempt to resurrect it. But when the cat comes back it is much more aggressive and is a sign of bad things to come for the family.

Pet Sematary is arguably King’s darkest novel and there is a strong case for this statement. Even King admits the story still gives him the creeps. It taps into a fear any parent would have – losing a child and doing everything they can to bring them back. And this was where the film should shine. It’s just a shame it that it took so long to get there and then speeds so quickly.

Pet Sematary spend a lot of time with the family, building up their dynamic and backstory. This makes sense since it is a story about grief and its impact. The parents have different philosophies on how to raise the children when they ask difficult questions. Louis is a doctor who has a rational and frank approach whilst his wife, Rachel (Amy Seimetz) wants to shelter the children because of the trauma she suffered as a child.

This version of Pet Sematary was directed by Kevin Kölsch and Dennis Widmyer and the pair do know how to craft an image. One of the first scenes in the film was when Rachel and Ellie (Jeté Laurence) see a group of children in masks going to the cemetery. It seemed to give the film a Wicker Man vibe. When Louis and Jud go to the Indian burial grounds it had a gothic look and the directing pair favoured grotesque imaginary. However, as horror directors they preferred jump scares instead of atmosphere.

The screenwriter and the directors were not good at explaining how the supernatural elements worked. It was clear that the Indian spirits have a corrupting effect on the Creeds but they also caught dream sequences. The worst of these was Louis treated a young man with a head injury and he later sees this man who gives him warnings. Why was this man so special especially due to the fact that Louis was an ER doctor in a major city? He would have seen lots of serious injuries.

There is a bit more logic why Rachel suffered from dreams – the spirits can tap into her trauma. But the dream sequences distract from what is the core of the story – the impact of losing a child and the actions despite actions some people would take. The creative team seems like they just wanted to replicate Stanley Kubrick’s version of The Shining.

The final act of the film is one of the balmy events in recent horror history. It was filled due to the film’s timeframe which made events that should take a long time to happen really quickly and time of day changes rapidly. Weirdly this was when the film was at its most impactful because of the final scene.

Pet Sematary had a great premise for a film that filmmakers could have played around with. What was a delivered was a mediocre mainstream horror.