To say that I am a huge Stephen King is a massive understatement. However, I do have a rather unpopular opinion that Pet Sematary 2 is a more fun movie than the first. Still, though I was super excited to see what Kevin Kölsch and Dennis Widmyer would do with one of Stephen Kings most famous, beloved and creepy stories.
How to Stream or Download Pet Sematary (2019)
You will be able to pre-order and download the movie from iTunes once it becomes available. Meanwhile, if you like Stephen King’s book movie adaptations You can stream it or you can download It (2017).
The Movie Review
The first thing that is worth mentioning here is that Pet Sematary is not just a remake of the movie from 1989. Neither is it a retelling of the classic Stephen King book. While it does share elements from both the original movie and the book. I think the best way to describe this is the two directors’ own vision of the classic story.
The movie has the same basic plot of the novel and the original movie. The Creed family move to a small town in Maine… it is a Stephen King story after all! The father, Louis is a doctor and he is played by Jason Clarke. He is joined by his wife Rachel, (Amy Seimetz) and their daughter Ellie who is played excellently by Jete Laurence.
Did I say, daughter? Well yes, I did. The biggest change that this version of Pet Sematary makes over the original is that instead of Gage who is a little boy. The Creed’s have a daughter and the performance of Miss Laurence really does steal the show here.
The Creeds find their new rural surroundings a little odd, especially the story of the old Pet Sematary that is close to their house. This is made even “stranger” thanks to their neighbor, Jud Crandell who is played by John Lithgow. I loved Fred Gwynne in the original and I think it is great that John Lithgow is putting his own stamp on the character.
This is not really a spoiler as people by now know the deal with this movie. A tragedy befalls the Creed family and they learn that things which are buried in the Pet Sematary can come back. This is where the performance of Jete Laurence comes into play. She does a truly wonderful job of being a regular kid to something far more sinister.
I think that this new version of Pet Sematary is fantastic and would actually go as far as to say it is one of the best remakes I have ever seen. I would even say that it is better than the first movie which was released 30 years ago. Not only that, it feels in many ways like a very different movie. It has scares, makes your spine tingle with fear and there is also a real cleverness to the movie as well.
All of the main characters do a great job and my only complaint is that I wish the back story of Mrs. Creed was a little more dived into. Perhaps this is something that an extended cut will have on Blu-Ray later this year.
Without a doubt, Pet Sematary is worth a watch. This is one of my favorite interpretations of Stephen King’s work and I really was not expecting to be as blown away as I was. If you love good horror movies, I can assure you that Pet Sematary is one that you are going to have a lot of fun with.
