Pet Sematary [1989]

Really enjoyed this film

When the Creed family (parents Louis and Rachel, daughter Ellie and son Gage) move into their new home in the countryside, they quickly strike up a friendship with their neighbour, Jud Crandall. Two things instantly come to their attention, the narrow road that seperates their house from Jud's where trucks carelessly speed down day and night, and a path by the side of the house. When asked about the path, Jud tells the family that it leads to a pet cemetery that children made to bury their pets that died on the road. While the family are away visiting relatives, Louis stays behind and Church, Ellie's cat, dies. Jud tells Louis that the ground beyond the pet cemetery is an old Indian burial ground, and any pet that's buried there will return from the dead. Louis buries the cat and a few days later he returns, but it isn't the same cat as before. Sometime later, Gage is tragically run over by a truck during a picnic. Grief stricken a few days after the funeral, Louis digs up Gage and buries him at the Indian burial ground. Gage later returns, but is a very different child to the sweet innocent one that was run over. The film also contains two subplots, Pascow who was a student that was killed by a truck who tries to warn Louis about the dangers of using the burial ground, and Zelda, Rachel's sister who died years earlier who suffered from spinal meningitis which is an agonising, disfiguring disease.The acting is pretty good with Fred Gwynne the stand out as Jud, the rest of the cast do a reasonable job. Dale Midkiff seems to attract a lot of criticism for his role as Louis, but I've always felt he did a good job and his performance certainly doesn't harm the film. Miko Hughes did a great job as Gage considering he was three years old, he later gave an excellent but overlooked performance in the film Mercury Rising as an autistic boy whose parents were murdered. Denise Crosby, Brad Greenquist and Andrew Hubatsek are good, Hubatsek played Zelda and it's obvious Zelda is played by a man once you know, but it's still very creepy. The one character and performance that I really don't care for in the film was Ellie played by Blaze Berdahl, the movie could have coped without her, but I think it's more the whiny, annoying performance that makes me really dislike the character. Fred Gwynne is fantastic in this, virtually every line of his is quotable and I assume the South Park creators also loved his performance as they've used the character several times. Stephen King pops up in his usual brief cameo as a reverand.It was directed by Mary Lambert who returned to direct the sequel three years later, as good a job as she did, George A. Romero was originally set to direct until the movie was delayed and he had to pull out. I love the film anyway, but I feel that Romero would have maybe done the film quite differently, and as a big Romero fan I'd have loved to see what he would have done with it. Tom Savini also turned down the chance to direct, before the project was finally given to Lambert. Bruce Campbell was first choice to play Louis, I'm also a big fan of Campbell and again feel his inclusion could only have benefited the film. This was the first filmed screenplay that Stephen King adapted from one of his own novels, and as he's a big fan of the Ramones, the film has two of their songs in the film. Sheena is a punk rocker and Pet Sematary, the latter was done specifically for the film. The music in the film is great, from the spooky music over the opening credits with children saying goodbye to their pets, to the sombre, atmospheric music in the film's second half when the horror really kicks in. There's a fair few disturbing scenes in the film, Zelda is very disturbing and horrified me as a child, but there's quite a few gore scenes that will keep the blood and guts fans happy such as severed tendons, puss and blood dripping from an eye socket and Pascow's head wound.I'm a big fan of Stephen King, and although the film isn't as good as the book, the film is still very good and does more than enough right. Gwynne is the perfect Jud Crandall, Miko Hughes is very good as Gage. The Ellie character wasn't as annoying in the book, but this is definitely one of the more faithful movies based on a King book. Some reviewers have stated "just read the book instead", I'd say if you've seen and liked the film then definitely get the book, if you've read the book then the movie is well worth seeing. Not as good as Misery, The Shining, Creepshow or Carrie, but it's just about the best of the rest.

"A man grows what he can, and he tends it. 'Cause what you buy, is what you own. And what you own... always comes home to you."I am going to be 33 this year, & have been desensitized to Horror movies ever since I was 7.. to this day this film still creeps methe HELL out!!.. it is so macabre! & melancholy!, with an incredibly eerie atmosphere, which an amazing soundtrack brings to life,music & the right soundtrack are VERY important for a Horror movie, ( just look at Halloween 1 or Hellraiser 1) And the soundtrack forPet Sematary is just spot on. Pet Sematary is not to be watched if you are having a bad day or are feeling Depressed.This Horror film has everything, Hags, Zombies, Gore, Ancient Indian Burial Grounds, Evil Pets, Ghosts, Demonic Children..everytime I watch Pet Sematary I always hope that maybe THIS time Lewis will reach Gage.. but he never does,I can not think of any worse Horror than of tragically losing one's child.. which happened to my aunt in the past, who lost her Son which was very similar to the death of Gage, nor can I think of anything more heartbreaking than of losing your family pet which has been a lifelong best friend.. which happened to us a few years ago when our young Cat was tragically run over, and when we also lost our 19 1/2 year old Cat which had to be euthanized last year. That's the whole point of Horror films though you see, when it is truly able to strike the very chords of your heartstrings, & which is a real shame that horror movies do not really do it as well as they used to in the past.I haven't seen the re-make & I am not really interested, so I can't compare, but I doubt VERY much that it embodies thiskind of macabre & uniquely incredible atmosphere which is also extremely melancholic, & I am usually right.For 1989, Pet Sematary is slightly dated.. but in many ways Pet Sematary will always remain timeless. Stephen King is a genius.(P.S) By the way, did any of you know that it was a guy who played Zelda?.. they couldn't find a scrawny enough woman to play the invalid role so they found Andre Hubastek... They just don't make em like this anymore!!.

Pet Sematary is one of King's best and most disturbing books, dealing as it does with matters such as personal and devastating loss, addictive powers and, of course, death. It's one of my favourite King books and even he states in the foreward that writing it took him to places he has no wish to visit again. This filmic version, which I have seen many times now, could have been so good; the path leading to the Sematary, the deadfall and the Micmac burial ground are all reproduced very closely to how they appeared in the in the mind as you read the book, well, to me at least, and work very well, much like the depiction of The Barrens did in IT. The film holds together very well for the most part, with the exception of the main lead, Dale Midkiff as Louis Creed, whose wooden and vacuous performance really takes the edge of what could have been a very powerful film. He seems unable to project any sense of dread, horror or even sympathy when those emotions are most needed and although the performances around him are either excellent, (Fred Gwynne as Jud Crandall and especially little Miko Hughes as the fated Gage Creed) or passable, (Denise Crosby and the rather over-used Brad Greenquist as the road casualty who Louis tries in vain to save and whose interjections try to infer some ill-judged black comedic moments) the weakness of Midkiff's character unfortunately drags the movie back from the brink of being one of the best adaptions of King's work to the big screen, to something that, while enjoyable in its own dark way, could have been so much more and could have really created the macabre and extremely disturbing atmosphere that made the book such a powerful read.