0
0
Rating: 2.5 out of 5
Listen, if you’re a Stephen King book and have been made into a movie years ago, chances are you will get a remake in the next coming years. The formula now seems to be that all original thought has left the building, and why not turn to the author who appears to produce a book every month. Actually, why wait when you can simply make a remake of one of his earlier classics. I’m looking at you, Cujo. Your time will come again. Give it a few more years, and we will have a remake of you.
Pet Sematary has made its return or, as in the original film, “risen from the grave” once again. The original was made back in 1989 and was quite creepy with the little boy. This time around, Pet Sematary is far darker and creepier than before but still fails in many areas.
Just like in the original film, Louis Creed, along with his wife Rachel and their two children, Gage and Ellie, move to a remote woodland house on the outskirts of Ludlow, Maine. The house that they move into is really, really close to a road where semi trucks speed down it. One afternoon, Ellie stumbles across a Pet Cemetery (misspelled “Sematary”) in the woods after following a procession of children. There she encounters her neighbor Jud Randall who quickly strikes up a friendship with the family. Life seems to be strange as Rachel struggles with nightmares from her past. Louis begins seeing visions after not being able to save a person whose brain was falling out of his skull after being hit by a car. Tragedy strikes the family when the beloved cat named Church is hit by a truck, Jed tells Lewis that there is a place beyond the Pet Sematary where those that are dead can come back. Jed and Louis bury Church in the enchanted grounds, and the next day Church comes back to life but far different than before. This begins the series of events that will soon cause terror to the Creed family.
I love my pet turtle. After 24 years together, he is my little boy, and I would pretty much do anything for him. Yet, I am going to say this: there isn’t a chance on this earth that I will bury him in some enchanted burial ground hoping that he will come back. Once he is gone, he is gone. I’m not having my turtle attack me at night while I am trying to sleep. That is straight-up crazy, and why would I do something like that?
Pet Sematary pretty much has the same exact story as the original. I will say this, it has quite a few more jump scares in it. What this film does so well set a darker tone than the original. The original was somewhat brighter, but this one had a far darker feel to it. One scene set the tone for this film. It was in the beginning when several children were doing a funeral procession by taking a dead dog to a cemetery called “Pet Sematary.” It was creepy because these kids had on some of the world’s strangest masks on. Whatever happened to the days where you buried your pet in the backyard. I have plenty of animals buried in the backyard, and none of them ever came back. I really don’t want to see my pet chicken and guinea pig saying what’s up now.
What is up with everything nowadays seemingly revolving around the Wendigo. If you don’t know what a Wendigo is, here is a very quick explanation. It is a mythological man-eating creature or evil spirit from the folklore of the First Nations Algonquian tribes. It seems like this is the go-to monster now, and I can do without burying anything in sacred ground. If you played the video game, Until Dawn, the Wendigo is the main antagonist in that film. You know what character definitely looked the part????? Church the cat. When Church came back, he looked straight up demonic. When Louis left the cat far away, it looked crazy as it watched Louis drive off. A true NOPE right there.
Now the film does change many aspects from the original. First, the film explores the wife’s backstory and how she is dealing with that. Maybe the first one did, but I really don’t remember it quite well. Well, in this one, we see the wife’s really ill sister who has departed the world. Whenever she would dream of her sister, there would be a jump scare, but one scene told it all. When the sister came out of the elevator lift like she was part of the Grudge, it was spooky. I literally pointed and said, that is straight from the Grudge.
Another way the movie changed was by which child got killed. Spoiler Alert: the little girl dies. Yet, how does she die? She sees her dead cat strolling down the street and runs up to it. Now, this isn’t bad, but the whole truck scene was meh? Why was it meh? Cause homegirl should’ve been a stained grease spot in the middle of the road. Nobody should’ve been around, but okay. Even though she was brought back, she wasn’t as creepy as the little boy in the original. That boy was straight-up creepy.
Now for the fantastic cast of this film. Everyone in the movie did their job. Jason Clarke, as Dr. Louis Creed, was actually really good. Just the sadness and pain he showed was point on. Actually, for a doctor, the dude looked like he really needed a nap. Amy Seimetz, as Rachel Creed was also really good. Her as a concerning parent was point on also. She wasn’t too over the top. John Lithgow, as Jud Crandall was okay. Not his finest work, but what can you do as an old man who has seen some things. Actually, Jeté Laurence, as Ellie Creed, was the best. She was so sweet and innocent, but when she came back, I don’t know how two parents and an adult couldn’t take her a** out. Maybe she gained super strength since she was dead.
Overall, Pet Sematary is a small step-up from the original. With the increased jump scares and a darker tone, it does give you a few goosebumps but nothing that will not make you sleep at night. Here are some words of wisdom that I learned a very, very, very long time ago. It is from the great Joe Bob Briggs when he used to be on TNT. I have never forgotten these words.
“When the monkey dies, everybody cries.”
