After tragedy strikes, a grieving father discovers an ancient burial ground behind his home with the power to raise the dead.After tragedy strikes, a grieving father discovers an ancient burial ground behind his home with the power to raise the dead.After tragedy strikes, a grieving father discovers an ancient burial ground behind his home with the power to raise the dead.
- Awards
- 1 win & 6 nominations total
Featured reviews
It's older, and maybe stylistically a bit dated, but it's the better version of the two, imo.
First, it doesn't mess with the story, which is great because you don't need to mess with the story. The book is good. Aside from the obvious (no spoilers) character switch, it was structurally better. Like the book, it's not a scary-right-off-the-bat horror story, like a slasher movie would be, kill scene at the top. Rather, it's structured more like a campfire story. It starts pretty normal and then, piece-by-piece, the horror builds. This is not very common for horror these days, but I don't think it is non-existant. More experimental films have been using it - Midsomer or Hereditary, for example, or Aronofsky movies. Wish either of those filmmakers would have tackled the remake, gone Kubrick and pushed King "artfully" as opposed to "pop," but I digress. King said this was the first the he really wrote which disturbed him due to the major 180-degree plot point mid-way, and this movie has a strong sense of that devastation. The best horror is often about family.
Second, the cast is better in this version, probably more due to the directing than the actual actors. Mary Lambert let the actors tell the story, Kevin Kolsch, like they do these days, told the story with camera work, editing, and modern horror tropes - the unnecessary masks and the juxtaposition of "cute innocence" (ballet dancing) with "evil," for example. Jason Clarke and John Lithgow didn't get to flex. Dale Midkiff was a BABE and we had enough time with him to see the progression of his character. Fred Gwynne is unbeatable. And Denise Crosby, who bravely chose an often unflattering portrayal of Rachel, is hard to forget. The Zelda stuff, although less developed than the new, overdeveloped stuff in the new film, is just scarier. Her hardness early on really works against her crumbling development later - it's a hard choice for an actress' popularity but better storytelling. (Denise Crosby is an interesting actress - I think only one season in Next Generation? And still unforgettable. She makes an impact in whatever she's in, but again I digress.)
As an English teacher, I'd say read the book! Then watch the movies and choose your favorite version, and let us know what you think! Happy watching!
First, it doesn't mess with the story, which is great because you don't need to mess with the story. The book is good. Aside from the obvious (no spoilers) character switch, it was structurally better. Like the book, it's not a scary-right-off-the-bat horror story, like a slasher movie would be, kill scene at the top. Rather, it's structured more like a campfire story. It starts pretty normal and then, piece-by-piece, the horror builds. This is not very common for horror these days, but I don't think it is non-existant. More experimental films have been using it - Midsomer or Hereditary, for example, or Aronofsky movies. Wish either of those filmmakers would have tackled the remake, gone Kubrick and pushed King "artfully" as opposed to "pop," but I digress. King said this was the first the he really wrote which disturbed him due to the major 180-degree plot point mid-way, and this movie has a strong sense of that devastation. The best horror is often about family.
Second, the cast is better in this version, probably more due to the directing than the actual actors. Mary Lambert let the actors tell the story, Kevin Kolsch, like they do these days, told the story with camera work, editing, and modern horror tropes - the unnecessary masks and the juxtaposition of "cute innocence" (ballet dancing) with "evil," for example. Jason Clarke and John Lithgow didn't get to flex. Dale Midkiff was a BABE and we had enough time with him to see the progression of his character. Fred Gwynne is unbeatable. And Denise Crosby, who bravely chose an often unflattering portrayal of Rachel, is hard to forget. The Zelda stuff, although less developed than the new, overdeveloped stuff in the new film, is just scarier. Her hardness early on really works against her crumbling development later - it's a hard choice for an actress' popularity but better storytelling. (Denise Crosby is an interesting actress - I think only one season in Next Generation? And still unforgettable. She makes an impact in whatever she's in, but again I digress.)
As an English teacher, I'd say read the book! Then watch the movies and choose your favorite version, and let us know what you think! Happy watching!
Supernatural terror for a curse caused by a cemetery against a happy family. The Creed family formed by the father , a successful doctor named Louis Creed (Dale Midkiff) , mother (Denise Crosby) and two sons has moved to a little community, at Maine place , but shortly after they move , their son is murdered by a great truck that thunder pass near his newly purchased rural home . The father learns by a neighbor (Fred Gwynne) that there is a graveyard where you can bury your loved ones , and then he plans come back to life his kid ; as he attempts to revive his three-years-old little boy with the magical resurrecting qualities of an Indian burial ground . He takes his son to this location, and he is brought back to life . It seems all is well again, until the son kills a person. Now, he has to find out a manner to stop his child before he murders other people . Louis is shocked to discover that danger and horror lurks .
