Skip to main content

Pet Sematary (1989) - Mary Lambert



This movie scared the crap out of me. I had nightmares for a long time. It literally ruined my sleep during my 8 year old summer. It was so effective, so scary. The story is so damn good. Stephen King is a master. He has been such a cornerstone of the genre for so many years. This story is a testament to that. Both the movie and book are amazing. I was more than excited to watch and review this one.

The Creed family, Louis, Rachel, Ellie, and Gage, move into a small house that sits on a dangerous highway. Across that highway lives Jud. An elderly man that has lived in the area for the better part of a century. Shortly after moving into the house, the family discovers a strange path leading to a Pet Cemetery. 



When Ellie's cat Church dies, Jud takes Louis into a secret part of the Cemetery to bury it. A bad part. The cat comes back but the cat is changed. Jud explains to Louis that the Cemetery is sour and anything buried there doesn't stay in the ground. This doesn't stop Louis from screwing everything up and burying just about anything dead he could find. 

You know your watching a REAL Stephen King movie when he makes an appearance in it. That's how you know Pet Semetary is an official King flick. For me, the story is the strongest part of this movie. It's so absorbing. The acting is pretty average. It's nothing amazing. All the same, the acting fits this specific picture pretty well.


This isn't just another classic case of the book being superior to the movie, but both mediums here share a similar quality. Parts of this movie will stay with you. They are not exactly hard to watch. It's just horrific. Not just the evil reanimated bodies, but also the underlaying dread and side stories. The story about Zelda specifically. It makes me shudder. 

Then when you think that this movie is nothing more than just a suspenseful zombie thriller, boom! This movie breaks your heart. It takes your heart out and kicks it against the wall. When that happens, it's kind of the point at which this movie becomes so effective. If you don't like this movie then you will at least end up remembering some part of it. 

Horror movies are made to bring out a response in the viewer. In the most basic cases it's fear. This movie touches on all sorts of feelings. I don't guarantee that you will love this film, but you will recall scenes and parts of it for years. It hangs on you. The Stephen King factor will attract casual horror movie fans. Just don't expect them to sleep well. 



Director: Mary Lambert
Country: USA


Did ya know...
The role of Zelda, Rachel's dying sister, was played by a man. Director Mary Lambert wanted Zelda and her scenes to frighten the audience but did not believe that a 13-year old girl was scary so she cast Andrew Hubatsek in the role to make something be "off about Zelda".
Bruce Campbell was the first choice for the role of Louis Creed.
Stephen King once mentioned that the only novel he wrote that really scared him was Pet Sematary.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Human Monster (1939) - Walter Summers

Bela Lugosi turns in a fantastic performance. It is right on par with the exact same films that had made him famous like Dracula . My personal favorite being The Black Cat . Like the latter, this film suffered from poor circulation and lack of advertisement. Either that or the public wasn't interested in seeing Lugosi in anything else other than his famous bloodsucker. This film has a broad and well acted plot that was rich with detail.  Lugosi has two sides in this picture. His well loved and compassionate side. The other is a strict, brutal lone shark that acts as a sinister villain to blind and handicapped people. He really brutalizes his victims. It's a macabre message to pay your bills.  The film is slow moving and plagued by the usual setbacks from its time. Most of the nation wasn't really that concerned with horror at the time. But studios knew that they would always have an audience. This film is a prime example of that. It's sad because it's 
1 comment
Not scared yet? »

Ju-On (2000) - Takashi Shimizu

Watching Japanese horror is similar to watching British comedy. If you enjoy dry whit then you probably enjoy the boys of Monty Python in drag. That's the joke, they're dressed like women. Get it? Well, that's British humor. But if you're like most Americans you probably prefer Adam Sandler farting his way across a football field and hooking up with chicks that are way out of his league. Americans usually prefer this more in your face, crass brand of humor. My point is funny in England is different from funny in the US. The same goes for J-Horror. What the Japanese consider scary is very different from what Americans consider scary and it shows in this horror film. Japanese horror is generally slow (a little too slow sometimes), suspenseful and creepy. Ju-On is a creepy effing film. The movie has almost no soundtrack. It is incredibly suspenseful and the pay-offs are pretty awesome, but I think that it was done better in the American version (cultural t
Post a Comment
Not scared yet? »

Inseminoid (1981) - Norman J. Warren

What can be said for mindless schlock pictures like this one. They were pumped out in droves during the eighties. Inseminoid !? give me a break! It sounds like some pre-pubescent teenage boys came up with the title. On the plus side the movie isn't horrible to look at and it has a decent amount of gore. If you can separate yourself from the political incorrectness, then you might have a perfectly decent Sci-Fi Monster Feature.  A research team exploring caves on Jupiter accidentally awakens an ancient alien that rapes and impregnates one of the team members. She suffers from terrible shock and trauma, leading to a complete mental breakdown as her pregnancy accelerates faster and faster. Feeling threatened she decides to kill anyone she deems a threat. Can the rest of the research team survive or will they all become victims of INSEMINOID! Apparently this movie had a million dollar budget. That's really shocking considering the outcome of the picture. The acting
Post a Comment
Not scared yet? »