LogFAQs > #979844335

Karo - A family moves into a house astride a country road where the speed limit is way too high and these oil tanker trucks fly down the pavement at 70 MPH and despite this being a cause for grave concern for a number of reasons, everyone is just like 'by jiminy, that's one hell of a road!'.

Also nearby this house is a path leading to a creepy little graveyard for pets, which despite the movie's title, has almost nothing to do with the plot. You see, there's also an Indian burial ground that can resurrect dead things and the way everything is going to go is pretty damn predictable the minute the protagonist says 'have they ever done a person'. Then it just turns into a Chucky movie with an unconvincing murderous toddler and everyone dies.

The film is an utter mess throughout, nothing feels real or engaging, and everything seems off somehow in a way that I can't really quantify. I am used to child acting being stilted and fake, especially in a movie this old, but somehow the adults were even worse. Congratulations Anakin, you no longer have the worst 'NOOOOOOOO' in cinema.

It is just an unremarkable movie that doesnt bring anything new to the table and it needed to be buried a good ten feet under so it could never come to life again.

Plasmabeam - An unforgivable crime against the novel its based on. In the book there was a fantastic found-family subplot involving Louis and Jud (and Juds wife), but that all got cut so they couldrush the rest of the story? I cant believe Stephen King wrote this screenplay.

Lightning - Sometimes deads better.

This is kind of a strange one. This film is intensely memorable with some really strong quotes and moments like the line above. It is also ultimately very flawed and not that well made. The performances are mostly weak other than the actor playing Jud. The directing is mostly pretty unremarkable too. Stephen King does a good job with the screenplay adapting his own book but its not as textured as whats on the page. Yet there is something about this film that sticks in the mind.

The film attempts a few stylistic flourishes from time to time like intercutting the family photos, yet they usually fall flat. There are strange tonal shifts, like all of the frankly pretty strange humour with the ghost in the last act. The film also plays what would have been better done subtly very obviously, most notably the final scene. The film has a good sense of creeping dread but not much by the way of moment to moment scares. Also frankly that zombie cat looks terrible.

Yet despite that I couldnt look away. This film was actually quite gripping as the story of a family being destroyed by their inability to cope with grief and loss, both historic and recent, takes hold. In that sense this is a precursor to a lot of the horror films of the 2010s that were very focused on grief. At the end of the day it all comes down to story. The central story is so strong here it doesnt matter that the execution on a lot of it is not as well done as it could have been. You want to see what will happen and you are engaged by the themes, so the weaker technical aspects matter less.

This all speaks to the sheer strength of the source material. It is a shame that there hasnt really been an optimal adaptation of Pet Sematary. This film falls down on the technical aspects and the 2019 film is better technically but makes some very strange choices in the adaptation. It would be good to have a truly great live action telling of this story because it is very filmable, it just hasnt been done to its best potential yet. Still, for now this flawed film will do.

3/5

Rockus - Mostly works because of how good the premise is. The simple and clear themes carry it when the scene to scene writing and performances are kind of weak. Setting up an anxious talk about death with their kid after the cat dies is a great way to introduce thoughts on mortality and a refusal to accept it and an inability to even truly understand it. If only the craft of the production was better I would admire this film a lot more. Mostly pretty decent though.

Seginustemple - Worth it entirely for Fred Gwynn's rural Maine accent. All the hits are here: trouble up on that road, don't wanna go down that rhoad theah, and sometimes dead is bettah! I find the story unfocused, whether by adaptation or by King's hand. The side plot with Denise Crosby being haunted by her infirmed aunt never seems to fit, the 'helpful zombie' guy doesn't work for me at all, and it just feels like this stuff distracts from the main thrust of the burial ground/resurrection business. There's something to be said for the theme of grief and letting go, but I think there is another zombie cat movie on the list that already does that theme bettah. I do like that it maintains a palpable gloomy atmosphere and takes itself seriously throughout, even when it goes full slasher-toddler-zombie mode. Because it's pretty hard to take that seriously.

Bitto - Rating: F

I heard that King movies are often tough adaptations because King books are so wrapped up in getting into the mind of their characters and their inner thoughts and perspectives. All of those are pretty tough to translate into a much more visual realm. That's all I can think about with Pet Sematary. I feel like I would like this story so much more if I could just relate to the dad. But there's just nothing here. Even his immediate reaction to his son dying feels underwhelming and I just could not really grasp how desperate he feels at the end. I don't know what it is, he just feels really wooden. And as a result, this movie that's about genuine despair is just hard to relate to because the dad is just so...whatever. The other characters are alright, but they aren't enough to save it. I do like the evil son at the end. He does a good job of portraying evil while still having a bit of child-like innocence to him.