Pet Sematary (1989) Review

Before Mary Lambert directed Halloweentown II: Kalabar's Revenge or Urban Legends: Bloody Mary, she directed something good: a little ditty by the name of Pet Sematary, an adaptation of Stephen King's orthographically incorrect novel, for which he wrote the screenplay. I'd like to begin my humble review by saying this: Pet Sematary is the first film since Ju-On to scare the shit out of me. I was wearing my best jeans, too.

The story is as follows: A family, Louis (Dake Midkiff) and Rachel Creed(Denise Crosby) with their two children, the eight-year-old Ellie (Blaze Berdahl), with her pet cat Church, and the toddler Gage (Miko Hughes), move into a house in the country, which sits right next to a highway where semis regularly pass through at alarming speeds. Soon after a really bad first day on the job for Dr. Lou, Church the Cat is run over. Louis knows that it will bring down her world, and finds salvation when his neighbor Jud (played by the excellent Fred Gwynne) takes him to an ancient Indian burial ground nearby the local, creepy pet cemetary that sits behind the Creeds' house. Before you can say "Meow-mix!" that little fucker is back and runnin' around with a slightly more disdainful demeanor. And that's just the beginning.

What follows is an odd, slightly predictable story that manages to keep up the high tension while maintaining a simple but brilliant script, complete with Zelda. You'll see what I mean.

The acting in the film is very nice all-around, the only little thing that made me cringe being the brief acting of Susan Blommaert, which passes by so quickly that it's only a brief distraction. Dale Midkiff was, at times, slightly wooden, but it was barely noticable. Otherwise all was fine on the Western Front, and the addition of Fred Gwynne, THE Herman Munster, was so wondrous I almost had an accident before the scares came along. I'd also like to give a final bit of praise to Brad Greenquist, who is quite humorous as Victor Pascow, the ghost who tries to help the ill-fated Louis Creed.

The gore quotient is also at it's best. While there are not a plentiful amount of scenes, all of those shown are bloody brilliant, but describing them here would probably give a bit away, so let me just say that little kids sure can eat.

So, yeah, I can give this film eternal praise all day if need be, but I shant bore the reader with it. Just see this movie for the love of God!

Directing: 7/10
Script: 9/10
Story: 8/10
Acting: 8/10
Scare Factor: 9/10

FINAL SCORE: 41/50

Unpleasant Tidbit: Mary Lambert went on to direct the less-than-beloved Pet Sematary II.