Ever since I found out Stephen King’s Pet Sematary is getting a reboot I have been eager to see it. Now that it has finally happened I am overwhelmed with conflicting thoughts in regards to the movie so I decided to and try clear them out and form a steady opinion by making a blog about it (of course). I will try to give you a short review of the 2019 film and share some thoughts on the movie itself. There is a lot to say, but I will do my best to keep it short, I hope you enjoy it!

I will not believe you if you tell me this doesn’t look like a Gorillaz new album poster.

I read Stephen King‘s genius novel five or six years ago and it stayed one of my favorites for quite a long time. The storyline, development, and hardcore mind games are admirable, typically for King.

I saw the first Pet Sematary movie (1989) two years ago when I accidentally found it. I was excited but scared to see it judging by the other adaptions of King books which are simply terrible. The 1989 film actually surprised me with its charm and by sticking very closely to the original development and events in the book (I later found out the author himself closely supervised the script writing). Everything was done very well, the story didn’t divert much and the cast was splendid.

So when I saw the 2019 reboot I definitely had a lot to compare it to. And I have to say the people involved had to be very careful with the expectations they were provoking in the audience – I purposely freed myself from any of them. And I’m glad I did because otherwise, I could have been strongly upset.

I actually think the 1898 version is way, way better even if I disregard the novel. It is far better not only in terms of adaptions but in terms of movies.

Pet Sematary (2019) is an okay movie. It is an extremely bad adaption but it is about an average (maybe a bit under average) movie if we don’t count the novel as a factor. I totally understand that the directors have decided to take the core idea of the novel and develop it in their own way and I respect that (something I learned to do recently). The movie is an average horror which is entertaining (and sometimes thrilling) – a good way to kill 2 hours.

The review is spoiler free by the way!

Short story summary: Louise Creed and his family – his wife Rachel, daughter Ellie, baby boy Gage, and their cat Church move to Main in order to seek a peaceful and joyful life. They soon find out about the existence of a strange and sometimes creepy Pet Cemetery near their house and eventually learn more about the secrets of the town with the help of their neighbor Jud Crandall. After a tragedy in the family things start getting out of control and Louise and Rachel are faced with extremely difficult times involving supernatural forces.

Despite having a gold mine of an idea as a base I would say the 2019 Pet Sematary is not an exceptional movie. Actually, I found out my opinion is quite balanced since there were lots of things I liked about it and just the same amount of things that I found simply stupid.

To begin with, the story was moving waaay to fast. There wasn’t enough development and background clarification about certain events and characters. The entire storyline seemed very rushed to me and I felt like the directors were just itching to get to the culmination and the scary parts of the movie – everything else was not an important matter for them. Thank God, when it comes to the culmination and the scary parts – they were well executed. For a horror, the movie had a decent creepy plotline, jumpscares, and I give it that – incredible suspense. This is probably what I loved most and the fact that the person next to me in the theater was constantly squeaking at the build-up was proof the directors did well in that aspect.

The story has a lot more potential and this is one of the two things that really pissed me off. A great foundation was set but it didn’t really get developed. At all. Several plot twists and unexpected turns of events tried to make it up for this disappointment together with the interesting backgrounds of the characters. Sadly, none of those characters developed in any way – not even to the slightest, and lots of hints of their past was left at that – just hints. The second thing that really pissed me off was the ending. Again, I am judging this as a horror movie, not as a Stephen King adaption – an yet again the ending was poor. I do respect all the decisions of the directors but considering that they were making a highly anticipated horror I think they might have tried a bit harder.

The filming was also on a decent level as well as the editing and special effects, even though I believe the overall feel and vibe for which the creators were going was not entirely preserved. Nevertheless, there were great shots and visual and sound effects which contributed greatly to the overall experience. Pet Sematary (2019) is definitely an option for a “horror movie night” with friends or for killing 2 hours, however my advice it watching without having high hopes.

I really think that the key to this movie’s success is watching it with the right mindset. I wasn’t expecting much and I still found it being poorly executed especially considering the film standards of 2019. For avid Stephen King lovers, it will most certainly be a disappointment. This year’s adaption has very little to do with the 1983 original novel apart from the main idea – all major events are changed and some of the characters were given different qualities as well. I was also expecting some easter eggs or another cameo from King himself, however, there wasn’t much of the sort. I managed to spot two references for other of King’s work – IT and Cujo with the latter one being extremely hard to notice as it was only a background talk in a none major scene. The references in the book were way better and also included Salem’s Lot one which is missing in the movie. In any case, if you expect to see an adaption sticking to the story and development of the novel you will be greatly disappointed.

It was fun to see a different perspective on one of the masters of horror’s best-selling books and the new life given to the story was not that bad at all. However, I don’t think the movie lives up to the expectations of being a great horror or an amazing rework, unfortunately. It is worth giving it a shot so you can judge by yourself, of course.

The visuals supporting the release are super cool tho.

Thanks for reading, I hope the post was helpful in some way or at least gave you some information on what to expect from the movie. Don’t hesitate to let me know about your thoughts and opinion and stay tuned for more posts!

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