Stephen King’s books are being made into films again, this time in the form of re-makes from the 90s originals.
The latest of King’s work to get the re-boot treatment is ‘Pet Sematary’ which arrived back in 1989 and was very well received for bringing the shocking terror to life on the big screen.
Fast forward to 2019, and ‘Pet Sematary’ is the next in line to get the reboot treatment, following the massive success of ‘IT’ back in 2018.
“Dr. Louis Creed and his wife, Rachel, relocate from Boston to rural Maine with their two young children. The couple soon discover a mysterious burial ground hidden deep in the woods near their new home. When tragedy strikes, Louis turns to his neighbour Jud Crandall, setting off a perilous chain reaction that unleashes an unspeakable evil with horrific consequences.”
Not much changes in terms of the story from the original, which holds this film back as the changes it does make seem like changes for the sake of making changes.
It’s not expected that the film would deviate too much from King’s book, because why fix what isn’t broken, but it departs from a lot of the elements, pacing, and scenes that made the first film that iconic horror film it was.
I was a fan of John Lithgow’s performance as Jud Crandell, but Jason Clarke completely bored me in his role of Louis Creed.
His performance seemed like a dramatic line reading more than a true cinematic performance and he failed to convey any true emotion, leaving the tone of this terrifying story….lost.
Pet Sematary tries to become it’s own film in meaningless ways that do nothing to further or enhance the film.
To get this story wrong is one thing, but this film, which “killed it” in the trailers, managed to take a classic movie, and book, it make it forgettable.
It’s hard to identify the main fault of the film, as there are far too many, but this film is not befitting of one of King’s masterpieces, and that is a true shame.
