Pet Sematary (1989)

Running Time: 1hr 43min

Release Date: April 21, 1989

Review by: Stacey

Adam and I were super fortunate enough to attend a Mondo x Chiller screening of Stephen King's Pet Sematary last night.  If you have never seen this: 1. why are we even friends? and 2. stop reading and go watch it NOW (it's for rent on Amazon).

 

Okay, I've assumed you've watched it and come back to this post because you're super awesome and loyal.  That said, Pet Sematary the novel was released in 1983 and King attributes his inspiration for the story based on his experiences living near a busy road that killed many animals, including his daughter's cat.  Fast forward to 1989 and we had a film adaptation of the novel directed by Mary Lambert, who went on to direct the less successful sequel, Pet Sematary II.  Fun fact: George Romero was originally slated to direct before he had to drop out because he was busy with Monkey Shines (1988).

Just to give you a little refresher: Pet Sematary follows a family who moves into a home that sits on a road where large semi-trucks speed by dangerously.  What they fail to realize is that the road is the least of their worries- beyond a path in the back of their house that leads to a pet cemetery is something very sinister that will impact their family more than they could ever imagine.

 

 This movie has so much more than the plot suggests.  It's one family's way of dealing with their grief, specifically the dad, and going about it in the worst possible ways.  Every time he tries to make something right, it only turns to shit.  You tell yourself, as the viewer, that this isn't how you would handle a situation like that, but grief and the loss of a loved one is such a powerful thing that given the opportunity to bring them back (knowing the consequences, still), you never really know.  The cast themselves perfectly portrayed this grief that envelops the entire movie like a dense fog.  Even from the beginning of the film, before any death happens, there's this overwhelming sense of unhappiness.  There are light moments, sure, but lurking behind them is something dark and you can't see it, but you know it's there.

 

The character of Jud Crandall (Fred Gwynne) was such a special one that you just don't see very often in horror movies anymore.  He was wise and had a genuine bond with the Creed family, but when it really comes down to it, he was the sole reason behind the entire demise of the family.  His introduction of the Micmac burial ground to Louis Creed (Dale Midkiff) had this disastrous ripple effect on their family that cost them their lives.  His intentions may have been good at the time, but you would think his previous knowledge of how the burial ground works and the mayhem it causes would be enough to never bring it up to anyone.

 

I think every character had something super important to offer the film; from the main cast down to Missy Dandridge (Susan Blommaert), whose minor role impacted the story in its own way and felt like an integral part that was absolutely necessary.  Obviously Miko Hughes as Gage was pretty damn great child acting, but Blaze Berdahl as older sister Ellie, gets way too overlooked.  Her true innocence and wonder about death and dying was handled so well- her anger at God for one day taking her cat ("But he's not gods cat, he's my cat... let god get his own if he wants one... not mine") to her promising to hold onto all of Gage's stuff because he'll come back one day.  Hell, she was being tormented by visions of Pascow (Brad Greenquist), who was trying to help the family, and had to convey some serious emotion in those scenes.  I gotta give the gal some credit.

 There's seriously so much to love about Pet Sematary that I just don't think I can trust your cinematic opinions if you don't like it.  It features not only a great score from Elliot Goldenthal but it also has some pretty iconic and quotable lines: "Sometimes dead is better", "The soil of a man's heart is stonier", "No Fair! No fair, no fair!", "Today is thanksgiving day for cats, but only if they came back from the dead."  That last one is pretty amazing. 

One of the handful of reasons I love the Alamo Drafthouse is for events like this; getting to see "classics" in horror cinema on the big screen is such an experience.  You can watch a movie on your tv in the comfort of your own home but there are always those minor distractions.  In the theater, it's pitch black and you're forced to focus (NO PHONES, Y'ALL!) and more often than not, you'll notice things that you had never noticed in previous viewings and gain a much better appreciation and maybe you'll come out of the theater realizing that a horror movie is usually more than just what's on the outside.

Oh, and go watch Pet Sematary.  Seriously.