Pet Sematary

Spoiler free section: Pet Sematary starring Jason Clarke, Amy Seimetz and John Lithgow wasn’t badly cast, it felt perfect actually, even the child actor Jete Laurence was above average. There wasn’t anything wrong with their performance either, each actor performed their role really well and their characters were believable. But the movie just left me needing so much more.

Pet Sematary is a movie about a family who moves from Boston to escape big city life and spend more quality family time in the country side. Little do they know that their new property contains a pet cemetery! Horror ensues… well kinda, a little bit does at least.

The movie moves at a slow creeping pace, which is fine for a horror movie to start but there needs to be payoff. The build up to payoff ratio is about 90-10. It’s all build up with a few aspects of the movie never having any sort of payoff whatsoever. Even the movie as a whole ended without solid resolution.

The atmosphere in the movie was average for a main stream horror movie but if you are a hardcore horror movie fan you will be disappointed. The movie drew a lot of unintentional laughter from the audience at times when the movie should have been building tension. There was the occasion where the movie was doing it intentionally and that’s really when the movie was at its best. I use the term “best” loosely as the movie sets the bar pretty low.

If you were expecting this reboot of the Stephen King classic to be on the same level as IT, you will be greatly disappointed.

Spoiler section: The unresolved stories in this movie really bugged me.

  1. There is a character played by Obssa Ahmed, who is a car accident victim who kinda haunts the family but says it’s because the main character tried to help him before he died. He seems like he’s eventually going to play a saving role but never does, he just exists, for no reason.
  2. The actual Pet Sematary is meaningless. It’s actually not haunted, and nothing exceptional happens there. It’s just a passing through point to the actual haunted place a mile away. Boring.
  3. Kids with the masks and the funeral procession that looked really cool in the preview meant nothing…
  4. Supernatural things kept happening in the house. Was the house haunted? I couldn’t tell if it was the family, the house or just the area a mile behind the house that was haunted. The only thing I was sure about was that the titular pet cemetery was the only thing not haunted at all.

This movie is not for hard core horror fans, its more for your mom who likes scary movies occasionally. I can’t recommend this movie. It’s very forgettable and not worth the price of admission. Super vanilla, pointless characters and plot points, and only a few jump scares make this movie a hard pass. 1.5 out 5 stars. That Ramones song during the end credits is catchy as hell though J

Second review by Tracey Barrientos

 

I was two when Stephen Kings Pet Semetary first premiered in 1989. I hadn’t watched it until a slumber party in middle school so by that time the quality was not all that great to me. When I heard that a remake was being filmed I was intrigued and hoping it would be better. I was pleasantly surprised at how well it turned out.

Hoping to escape the hustle and bustle of Boston, Massachusetts the Creed family become the new owners of a large home with a mysterious piece of land attached. Here the children of Ludlow, Maine burry their diseased animals. Why here though? What lies beyond the cemetery wall? The Creed family will soon find out the hard way.

The film in a whole is entertaining and full of suspense. I wouldn’t classify this as a horror movie though it is. I would call this a Supernatural thriller. Yes there are a couple of jump scares scattered throughout and an overall creepiness factor. Perhaps it is more of a psychological form of entertainment than visual though it helps to have a good musical background and looming fog rolling into the moonlight. It is the idea of such events happening or the possibility of it happening. Additionally the use of children in these types of stories heightens the scary factor.

With all things considered I would give this a 4 out of 5. The story in and of itself is great, the acting was up to par and the creepiness factor is high. The writing has some funny moments that seemed to connect with the audience. It is definitely worth a watch!