I like the stories of Stephen King. I have a few of his books on my bookshelf. And every time a book of him is filmed or adopted as a series, I'm curious, but I'm often disappointed. To be honest, the movies and series don't get close to the books, of course apart from a few exceptions.
Pet Sematary from 1989 is the fourth most successful film based on a Stephen King novel ( 1. It, 2. The Green Mile, 3. Shinning). After the new version of It was very well received by the audience, they naturally want to continue this success and as it seems, other King adaptations are planned. And since remakes have established themselves as part of our entertainment cinema, it was clear that the cult movie Pet Sematary from 1989 would also get its remake.
Story:
The doctor and family father Louis Creed escapes with his family and two children Gage and Ellie from the stress of the big city and moves to the countryside to lead a modest life there. Soon they discover that near their new home there is an eerie cemetery for pets.
After the house cat of the Creeds is run over, it is buried in the so-called eerie Pet Sematary, but it comes back very soon alive again, but with something evil in it. Soon the doctor realizes that he has triggered a dangerous chain reaction and released something abysmally evil. This circumstance begins to seriously threaten the family...
My Opinion:
Well, Pet Sematary sticks to both the book and the old cult movie, but you can also see that the makers are pursuing new approaches, which in turn sets new impulses. This, however, leaves some of the advantages of the original behind, but nevertheless you can clearly see that the new edition is at the height of time and thus also seems quite interesting for those not familiar with the book or the original.
The creators had abided to the original in many things, such as the intentionally misspelled Sematary at the entrance of the pet cemetery, or the visions of wife Rachel, as well as the warning spirit of the patient from the doctor. One small difference this time is that the creators chose Ellie instead of Gage, the bloodthirsty child who awakes from the dead to bring mischief to the family. A little girl gives of course much more possibilities than a small child who can hardly walk anymore. And I think this decision is very well implemented, for my taste, because little Ellie comes across very well in her evil non-dead role. Just the way she wants to kill her own mother Rachel and then finally stabs her, works very well, because the What the F°°k- effect is definitely given.
Certainly many of you will think not another horror movie in which a child goes crazy and wants to kill his family, but here it should be said that this basic idea originated from the pen of Stephen King and Pet Sematary laid the foundation for such movies. Surely there have been movies and stories with possessed children before but not in the way children used violence. The original movie Pet Sematary from the year 1989 was even not without a reason on the index for violent movies.
The viewer, who knows the story and the novel, sometimes gets what he expects, but some things have been very well and skilfully changed by the creators, so that you have surprise effects and at the same time the makers mainly use some scenes for classic jumpscares. There are too few of them, but the creepy effect is there.
The remake of the eighties horror classic is very solid. It convinces especially in the first half, but towards the end it fades a bit when the makers are more interested in the quick shock effects than in maintaining the eerie atmosphere. And that's why the movie got from me only 6 stars at IMDb.
