I’m not going to treat this as a typical blog. You know the story by now. If you don’t, here’s the link to the original Pet Sematary. What I would like to do is make notes of the differences that matter to me and tell you if I consider them a pro or a con. I will offer explanations along the way. This may help some people who may be on the fence about whether to watch this film or not. I also will note some of the scenes that I liked or found interesting. (Okay, I totally wrote way more than I intended. My apologies.)
The very beginning shows a building on fire and a home and vehicle with bloody handprints. This wasn’t much but a great start. I love that Gage is smashing his toy truck into Church’s carrier. Thanks to this film, I keep saying Ellie-phant instead of elephant. Early on, I dislike Rachel but enjoy Louis and Ellie. I did like the minor jump scare with the loud truck. Okay, the kids in the masks to deal with the dead pet was creepy as hell. I want more of that. I feel like they did a really nice job with the look of the pet cemetery. Ellie falls and hits a beehive and only gets stung once? I call BS. The first scene with Jud was possibly the only time that Jud felt natural. I enjoyed the whispers of “come back” when Ellie and Rachel leave.
Rachel is a total pain in the ass during the death talk with Ellie. I also get the feeling that this is common in Stephen King’s stories. Watch Cat’s Eye and you’ll see. Lots of foreshadowing in that scene. They didn’t try to make Zelda creepy enough. If I was a kid, I would find her creepy, but the original Zelda freaked me out. Speaking of characters that weren’t as creepy, Pascow was lame as hell in this version. I liked seeing his brain, but later on, he simply isn’t nearly as well done, and that’s a shame. Definitely both are cons in my book. I also dislike Gage and I can’t pinpoint why.
On a side note, when you order extra or double cheese on a pizza, the least that the pizza joint could do is actually put in an ounce of effort since they love charging an extra $2. Sometimes you get the extra cheese, and it does make a difference, which is why I order it.
Hahahaha, love when Louis is dreaming about the ground being sour and Gage wakes him up. That cracks me up and was Gage’s best scene of the film. There’s a minor detail that I like here. Ellie is a witch but has a jacket on. For those of us who live in the northern states, you know that some Halloweens as a kid, you had to wear a jacket or suck it up and freeze while trick ‘r treating. Jud has the bad news about Church and he’s dead. I admit that they did a nice job with the rapport between Ellie and Jud. Rachel doesn’t want to tell Ellie that Church is dead. This somehow ties into the Zelda story. I did like the dumbwaiter death of Zelda, BUT they didn’t give Zelda enough time to really provide a lasting impression. I can still close my eyes and visualize the original Zelda scenes because they were freaky. Louis gives in to Rachel’s request. BOOOOO!
At night, it’s time to bury Church and Jud hears a whisper, presumably from Norma. Keep in mind how ridiculous the climb up is because later on, it truly baffles me. Seriously, they walk through a stream and get their boots wet and Louis is still just going along with it. I love the trek though. At least they got this right.
I love the scene where Louis and Rachel tell Ellie that Church ran away and Ellie tells them that he returned last night. Sure enough, he’s in the closet. Insert Tom Cruise is in the closet joke/South Park reference. I want to like the scene where Louis asks Jud about why the cat came back…the very next day. I know that they could have done it better, and that is what upsets me. Rachel is wearing a shirt that says MAINE. Who buys shirts with the name of a state on it? I don’t get the appeal. The scene with Louis in the basement that leads to Pascow warning Louis could have also been better. It lacked an eeriness to it.
I enjoyed Gage’s drawing of what I assume to be Pascow but it could be other characters. I did enjoy that they included the Wendigo myth. It’s quite an interesting mythos. Jud’s cardigan is something that the Dude would appreciate. Ugh, the worst scene for me. “Sometimes dead is better” which is my favorite line in the film, and it was delivered horribly. I don’t know who to blame for that one, but that pissed me off so badly.
It’s time for Ellie’s birthday party. Haha, I typed “bitchday” accidentally at first. Ellie is all bummed out about Church going missing again. Gag’s sweater is great with the shark on it. It may say “Fintastic”. Church has returned and Ellie greets him on the road. Here comes the truck. Gage is running and Louis makes his mad dash. The truck driver looks at his phone. Louis saves Gage, but he couldn’t save Ellie. What a tweest! I will get into this at the end, but I will say that this was the right call. I will say that they may have foreshadowed it with how much attention they gave to Ellie, especially scenes with her and Jud, but that isn’t a complaint.
Note that there is no ridiculous fight at the funeral. Just a nasty look from Rachel’s father. I am okay with cutting out the funeral fight, but I did feel that it added a level of desperation to Louis in the original. Almost like the final straw that helped make up his mind. How convenient that Louis comes over to drug Jud and Jud happens to look away for a good 10-15 seconds. Jud’s regret and plea to Louis were really good. It was really the only time that John Lithgow got to really act. I still don’t understand why Rachel felt it so necessary to leave instead of staying with Louis. If he can’t leave for a day or two, it just seems odd to me. Perhaps it is normal for someone in that particular situation, I truly don’t know.
