529: Pet Sematary

[00:00:00] 235, let's get to the Pet Sematary remake from 2019. It is directed by Kevin Colch and Dennis

[00:00:11] Weidmeyer. It stars Jason Clarke, Amy Simons, John Lithgow, Hattie Lawrence, sorry if I

[00:00:20] butchered any of these names, I apologize. And the synopsis is, Dr. Lewis Creed and his

[00:00:28] wife Rachel relocate from Boston to rural Maine with their two young children. The

[00:00:33] couple soon discover a mysterious burial ground hidden deep in the woods near their new home.

[00:00:42] Well I think we may have covered this movie at some point on the show, I'm not really sure

[00:00:47] but I've been on a big Stephen King book kick recently and I bought like 10 of his books and

[00:00:53] I've been burning through a lot of them both in the paper version and the audio book.

[00:01:00] I like millions and millions of people. I love Stephen King, always have, I will always be

[00:01:06] up for more adaptations of his works in movies and television. They just naturally lend themselves

[00:01:12] to that. I've seen this one three times I think, maybe four, and I just read the book for the

[00:01:22] first time in its entirety a couple of months ago. And the book is great if you haven't read

[00:01:28] it. I would highly recommend it. The first adaptation of course came out in 1989 and I actually saw that

[00:01:37] one after I saw this one. Anyways, back on track here. From what I remember it got so-so reviews,

[00:01:49] some people defended it more, others really trashed it. And I think that people who really loved the

[00:01:55] first one really crapped on this one a lot and just said it was an unnecessary remake and the changes

[00:02:01] weren't good, this, that, and the other. And just in case, spoilers here, big spoilers.

[00:02:09] Having not seen the first one, the death of the daughter was very effective.

[00:02:17] And I know that Stephen King has come out and said that of all the books that he's written,

[00:02:22] this is one of, if not the most, that he finds the scariest himself. Mainly because from what I

[00:02:30] read, the death of the daughter could happen to theoretically to anyone. It's not like it,

[00:02:39] or Pennywise and it, or a vampire in Salem's lot coming out and scaring people or terrorizing people.

[00:02:48] It's here, my daughter ran into the street to do something or to get her toy, to get her pet,

[00:02:56] and a truck came by and hit her and killed her. Which is so true in terms of the fear. That could

[00:03:03] happen to anyone at any time. It's just a freak accident. One day they're there,

[00:03:09] and then one day they're not. And everything before that was totally fine. And then it's a

[00:03:15] whole new life the next day. Which, God forbid, that happens to anyone in real life. So I think that

[00:03:21] really hits emotionally. I could kind of tell where things were going. They don't really hide the fact

[00:03:29] that something bad is going to happen with all the trucks whizzing by the property. Having gone back

[00:03:38] and watched the original after, I still think that works. But maybe hot take here.

[00:03:43] I don't think the first one is that great. Star rating wise, these two are about the same.

[00:03:51] So that middle point, which I'm glad that they spend a good amount of time building the world

[00:03:56] before getting to that. Even though, one, I'll get into criticisms here. The script is fairly flat

[00:04:07] when it comes to character relationships and that family. Like I really don't know that much

[00:04:13] about them at all. I think the whole cast is good and they definitely elevate it somewhat, but I wish

[00:04:20] they could have fleshed them out more with, you know, more particular identities and more complexity.

[00:04:31] The Pet Sematary itself, design wise, great. I think all of the dream sequences, the nightmare

[00:04:39] sequences with Jason Clark look great. And overall it's shot well. I have no problems with the direction.

[00:04:45] I think it's put together pretty decently. What is frustrating though, is the marketing really was

[00:04:57] misleading as to certain things having a bigger part in the story when in actuality they didn't.

[00:05:06] The funeral procession by the kids, the stranger kids in the woods who have the masks and they're

[00:05:14] pushing this wheelbarrow with at least one dead pet to the cemetery. That had, from what I remember,

[00:05:23] had a big part in the trailers. It's one of the main designs for the posters. Like,

[00:05:29] I mean, you see it, I think once, maybe twice, and it's for a few seconds and there's so little

[00:05:36] weight to any of that. It's just for the flash, you know, the shock value of that to lure you in.

[00:05:43] And I don't fault the filmmakers for that inherently, you know, marketing is marketing.

[00:05:47] That's just how it's going to be. But I was definitely let down by that. I like the look of

[00:05:56] the house and that location overall, the look of the woods. The score is very good. And more than

[00:06:05] anything, I can't believe it took me this long to get to this, the cat in this, which is, you know,

[00:06:10] a real cat. Amazing. Like, it sounds so silly to say that, but perfect cat for this movie. Like,

[00:06:18] there's nothing better than a creepy cat in a horror movie, especially a Stephen King horror movie.

[00:06:27] The look of the cat in terms of the colors, the fur, the eyes. I don't know exactly what was

[00:06:33] possibly manipulated with effects, but the choreography with that cat, where they place it,

[00:06:40] the direction and how they shoot it, in some ways makes the movie what it is. Like, that cat has to be

[00:06:47] creepy, scary, mysterious, unpredictable, and it's all those things. So kudos to them. I don't know

[00:06:55] how long it took them to find that particular cat, but it's great. Talking about the second half

[00:07:02] of the movie, that would be by far my least favorite, because when the daughter is killed,

[00:07:10] which immediately makes the movie be injected into grief and depression and loss and all that,

[00:07:16] once the daughter is resurrected, it pretty much just becomes a run-of-the-mill slasher.

[00:07:26] There's so little creativity with the attacks, the kills, even in terms of the supernatural

[00:07:35] logic of it all. It just feels kind of lazy and not that interesting, predictable at times.

[00:07:42] Sometimes some other scenes, the sequence towards the beginning when Jason Clark is at the school,

[00:07:53] and there's that student, I think, who was hit by a truck or something, and there's that

[00:07:58] brain injury, and the gore of the makeup is very good. The undead family epilogue scene at the end

[00:08:09] when the boy is in the car, and then the cat gets on top of the car, and the family's staring at him.

[00:08:16] And, you know, there might be times where it tries a little too hard to be scary, or maybe relies too

[00:08:21] much on jump scares, but I think there's still a good atmosphere there that's consistent. I'm always

[00:08:26] on edge. I'm unsettled. I'm curious. Also, John Lithgow, great in the movie. I mean, he's one of those

[00:08:37] actors who he's been around for so long, and he can really do and has done everything. Like, he can just

[00:08:44] pop up in any genre. He can be funny, scary, dramatic, you name it. He just has that very malleable

[00:08:53] nature to his style of performance, and just the look of him as well. I love when the daughter meets

[00:09:03] him in the beginning, and you immediately, at least I did, I felt like a sense of comfort with him and

[00:09:09] kindness. I wish he didn't die at the end either. So overall, you know, I do see myself going back to

[00:09:20] this fairly, not super often, but I think it's worth a watch. There's got to be a great Pet Sematary

[00:09:30] adaptation out there one day. The quality of the book definitely has that in there, has that potential.

[00:09:37] Maybe we'll get that. I don't know, but I'll make do with what we have. So that one is a heavy three and a half

[00:09:47] out of five.