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Pet Sematary |
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Doctor Louis Creed moves with his family to a
isolated house in the country, with trucks roaming
down the highway outside and a spooky, supposedly
cursed pet cemetery lurking down a path from the
tree-swing. As the daughter's cat is killed, Louis
decides to bury it in the cemetery as an Indian
folklore says that it brings the dead back to life.
The next day the cat comes back, but isn't quite
the same...
Stephen King and movies are often a bad combination.
A few times, King adaptations have turned out really
well, like for example Carrie, Misery and The Shining
but most often they've ended up as crap like Children
of the Corn and Needful Things. This, which he
scripted himself after his own novel, comes somewhere
in between.
The story is truly shocking and effective. We have a
cute family, where something isn't really all-well,
moving to an on the outside perfect dream-house. This
premise is perfect for a horror film as you know
something bad is about to happen, but not what (scary
voices of children in the opening montage of graves
is also a big hint).
The film starts really slowly and somewhat looks like
a TV drama, especially when it comes to the family and
the actors playing them (the daughter is an annoying
brat, the mom over-anxious, etc.), as the few main
characters are bland and pretty dislikeable.
Dale Midkiff, who plays Louis, is a big problem. He is
very stiff and in serious need of direction and acting
lessons. His response to the events in the film isn't
very believable though he almost manages to create some
lifelike emotions towards the end. Saving the day is the
late Fred Gwynne, playing a friendly but mysterious
neighbour, the stereotypical role of the old man with a
secret. Gwynne never overacts and delivers a serious,
engaged performance throughout the movie.
Back to the plot, when the haunting corpse enters we get
a needless subplot, like the rest of the supernatural in
this film wasn't enough (also the daughter is psychic, a
trick executed better in the superior The Shining). Still,
this somehow adds to the dark tone and grim atmosphere in
the film, something director Mary Lambert might or might
not have planned carefully.
The film is sometimes painfully slow. It doesn't really
go anywhere until the abrupt but admittedly shocking
climax. Without giving anything away, there are some
truly creepy story-turns, obnoxious scares and
nerve-wrecking "don't-go-into-the-house" suspense.
Also Miko Hughes, who's got more showcase in Wes
Craven's New Nightmare several years later, proves to
be one of the most eerie child actors in film history.
An unsatisfying and pretty goofy ending sort of adds to
the bizarre style of the film. Uneven and not as good
as it could have been. But some scenes are terrifically
scary and hey - it's better than the sequel.
The walking corpse has some icky gore makeup with a
nasty visible head injury. A bloody rat is thrown into
a bathtub and there are plenty of stabbings with a
scalpel in the climax. Among the scariest horror-film
killings of all time, includes a victim having his heel's
sinew and jew's harp slashed, and later his entire
throat munched off!
The Ramones' famous title song is a killer (their punk
classic "Sheena is a Punk Rocker" is also featured).
A mean-spirited, grim and eerie shocker with bland lead
actors but several effective scares as well as gore.
Could have been better, but still worth to take a look
at especially if you're a fan of Stephen King.
Review By: Slicer-Dicer
