Cimitero Vivente: Le Origini

I approached this movie with some trepidation. Being a life long Stephen King fan, his movies had suffered badly from appalling, cash in sequels. A Return To Salem's Lot is a classic example.

But taken on it's own merits, I actually enjoyed this. It was generally well acted, the story was interesting, if not original. I disagree that the characters were unlikeable, I found my self really rooting for the people. I liked the pace that the story unfolded, revealing the history and background in satisfying doses. Also, it did not focus on the "Semetary" too much. Although building on the Pet Sematary mythos, it does stand as separate to the main franchise. SO if you view it with this in mind, I think you will enjoy.

My wife and I watched Pet Sematary: Bloodline (2023) on Paramount+ last night. The plot unfolds in Ludlow, Maine, during the 1960s, as a young man returns home from the war, triggering a series of killings. Some teenagers are eager to leave town, but their every attempt is mysteriously thwarted. Could the murders and the inability to escape be connected?

This movie is both written and directed by Lindsey Anderson Beer, marking her directorial debut, and features a cast including Henry Thomas (E. T.), David Duchovny (The X-Files), Pam Grier (Coffy), Natalie Alyn Lind (Gotham), Jackson White (Tell Me Lies) and Forrest Goodluck (The Revenant).

The promising cast and well-selected settings initially raised my expectations for this film. However, while the cinematography is impressive, it leans a bit too clean and could have been grittier and darker. The kills are the best part of the film, offering a satisfying blend of creativity and gruesome moments, with the "I think I'm too high" scene being a particular favorite. However, the acting and writing in the movie are disappointingly inconsistent. I found it challenging to connect with the main characters and felt the story might have been better told from the perspective of David Duchovny and his son. Additionally, the flashback scenes were awful.

In conclusion, Pet Sematary: Bloodline doesn't quite live up to our expectations for a revitalized Pet Sematary universe. I would give it a 4/10 and recommend skipping it.

This film attempts to tell the historical excerpt story from King's Pet Sematary novel, and hits across the face with it like a wet fish. For starters, it was so completely unconvincing of the timeline, I refused to believe this was telling the story it thinks it is. It also fails to bring a single bit of atmosphere or eerie King style nuance from the story itself. The characters were all flat, wooden, boring, or caricturally miscast and some were all of the above. Haven't really seen anything interesting from Dave D since Californication come to think of it, so not sure this was all the director's fault.. but still. It did tell the story at least, but I was dragged with it and never really got on board.

This film is just bad. Pretty much in every way. They must have either ran out of budget or had to cut run time because this movie is utter nonsense. I kind of, maybe get what they were trying to do, but it's so poorly crafted and executed it's not worth watching.

Here are things that suck:

1. The plot doesn't make sense and really has nothing to do with the original Pet Sematery.

2. There's no one to root for and no one to care about. Live or die, I literally do not care what happens to any characters.

3. There's no point and the core premise is so confusing I really don't know why this was made.

4. The final act they just gave up. I don't know why characters are doing what they're doing. Nor do I care.

Bad filmmaking 101 - 2.2/10.

Great cast, I just wish Samantha Mathis had more of a role. A few good, creepy moments. Unfortunately, by the third act of the movie, some of the scenes/scenarios became completely absurd. There were the typical tropes of people doing incredibly stupid things-but it's a horror movie, so that's expected. Yelling at the TV doesn't help. I tried. The idiots died anyway. I found myself rolling my eyes more than anything else. The undead could seemingly teleport and do superman type of stuff. Sometimes people say a movie might have been better had they edited out 20-30 minutes. Not this movie. This was very tightly edited and could have used a bit more exposition. Just being familiar with the Pet Sematary story helped fill-in some of the blanks. Really wanted to like this. Given the caliber of the cast, I think a lot of people were rooting for this movie. Glad I saw it, just wouldn't watch it again.