Review: Pet Semetary (2019)

Pet Semetary (2019)

God, cats are just the fucking creepiest...

A second cinematic re-telling of Stephen King's classic 1983 horror novel, the haunting story revolves around the Creed family who have just moved into a rural home near the town of Ludlow. Upon arriving, the family discovers the titular 'pet semetary', an old graveyard where children have ritualistically been burying their deceased pets for many generations. As one can imagine, the 'semetary' is more than a little bit haunted...

For those who are unfamiliar with the story, to go into further detail would spoil much of the plot and the horrors that befall Louis Creed and his family. Suffice it to say that the narrative, and the film's main theme, revolves around one of the truest nightmares that a family could suffer. Coincidentally, I actually read the original novel last year (not knowing that a film remake was already in the works) and so it was difficult not to compare this film with the novel as I was watching it.

For the most part, Pet Semetary succeeds as both a horror film and as a remake of the classic story. I found the first half of the film particularly strong as many of the horror elements slowly seep into the lives of the Creeds. The three leads - Jason Clarke, Amy Seimetz and John Lithgow - all put in strong and subtle performances throughout. The daughter, Ellie, played Jete Laurence, who plays an important role, I struggled with a bit more (as sometimes is the case with child actors). Though the film is relatively faithful to its source material, it does take a few notable divergences that will be the basis for much discussion as to whether they benefit the overall film.

One of the main issues I had was the film's uneven pacing, which really begins at around the halfway mark. The film is absolutely brimming with the classic slowly-building suspense scenes that culminate in the jump-scares. I personally found the film to be almost too indulgent with these scenes as the scenes are frequent and overly long and end up taking up a large portion of the film's runtime. I thought that some of the emotional gravitas of the characters was lacking - many of the important emotional developments occur quite quickly - and, therefore, I think that the film would have benefited from more screen time being given to the quieter character moments instead of the jump-scares. For those that like creepy cats, Stephen King, and good horror, be sure to check out Pet Semetary.