Pet Sematary (2019)

Pet Sematary (2019) (see below for trailer and preview images)

Directed by
Kevin Kōlsch and Dennis Widmyer

Screenplay by
Jeff Buhler

Story by
Matt Greenberg

Based on Pet Sematary by
Stephen King
 
Starring: Jason Clarke, Amy Seimetz, John Lithgow
 
Budget $21M                          Box Office $112.4M
 
IMDb 5.8/10               Rotten Tomatoes 57%            Metacritic 57/100

As you all know I am a huge Stephen King fan.  Also, you should all know by now that I am NOT a huge fan a remakes, reboots, redux, re-whatevers.  I love the original Pet Sematary and so I had to see this just to see what they did to mess it up.  Because I assume if it is one of those RE-somethings it’s not going to be as good as the original.
 
With this movie, I was right AND wrong.  They change quite a few things from the first film.  For example, the circumstances of the death of Ellie’s cat are different.  Why?  They bring up Zelda, Rachel’s dead sister, way earlier in this version than the original AND they changed the way she died.  For what purpose?  What was wrong with the original story?
 
Now, I will admit that I have NOT read this book.  So, I can’t say what parts are accurate to the book itself and what parts are not.  But there is something that is missing from this new remake version that I feel is crucial to the story.  And they completely left it out.
 
We all know that Ellie’s cat Church dies.  Louis, her father, takes the dead animal and goes with the neighbor from across the street, Jud, to bury it in the Pet Sematary.  In the original, Jud is taking Louis to the old Native American burial ground beyond the Pet Sematary.  He gives Louis a speech as Louis buries the cat, telling him that what you put in the ground is yours, and it will always come back to you.  I have to tell you, that’s one of the creepiest moments in the original and they don’t have it in this version.  Plus, how they end up dealing with Church after he returns has been changed too.
 
There are some other changes but I don’t want to ruin the whole movie for you.  It’s not that I didn’t like this version.  I actually did.  But I have to say that I think some things were needlessly altered.  Then again, some of the changes had a very strong impact just as taking out some things did too.
 
All in all, I did like this film and I thought it was done well.  I wouldn’t be afraid to recommend it to anyone who likes horror, thrillers, those kinds of movies.  I do hope, as with all remakes, that you will keep an open mind when you watch this if you’ve seen the original and are a big fan.  I’ve seen all of the Pet Sematary movies so, I knew they would be changing some stuff just to switch things up in an effort to make it fresh.  But it was fun to watch and there were definitely a few moments where I was shocked and surprised to say the least.  You should probably check it out if you haven’t already.
 
RATINGS 
4/5 Stars