Review of Pet Sematary (1989) by Robert S — 14 Apr 2009

Stephen King adaptations have a varied history in the movie world but this one really had no excuse being as the script was adapted by King himself. Clearly confined to 90 minutes King has struggled to whittle his story down, admittedly not one of his best, and has come up with a routine scare fest which is both gruesome but horribly predictable.

A doctor (not a writer, now there's a turn up) and his family move to a new home close to a bust road and old Indian burial ground which has the power to bring dead things back to life, only not how we would like to see them. The plot is pedestrian and the way in which the whole thing will play out can be seen coming a mile off. There are some gory moments thrown in for good measure towards the end but the film seems like a Child's Play rip off and the ending leaves us with no sympathy for a character so mind-numbingly stupid.

There are some nice moments of behind the cushion style scariness but these are dampened by the preposterousness of the whole thing and wooden characters we don't really care about, not helped by the talent less actors behind them.

Pet Sematary deserves to stay buried.