The big success at box-office ¨Pet Sematary¨ was written by Stephen King , who sometimes writes under pseudonym Richard Bachman and based on horror master bestselling novel of the same title . The Paramount Pictures took the production with interesting script by Stephen King. Casting is frankly decent, Dale Midkiff as grief-stricken daddy , Denise Crosby as affecting mummy , but the honor acting goes to Fred Gwynne as untrusted neighbor . And of course , brief performance of Stephen King , an usual cameo , as church minister . The film displays adequate musical score fitting to terror and suspense by Elliot Goldenthal . The motion picture is professionally directed by Mary Lambert though seem doesn't improve in the transition from page to screen and fails the visualising of complex narrative plot by means of confuse flashbacks . She also realized the following (1992) , much worse than original, with Edward Furlong , Anthony Edwards and Clancy Brown , causing similar terror and same kind of gore as the previous movie . The result is better than previous Stephen King adaptation, the mediocre, Running man . King movies rendition are converting as prolific as his novels, from ¨Creepshow¨ along with ¨Cats's eye¨, ¨Silver bullet¨,¨Maximum overdrive¨ unique directed by King and various TV take on as ¨Rose red, The storm of the century,The stand,Golden years and Langoliers¨ have been numerous his adaptations. Rating : Passable and acceptable ,well worth watching for Stephen King fonds.
The big success at box-office ¨Pet Sematary¨ was written by Stephen King , who sometimes writes under pseudonym Richard Bachman and based on horror master bestselling novel of the same title . The Paramount Pictures took the production with interesting script by Stephen King. Casting is frankly decent, Dale Midkiff as grief-stricken daddy , Denise Crosby as affecting mummy , but the honor acting goes to Fred Gwynne as untrusted neighbor . And of course , brief performance of Stephen King , an usual cameo , as church minister . The film displays adequate musical score fitting to terror and suspense by Elliot Goldenthal . The motion picture is professionally directed by Mary Lambert though seem doesn't improve in the transition from page to screen and fails the visualising of complex narrative plot by means of confuse flashbacks . She also realized the following (1992) , much worse than original, with Edward Furlong , Anthony Edwards and Clancy Brown , causing similar terror and same kind of gore as the previous movie . The result is better than previous Stephen King adaptation, the mediocre, Running man . King movies rendition are converting as prolific as his novels, from ¨Creepshow¨ along with ¨Cats's eye¨, ¨Silver bullet¨,¨Maximum overdrive¨ unique directed by King and various TV take on as ¨Rose red, The storm of the century,The stand,Golden years and Langoliers¨ have been numerous his adaptations. Rating : Passable and acceptable ,well worth watching for Stephen King fonds.
I love this movie, It brings me the creeps. This movie just gave me a lesson "Just Accept the Death of Your Loved Ones or Bad Things will happen" This is one of Stephen King's Good Movies. He truly is the Master of Horror Movies. The Make-Ups of this Movie is Great and Realistic. Honestly, This movie was sadder than scary imo. I would recommend this movie to anyone.
This Movie is about how Parents would feel after the Death of a Child and that's what makes this movie relatable. It is quite Hurtful and Unacceptable to lose a Baby, Babies are too young to die. So this movie showed us that Keep your Eyes on your Loved Ones around threats.
This Movie is about how Parents would feel after the Death of a Child and that's what makes this movie relatable. It is quite Hurtful and Unacceptable to lose a Baby, Babies are too young to die. So this movie showed us that Keep your Eyes on your Loved Ones around threats.
Pet Sematary is a late-eighties adaptation of Stephen King's horror novel, and King himself wrote the screenplay for the film. The film follows the Creed family, recently moved from Chicago to a small town called Ludlow, Maine. The main plot concerns an ancient Micmac Indian burial ground close by, which has the power to make the dead living again, albeit as horrible zombies.
In my opinion, Stephen King movies usually works very well as mini-series because the characters are more fleshed out and their inner lives are explored more thoroughly. There's no time for this here though, so the characters feels a bit hollow and we don't get to know them all that well.
Relative unknown Dale Midkiff and Denise Crosby lead the pretty anonymous cast, the best acting performance of the movie is Fred Gwynne as old-timer Jud Crandall.
Overall, this plays pretty much like a standard horror flick, more or less, with average acting but with a better-than-average script and it builds tension well. Top marks to the makeup department though, for making the zombies look pretty good.
In my opinion, Stephen King movies usually works very well as mini-series because the characters are more fleshed out and their inner lives are explored more thoroughly. There's no time for this here though, so the characters feels a bit hollow and we don't get to know them all that well.
Relative unknown Dale Midkiff and Denise Crosby lead the pretty anonymous cast, the best acting performance of the movie is Fred Gwynne as old-timer Jud Crandall.
