Rating: R
Directors: Kevin Kolsch, Dean Widmyer
In 1989 one of Stephen King's most disturbing horror novels was released as a film, the screenplay written by King himself. While definitely lower in budget, featuring actors in the leading roles who had a stronger TV than film following (Dale Midkiff, Denise Crosby, and the outstanding Herman Munster himself, Fred Gwynne), all of these points added to the film's gritty, claustrophobic feel that was so prevalent in the book - because while it contains horrific elements, Pet Sematary remains first and foremost a novel about grief, and while not perfect the essence of the book was preserved beautifully in the 1989 film (a fan-favorite to many, to this day). That mood - that grittiness - is hopelessly lost from frame one of the 2019 remake, as the story of Dr. Louis Creed (Jason Clarke), his wife Rachel (Amy Seimetz), and their two children - pre-teen Ellie and three-year-old Gage - opens with the Creeds relocating from Boston to rural Maine, where Louis is opening a new practice and the family has come for a new start. Their new home - already kind of creepy, even on first sight - borders on a huge forest out back, and almost immediately the family - thanks to across-the-street neighbor Jud (John Lithgow, good but nowhere close to Gwynne) - learns of a pet cemetery that exists in the woods, where kids in the neighborhood gather for a full ceremony whenever they need to bury a beloved dog, cat. etc. (in this version, the kids wearing creepy handmade masks for the burial ceremonies). But when the family cat is struck by a car and killed, Ellie's grief pushes Jud to privately tell Louis of another cemetery, far beyond the pet cemetery, where - if you bury someone, or something - it doesn't stay buried. And things go bananas from there. At first I rejected the idea of seeing this version because the filmmakers chose to change a HUGE plot point from the novel (that the 1989 film retained), and to me (without giving spoilers) this would've completely change the depth of loss and despair in the story. Even worse, with a bigger budget and access to better special effects, 2019's Pet Sematary is still devoid of real scares, the CGI nearly laughable in places, the big plot change does weaken the tone of the story ... and you can't even connect enough to the characters (especially Louis, sadly) to care much about what happens. I tried to approach this update with an open mind, loving the original novel and its themes, but from the family's arrival to one hell of a depressing ending, this remake of Pet Sematary does not disappoint; it was as bad as I was afraid it'd be. (WARNING: The trailer below - no idea why Paramount did this - gives away nearly the entire film, complete with spoilers; watch at your own risk!) 3/10 stars
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