Pet Sematary Review

A lesson to be learned from Stephen King’s Pet Sematary is that some things are better off dead, and that bringing something back doesn’t necessarily mean that things will be the same as it was before. Unfortunately, this is a lesson that many movie studios haven’t learned, and in an era of remakes and retellings, it was only a matter of time until the 1989 film adaptation of Stephen Kings novel would be ironically revived.

The 1989 telling of Pet Sematary directed by Mary Lambert is a film that has garnered a sort of cult following. The screenplay penned by Stephen King himself, as well as its strange setting and practical effects have aged charmingly 30 years later. However, the acclaim of the original conjures the biggest challenge for its 2019 remake and directors Kevin Kölsch and Dennis Widmyer – how does one remake a film that achieves the same praise while feeling wholly original? Not long into the newest Pet Sematary, it becomes clear that Kölsch and Widmyer didn’t have much of an answer. The film quickly moves past major character developments in order to get to the uncreative jump scare attempts and predictable plot points.

Pet Sematary follows the Creed family: mother and father Louis and Rachel, their two children Elle and Gage, and cat Church. The family relocates from the busy city of Boston to the more rural small town of Ludlow, Maine in order to become closer as a family. But things quickly become uneasy, and tragedy soon strikes as Church is killed by a truck one morning. Hoping to keep the family pet’s death a secret from the children, Louis recruits the help of their neighbour and long-time Ludlow resident Jud Crandall to help bury it. However, when Jud takes Louis to a sacred burial ground, it opens his world to a wickedness in his own backyard.

While the themes fit the tone that the film is going for, much of the execution feels like it’s just going through the motions. The story developments feel laboured and linear, many of the scenes lack suspense and are too predictable, while the side narrative following Rachel’s haunting childhood memories feels tacked on and completely unrelated to the films main plot.

Pet Semetary doesn’t faulter in every aspect though, as Kölsch and Widmyer create a grim atmosphere that gives each character a sense of impending grief. Jeté Laurence gives a great performance as Ellie, making her descent from lovable to conniving far more believable than one would expect from a young child actor.

The positives of Pet Semetary are enough to prevent it from falling apart completely, but they’re not enough to make the remake feel necessary. Resulting in a formulaic retelling that neither compliments or improves the original.

Directors Kevin Kölsch and Dennis Widmyer's creepy atmosphere doesn’t save Pet Sematary from becoming an unoriginal retelling that feels unnecessary.

Produced By: Di Bonaventura Pictures
Runtime: 101 minutes
Rating: R