Pet Sematary

The "Creed" family relocate to a rural town in Maine where the father - "Louis" (Dale Midkiff) is to be a local doctor. They don't get off to a great start after the beloved cat of daughter "Ellie" (Blaze Berdahl) gets squashed by a passing vehicle and so it is ceremoniously buried in an ancient graveyard populated by centuries-worth of other pre-loved animals. Their neighbours are very reticent to discuss this facility - it is rumoured to have oddly recuperative powers which to his shock and horror prove true when the moggy comes back - and with attitude too! The troubles for the young doctor only get worse when a real human tragedy occurs and he is faced with the ultimate dilemma... It's more of a cumulative story this - like many of Stephen KIng's stories. The plot builds by degree and is told here in a way that almost asks us what we might do differently from "Louis" even though we see, and can readily anticipate, the consequences of his actions. The horror here is not so much garish and scary, but human and almost voluntary - and that makes it a little more effective. There's no getting away from it, though. The acting is mediocre and the visual effects at times reminded me of an old episode of "Bagpuss". I am not now, nor ever have been a pet lover - so the underlying premiss of hysteria when the cat gets splatted also never really resonated with me either. Still, it is an eerie and solid story that challenges a lot of assumptions about love and rational behaviour and is still worth a watch.

"Pet Sematary" boasts a very routine quality on every level and most of the time it seems as though everything connected with this film is strictly on autopilot. It is no wonder the films based upon Stephen King's fiction don't fare particularly well. It isn't because they are bad - well, at least in some cases - it has more to do with the fact that for some bizarre reason they just don't transfer well onto film. However, one of the bonuses here is Mary Lambert. She is a splendid director and she is able to give the odd twinge on your emotions when Gage tragically dies in such horrific circumstances. She also makes the extended game of cat and mouse through Jud Crandall's home - first with Jud, then with Louis's wife Rachel, and finally with Louis himself - very compelling and this segment is also enlivened by some of Stephen King's macabre brand of humour. However, "Pet Sematary" amply illustrates why Stephen King remains head and shoulders above other horror writers. His situations - who wouldn't be tempted to bring a loved one back to life if the opportunity ever presented itself? - and his characters are always realistic and this makes all the difference.

And the night when the cold wind blows, No one cares, nobody knows. The Stephen King novel from which the screenplay was adapted very nearly didn’t see the light of day. It was actually written by King based on a real place and instances during a stay at a rented house. He was never quite happy with the tone of the book and only submitted it as a contractual obligation. Glad he did because it provides a very solid grounding for horror and deals with the very real horrors of overwhelming grief. The film gets the tonal flows right, the family dynamic is neatly pitched in readiness for what is to come later, the house and the titular Pet Sematary of the title are eerie personified, and Fred Gwynne is on hand for a sage old characterisation. The potential for shattering horror is not fully realised, yet the makers deliver a good quota of scares and unease to make this a better than average King adaptation to screen. The use of the Ramones in the soundtrack is a good one, King loved them, they loved him, so much so they wrote the title track and named an album after it. 6.5/10