Overall, this plays pretty much like a standard horror flick, more or less, with average acting but with a better-than-average script and it builds tension well. Top marks to the makeup department though, for making the zombies look pretty good.
In the trivia section for Pet Sematary, it mentions that George Romero (director of two Stephen King stories, Creepshow and The Dark Half) was set to direct and then pulled out. One wonders what he would've brought to the film, as the director Mary Lambert, while not really a bad director, doesn't really bring that much imagination to this adaptation of King's novel, of which he wrote the screenplay. There are of course some very effective, grotesquely surreal scenes (mainly involving the sister Zelda, likely more of a creep-out for kids if they see the film), and the casting in some of the roles is dead-perfect. But something feels missing at times, some sort of style that could correspond with the unmistakably King-like atmosphere, which is in this case about as morbid as you're going to get without incestuous cannibals rising from the graves being thrown in (who knows if he'll save that for his final novel...)
As mentioned though, some of the casting is terrific, notably Miko Hughes as Gage Creed, the little boy who goes from being one of the cutest little kids this side of an 80's horror movie, to being a little monster (I say that as a compliment, of course, especially in scenes brandishing a certain scalpel). And there is also a juicy supporting role for Fred Gwynne of the Munsters, who plays this old, secretive man with the right notes of under-playing and doom in tone. And applause goes to whomever did the make-up on Andrew Hubatsek. But there are some other flaws though in the other casting; Dale Midkiff is good, not great, as the conflicted, disturbed father figure Creed, and his daughter Ellie is played by an actress that just didn't work for me at all.
In terms of setting up some chilling set-pieces, only a couple really stand-out: a certain plot-thickening moment (not to spoil, it does involve a cool Ramones song), and the first visit to the pet sematary (the bigger one), including the sort of mystical overtones King had in the Shining. For the most part it's a very polished directing job, though it could've been made even darker to correspond with the script. If thought out in logical terms (albeit in King terms) it is really one of his more effective works of the period. But it doesn't add up like it could, or should. Still, it makes for a nifty little midnight movie.
As mentioned though, some of the casting is terrific, notably Miko Hughes as Gage Creed, the little boy who goes from being one of the cutest little kids this side of an 80's horror movie, to being a little monster (I say that as a compliment, of course, especially in scenes brandishing a certain scalpel). And there is also a juicy supporting role for Fred Gwynne of the Munsters, who plays this old, secretive man with the right notes of under-playing and doom in tone. And applause goes to whomever did the make-up on Andrew Hubatsek. But there are some other flaws though in the other casting; Dale Midkiff is good, not great, as the conflicted, disturbed father figure Creed, and his daughter Ellie is played by an actress that just didn't work for me at all.
In terms of setting up some chilling set-pieces, only a couple really stand-out: a certain plot-thickening moment (not to spoil, it does involve a cool Ramones song), and the first visit to the pet sematary (the bigger one), including the sort of mystical overtones King had in the Shining. For the most part it's a very polished directing job, though it could've been made even darker to correspond with the script. If thought out in logical terms (albeit in King terms) it is really one of his more effective works of the period. But it doesn't add up like it could, or should. Still, it makes for a nifty little midnight movie.
Stephen King Movies Ranked by IMDb Rating
Stephen King Movies Ranked by IMDb Rating
See how IMDb users rank the feature films based on the work of Stephen King.
Did you know
- TriviaThe role of Zelda, Rachel's terminally ill sister, was played by a man. Director Mary Lambert wanted Zelda and her scenes to frighten the audience but did not believe that a 13-year old girl was scary so she cast Andrew Hubatsek in the role to make something be "off about Zelda."
- Goofs(at around 5 mins) When Louis is checking on Ellie after she fell off the tire swing he is wearing a tee shirt without a collar and sleeves that are rolled up midway past his elbow. When Rachel gets up to rush after Gage his tee shirt is now an open shirt with stripes and a collar. In the next shot when he gets up to follow Rachel his shirt is once again back to a tee shirt.
- Quotes
Jud Crandall: Sometimes, dead is better.
- Alternate versionsTelevision censors of some of the film's gorier moments included alternate shots from different angles that hide the more graphic images. This especially came into play with the Timmy Baterman scenes and the film's finale in the Creeds' kitchen.
- ConnectionsFeatured in The Ramones: Pet Sematary (1989)
- SoundtracksPet Sematary
By Dee Dee Ramone & Daniel Rey
Performed by Ramones
Produced by Jean Beauvoir & Daniel Rey
Courtesy of Sire Records Company
- How long is Pet Sematary?Powered by Alexa
Details
Box office
- Budget
- $11,500,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $57,469,467
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $12,046,179
- Apr 23, 1989
- Gross worldwide
- $57,470,138
- Runtime1 hour 43 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content