Review: Pet Sematary

The latest Stephen King adaptation/remake proves that while sometimes dead is better, breathing new life into old stories can be good too.

If "IT" is my number one favorite Stephen King novel, then "Pet Sematary" is definitely the runner up. I'm a huge fan of the story, considered by King to be his darkest, and I'm also actually fond of the original 1989 movie adaption - cheese and all. When I heard another remake was in production I was excited but apprehensive. It's a tricky story to do right, but after seeing how well the "IT" remake was done, I was optimistic they could pull off something similar. After seeing the film, I'm pretty happy with the results.

"Pet Sematary" is a story about the Creed family, who moves from Boston to the Maine countryside for a change of pace. As the story unfolds, doctor dad Louis discovers the woods behind their new home hides a powerful and terrifying secret that soon unleashes horror on his beloved family.

It's a little hard to discuss the plot of this film because on the one hand, both the last film adaptation and the original novel are decades old. Also, last year a new audio-book version was released read by Dexter himself, Michael C. Hall, which was very popular. So I would think most people know the story by now. On the other hand, I also know not everyone is a huge Stephen King fanboy like me so I'll try to keep the plot elements limited to what you can learn by watching the trailers.

There's a place beyond the titular burial ground that has the power to bring dead things back to life. The twist is that they don't come back right. Tragedy strikes the Creed family first when Church, the family cat, is struck and killed on the busy road beside their house, then again when 8-year-old daughter Ellie meets the same fate. However, these two don't stay dead for long and what unfolds after they each return is fiendishly fun and spooky.

I have to say that what made this movie work was the performances given by the actors. Jason Clarke is one of my least favorite actors but his performance here as the slowly maddening Louis Creed may have redeemed him a bit in my eyes. I was totally sold on his performance as a practical man who's sanity is shaken by grief. Amy Seimetz plays mother Rachel Creed and did a fantastic job as a woman traumatized by death who becomes an unwitting victim to all the scary crap happening around her.

Of course the stand-out actor in this film is the young Jete Laurence who plays daughter Ellie Creed. It's a lot to ask of a child actress to play pretty much two completely different characters in one movie: the sweet, innocent little girl so naive about the facts of life and death, and the malevolent, disturbing revenant she becomes after being struck down in the road. Laurence brings a nuance to the role that makes her performance both believable and terrifying.

My biggest problem with the film is how John Lithgow's character, wise and friendly neighbor Jud Crandall, seems to fall by the wayside. Jud is a major character in the book who becomes a father figure to Louis and plays a key role in many of the story's big plot points. He still hits all those points in this movie but he feels largely like a secondary character. A lot of his big speeches and actions are trimmed down which is a shame because John Lithgow is a fantastic actor. I understand that there's only so much from a novel you can cram into a movie adaptation and I respect the film's decision to focus more on the Creed family. While Lithgow does a great job with what he's given, I was disappointed that Jud doesn't get the chance to stand out here the way he does in the novel.

As far as scares go, I would say that someone who doesn't know the story will have a scary good time. For me, the real horror of Pet Sematary lies in the idea that grief can drive people to do the unthinkable combined with the "be careful what you wish for" trope. But all the returning from the dead stuff is great too. There are a lot of jump scares throughout the film, some that are quite effective, but the best horror comes from the disturbing imagery of the characters interacting with their undead loved ones. Laurence and Clarke have some fantastic scenes in the second half of the film. There's also some great sequences involving Rachel's past with her sister Zelda but I won't give any of that away.

I can't forget about Church, the Creed's beloved cat who is the first to be brought back to the land of the living. I don't know which cat/cats were used but they are fantastic actors. I really didn't notice any CGI cats if there were any. Every scene with Church is so fun to watch and actually pretty scary. He brought some real gravitas to the movie. Anytime Church is on screen you know something bad is going to happen and it's usually pretty scary and/or disturbing. Never thought I'd give such high praise to an animal actor but I gotta give credit where credit is due.

My other complaint with the film is how the first half of the movie definitely moves at a slower pace than the second half. It's a lot of exposition and set-up before we can get to the good stuff. Not to say that it's not entertaining at all, but I do feel like audiences will get bored/annoyed. It didn't bother me too much because it was hitting all the important plot points from the book, but objectively the pace is sluggish at first. Once Church gets run over in the road things start to get interesting but it takes a while to get to that point.

As a fan of the novel and original film adaptation I was happy that this film stayed mostly true to the story. There's several fun nods to the novel and other Stephen King stories that fans are sure to enjoy. What helps this movie stand on it's own is the liberties and creative choices it does decide to make. There's no point in remaking a movie if you're just gonna do the exact same thing again. The major change revealed in the second trailer is the fact that in this version, it's Ellie that is killed in the road rather than 2-year-old son Gage. At first I was hesitant about such a major plot change but it works. It gives the story a little more depth being able to work with an older, more intellectually developed child who ends up rising from the grave. The ending is also quite different, and while the original ending is one of my favorite parts of the story, the new version isn't half bad either.

Final Thoughts: With strong performances, some solid scares and a fresh take on a classic story that stays true to its source material, "Pet Sematary" is slow at first but overall proves that sometimes remakes are better.

Overall Grade: B-

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