Movie Review: Pet Sematary (2019)

Pet Sematary

Director: Kevin Kölsch & Dennis Widmyer

Starring: Jason Clarke, Amy Seimetz, John Lithgow, Jeté Laurence, Hugo Lavoie, Lucas Lavoie

Rating: R

Runtime: 101 minutes

As an avid Stephen King reader and recent viewer of the newly released 4K version of Pet Sematary (1989), I feel I am at least qualified to form an opinion on this film. I will admit that I do not love the original at all. There were bad directing decisions, important scenes missing, and most of the movie is filled with bad acting. So…I’m not a fan. However, I am a fan of the book. Stephen King gets the time to set everything up, and then you get your payoff paired with the ambiguous ending. Love it. So in a time with Gerald’s Game and IT knocking horror out of the park, how did this remake fare?

Not good folks…not good at all. I was very hopeful for this film because at least I liked the actors. I was not sold on the directing team, but it didn’t scare me away. The trailer was adequate…and I’ll leave it there. So, I went into this with an open mind and ready for another good King adaptation. Since I am so familiar with the story, and I think most are, I won’t dwell on it. The Creed family moves into a new house with a pet cemetery on its property. There is something strange about what goes on with the buried pets, and I bet you can guess. In the original film, the neighbor was played by the late Fred Gwynne, and if you have read the book, then you know how brilliant that casting is. I dare anyone to read the novel and NOT picture him every time. John Lithgow takes over the role of Jud the neighbor in this remake, and while I like Lithgow, he isn’t putting much into this role. Jason Clarke plays the father, Louis, and just like Lithgow, I am a big fan, but here he just hums along, only briefly showing flashes of good acting. Neither of these actors do anything wrong; they just don’t bring much to the movie and their characters. Out of the cast, I like Jeté Laurence the best in her role as the daughter, Ellie.

If you were upset that the 1989 version of Pet Sematary got the story wrong, then you might want to skip this one completely because they write a lot of new scenes and leave a lot out. The first noticeable change was the two houses and their positioning near the road. The houses were supposed to be near the road and right across the street from each other; that was the real danger of the road. In this film, there is a substantial driveway and wooded area between the Creed family house and the busy highway. If you saw the trailer, you know another change is that the youngest child does not die and push the plot of the film. That felt like the most significant change in the movie. Lastly, there is the ending. Some people like this ending, and maybe if I bought it logically, then I wouldn’t have hated it, so I’m going to need some explanation on that ending.

It was apparent while watching the film that the main issue was that it all felt rushed. No character building. No relationship building. It was just going right from one scene to another trying to get to the climax. It felt more like just hitting beats than composing a film. Louis and Jud’s relationship was perhaps the most critical relationship in the book, but here he is just a neighbor. This could be the reason so many of King’s novels end up at miniseries, and rightfully so. However, we have seen his work put transposed brilliantly in two hours. Hell, the 1989 version was at least closer. I don’t need the book created word-for-word and scene-for-scene, but if you want to change everything up, you better bring your A-game when tackling the work of a horror genius such as Stephen King. Unfortunately, this one fell short, but like everyone else, we will wait for another King adaptation to come along because there is always another one. Always.