Pet Sematary (2019) Directors: Kevin Kolsch, Dennis Widmyer Starring: Jason Clarke, Amy Seimetz, John Lithgow, Jete Laurence Genres: Horror IMDb Synopsis: "Dr. Louis Creed and his wife, Rachel, relocate from Boston to rural Maine with their two young children. The couple soon discover a mysterious burial ground hidden deep in the woods near their new home." |
The Ramones’ hit from the original Pet Sematary soundtrack is unfortunately, not featured in the 2019 remake. However, an excellent cover by the band Starcrawler is. I’m listening to it right now, as it happens.
It’s not that I was underwhelmed by Pet Sematary, it’s just… I was a little underwhelmed.
This film succeeds in generating a creepy atmosphere, but the filmmakers don’t do much with it at first. And when shit finally hits the fan, two-thirds into the run time, oh boy does it hit the fan. The last half-hour of Pet Sematary is a downward spiral of nonstop horror and misery until credits roll, but it takes an hour just to get through the premise of the film.
But as I said, this movie does tension really well. I watched most of the spooky stuff from between my fingers. Then again, I’m usually a wimp with horror. The gore is very visceral, there aren’t too many jump scares, and the ending is actually pretty original. The pacing issues are really the only thing holding Pet Sematary back.
The acting is all solid, with Jason Clarke excellently portraying a grieving, broken father questioning his beliefs. I really bought into the pain he felt, and even though he makes some incredibly irrational decisions of the cliche horror variety, I understand why he’s being driven to do these things. I really appreciated Amy Seimetz as the mother with a haunted past; she’s one of the few characters I think was above reproach, and she suffers a fate that feels undeserved. And John Lithgow is awesome, as usual. No surprise there.
The daughter, Ellie (Jete Laurence), is also fantastic; the script asks that she be both sweetly lovable and menacing as hell, she succeeds at both.
Ellie: “Look, daddy! Our cat, Church came back!”
Church the Demon Cat: “WAHHHHHH!”
Atheist Doctor Dad: “That’s so sweet honey, he must’ve just gotten lost.”
Church the Demon Cat: *scratches Ellie, hisses in satanic* “WAHHHHH!”
Maybe don’t listen to creepy, vague instructions from old men imploring you to bury your daughter’s dead cat on a cliffside if you really love her. Yeah, Jason Clarke, you had it coming to you.
EFR-Certified Film Grade: B-
Bonus Points: The aforementioned Starcrawler cover of “Pet Sematary” by The Ramones. Load it up again!
Image & Info Sources
Pet Sematary poster:
m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMjUyNjg1ODIwMl5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwNjMyOTYzNzM@._V1_UX182_CR0,0,182,268_AL
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"Pet Sematary" by Starcrawler: www.youtube.com/watch?v=nr5kRk0Ba5I
Jason Clarke and John Lithgow still:
images6.fanpop.com/image/photos/42600000/Pet-Sematary-2019-horror-movies-42614103-2400-1601.jpg