The original Pet Sematary is a horror film from 1989 and was not well received by critics. Personally, I don’t think it holds up too well either. Don’t get me wrong; it was still fun to watch, but it’s not for the film majors in the room. The film is an adaptation of a Stephen King novel, and the screenplay was written by him as well. A remake of Pet Sematary came out this year and was better received by critics.
Pet Sematary starts off with the Creed family moving into a new house. The father, Louis (Dale Midkiff), is a doctor who has just taken a position as the director of a nearby university’s campus health centre. He has a wife, Rachel (Denise Crosby), and two children, Ellie (Blaze Berdahl) and Gage (Miko Hughes). The family notices a path by their house and asks their neighbour Jud (Fred Gwynne) about it. Jud takes them down the path to a pet cemetery.
When the family cat, Church, dies later in the movie while Rachel and the kids are away for Thanksgiving, Jud tells Louis that there is a way to fix things. Louis, who is unwilling to devastate his daughter with news of her cat’s death, goes along with Jud’s idea. They go down the path through the cemetery to a creepy looking burial ground and Louis buries Church. The next day he’s back but different. Church is no longer friendly, and he reeks.
The film then takes a turn when Gage, a toddler, runs out into the street and gets hit by a semi-truck. His death ruins the family. Louis is warned by Jud not to bring his son back because the last time it was done on a human it went terribly wrong. Louis ignores the warning and buries his son in the burial ground. That night Gage comes back but with the instincts of a killer. He takes his father’s surgical instrument and kills Jud and his own mother.
Pet Sematary is a depiction of a normal family that is made vulnerable by the yearning to cheat death. Though the film has a good premise, and Stephen King’s fans will most likely enjoy it because it follows the novel closely, it falls flat. The foreshadowing of Gage’s death is overused. Over and over we see huge semi-trucks driving by being overemphasized by their loudness, leaving the audience wondering when someone is eventually going to get hit. The leading actors were also not very engaging.
When the film first came out and the special effects were not so outdated, Pet Sematary might have been scary, but the only thing somewhat creepy about this film is Gage coming back to life holding his father’s scalpel, laughing while killing Jud. We don’t even see Gage kill his own mother. Overall, Pet Sematary is laughable and entertaining but struggles to keep your attention throughout the entirety of the film.