As you know, Louis now digs up Ellie and he’s gotta do his thing. Also, why is Pascow encouraging Gage and Rachel to go home? I’m sure that he doesn’t know the future, but he can surely know that it’s too late to stop Louis. Pascow is supposed to be a good person/spirit, but he is leading them back to a nightmare.
When Ellie makes her appearance, one of her eyes is a tad different than the other, just like Church. I love how they made her look. Louis really isn’t great at brushing hair. This is why Ellie was the right choice. She could have a conversation. She acknowledges that she’s dead. It’s really good and creepy. That whole thing with Louis and Ellie was definitely a highlight for me.
When Jud checks on Louis, I love how Louis’ demeanor has really changed, a bit crazier. It was a really nice touch. Just tells Louis that it’s not too late to undo a mistake, and Ellie hears this. You know what to expect. I like that they teased the scalpel scene from under the bed, but they did it differently with Ellie doing it on the stairs and having the mask, and it looked gruesome. Also, the morph to Norma was a nice touch.
I feel that Rachel was too much of a bitch to Ellie. “Stop struggling you useless cow.” That is my favorite line in this film. This whole scene with Ellie attacking Rachel is a big pay off for switching to Ellie dying. She is more physically imposing and can actually do damage. And down goes Rachel. YAY! Louis is putting Gage in the car. Ellie calls out Rachel for all of her bullshit. Rachel pleads with Louis not to bury her “in that place”. Ellie knocks out Louis and drags Rachel. How in the hell did she drag Rachel up the steep climbing part? Sorry, but it’s a reasonable question even though this film deals with undead people. Even if Ellie is super strong, I don’t know how that works.
Now Ellie fights Louis in the Sematary. This is silly but fun and ridiculous. Louis gets the upper hand and just as he goes to behead Ellie with the shovel, Rachel kills Louis. Time to drag and bury him. We see Jud’s house burning and Gage is still in the car. We see the undead family walking toward the car with a gas can and there’s Church. That was a cool visual.
End film.
I have questions. Was Pascow a good or bad spirit? How did Ellie get Rachel up the steep part of the path? Is it safe to assume that they killed Gage at the end based on the very first scene?
Now I shall do a few major pros and cons.
Pros
Ellie was amazing in this compared to the original, for obvious reasons. I liked her as an actress. She did a great job. Her name is Jete Laurence. I hope that she gets more opportunities.
I thought that Jason Clarke added more life into the Louis role. It’s not a huge difference, but I preferred this performance.
I loved the kids with masks and the Pet Sematary itself. It was genuinely creepy. I feel that they should have done more with the kids. They could have done a backstory about the masks, they could have used the kids as a guide instead of Pascow.
I really liked the connection between Ellie and Jud. Obviously, in the original, it didn’t make sense for Jud to be close to Gage in the same way.
Most importantly, and the main reason why this movie gets the rating that I’m giving it, the change to having Ellie die and not Gage. It changed so many things and allowed the final act to play out so much better than the original. Big props for taking that chance.
Cons
Jud is the biggest complaint. I have seen this 3 times and with 3 people. Nobody likes how they did Jud. I know that Lithgow is a hell of an actor, so I blame the directors for not getting the right tone out of him for certain scenes and specific lines. “Sometimes, dead is better” is an all-time line and this felt weak and not heartfelt.
Gage seemed to serve no real purpose other than to be a red herring. I don’t know what you would add to make his role more meaningful, but it was a downgrade. Perhaps it should have been his birthday party instead of Ellie’s.
Rachel was awful. She was bad in the original and she didn’t improve here. Which leads to an even bigger con.
They ruined everything about Zelda, in my opinion. They made Zelda so creepy that she was in the Stephen King book club advertisement way back in the early 90’s. Yes, the dumbwaiter death was cool, but it doesn’t make up for the lame treatment. It made all of the flashbacks feel significantly less impactful. Zelda may have been the scariest part of the original. In this, she barely serves a purpose other than to give Rachel screen time.
Pascow was a huge letdown for me. I don’t want to blame the actor. I think if they gave him some better stuff, he could have nailed it. Instead, they just didn’t make him creepy enough. That’s an easy one and they missed it big time.
This one didn’t utilize flashbacks and I felt it was another missed opportunity. Especially given how they toned Jud’s character down, a flashback or two could have really added something. An extra minute or two certainly wouldn’t have hurt this film.
Final Thoughts
Overall, this was a solid effort. It’s a frustrating experience because half of the cons that I have listed could have easily been remedied. They did a lot of good things here. I don’t think that this film will be giving kids nightmares like the original may have. It’s a mixed bag, but I am glad that I own it. You have to see it with an open mind to really get the most out of it. The first time I was just pissy, mainly about Jud. By now, I know what to expect, so I looked for the positives as well.
Final Rating: 6.3
All the pictures used in this blog are for review purposes. They are the property of:
- Paramount Pictures (presents)
- Di Bonaventura Pictures
- Room 101 (in association with)
- Alphaville Films (uncredited)
Please go find a copy and support the creators.