‘Pet Semetary’ Is Directed by Kevin Kölsch and Dennis Widmyer and Stars Jason Clark as Louis Creed, an ER doctor who in order to spend more time with his family quits his hectic city life for a quieter lifestyle. When exploring the new property, his wife, played by Amy Seimetz, and their two children come across a local Pet ‘Semetary’ where families bury their dead animals. But there is dark magic beyond the Semetary, that lures Louis after the death of the family cat to bury it there, bringing it back to life. But Louis learns quickly that sometimes dead, is better dead.
Stephen King movie adaptations… do not do well. King has so many classic stories that we have seen adaptations for, but either they are direct to DVD quality or completely different from the source material like Stanley Kubrick’s masterpiece “The Shining”. With the success of the newly rebooted ‘IT’ franchise proving incredibly profitable for WB, other studios were eager to announce their new King adaptations themselves. Pet Semetary is one of them announce shortly after ‘It’. Sadly, ‘Pet Semetary’ proves that in a world full or reboots and reimaginings, some properties are better left dead.
The films lead performances are acted very well bu both Clark and Seimetz, and the tone overall is very consistent and eerie. I enjoyed some parts relating to the characters story arcs and the way the handle to subject of the film; death. The death part is personified by the families cat and I have to admit, the Cat/’s give great performances as just the most demonic looking thing you could see.
Where the film fails to grow is in its storytelling. The screenplay feels like it is missing crucial character points, and because they feel missing the characters actions and choices made in the film come across as very dumb. That only gets enhanced as the story and scares never shift into a higher gear than generic ‘jump scares’ all too common to the horror genre.
The third act changes a lot from the original source material, opting to go for their new take on the classic, however, none of the new ideas presented really find any weight in this story and arrive too late for me to relate to it completely.
In the end, I don’t think ‘Pet Semetary’ is in the running for ‘worst Stephen King adaptations’ but in the end, it lacks enthusiasm for its own source material, and in the end, feels like the Cat in the film, half-alive.
Rating: 6/10
They used a ton of fog in this movie..I think they actually have kept the fog machine industry in business.
Niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice