{"id":18107,"date":"2019-04-04T11:46:44","date_gmt":"2019-04-04T18:46:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=18107"},"modified":"2019-04-04T11:46:44","modified_gmt":"2019-04-04T18:46:44","slug":"pet-sematary-provides-a-few-moments-but-sinks-into-silliness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=18107","title":{"rendered":"PET SEMATARY Provides a Few Moments, But Sinks Into Silliness"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I’ll be honest. I was never a big fan of the 1989 original\nfilm adaptation of this Stephen King novel. While this reviewer enjoyed some of\nthe story elements (including Fred Gwynne’s supporting role and the catchy\nRamones tune that graced the end credits), the whole picture never gelled or\nchilled me the way it should have. Today sees the release of a Pet Sematary<\/em>\nremake and my reaction to it is… well, pretty similar. Perhaps this horror\ntale just doesn’t speak to me personally. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Louis (Jason Clarke) is a physician who decides to move his\nfamily to a small college town in Maine.\nJoining him is wife Rachel (Amy Seimetz), 9-year old daughter Ellie (Jet\u00e9\nLaurence), and toddler Gage (Hugo and Lucas Lavoie). It isn’t long before some\nfamily members begin to suspect that something isn’t quite right deep in the\nwoods behind their new and massive property. For one, oddly behaved kids\nwearing animal masks frequent a “Pet Sematary”, where they come to bury\ntheir deceased pets. And, according to neighbor Jud (John Lithgow), much\nfurther in the wilderness, there is a burial mound with supernatural properties\nthat might be able to bring back the dead. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

And wouldn’t you know it, but that’s exactly what happens.\nWhen a family pet passes away, Jud gives Louis the specifics on resurrecting\npractices, which quickly spiral out of control after further tragedies strike.\nOf course, as all of this is going down, the lead has visions of a dead patient\nwho warns him that the soil of the burial area is spoiled, and even his wife\nhas horrifying hallucinations of unsettling events from her past. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

While there is a jolt or two from the unexpected roars of\nspeeding trucks down country roads, the eventual monsters don’t startle or make\na big impact. In fact, there’s a heavy and somber mood to the proceedings, and\nthe film is shot in a fairly cold and muted visual style. Given the dark\nsubject matter the approach is understandable to an extent, but this tone, along\nwith the obvious dream sequences, don’t drum up much momentum or tension. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Early scenes do mirror the original film fairly closely. And\nadmittedly, the feature does try to throw in some misdirection, including one\nsignificant twist as it tries to recreate major shock moments from the original\n(even if the story still ends up heading to a similar destination). It’s later\nin the running time that this tale truly veers off on its own course. Yet even\nthen, it doesn’t result in the scares or excitement hoped for. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At least the cast are solid. Clarke makes for an empathetic\nlead and Lithgow is an equally likable substitute for Gwynn’s earlier take on\nthe role of Jud. But even with their skills, it’s still impossible to\ncomprehend some of their actions. The jarring supernatural visions and warnings\ndon’t make an impact on any of the characters. Beyond raising the dead, Louis\nmakes other terrible choices over simple matters. This includes attempting to\nremove a violent, undead cat that has walked a great distance from its grave to\nreturn home, by merely driving it a few miles away and releasing it. While it\ncertainly ties into the theme of not being able to let go, it’s a bit of a\nstretch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The movie attempts to rationalize Louis’ behavior simply by\nsuggesting that the evil burial site influences those who come into contact\nwith it into making poor decisions. Yet it’s not only Louis who suffers from this\naffliction. When a more knowledgeable character is threatened, they don’t leave\nthe property or call authorities for help, but rather walk home and lock their\ndoors to avoid slaughter. You can easily guess what follows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another who comes face to face with an undead relative first\nreacts in horror and disapproval. Then, they decide the next appropriate action\nis not to leave, but rather to head upstairs, lock the door, fall asleep and\nleave another family member vulnerable. It’s all baffling and distances viewers\nfrom the proceedings. A menacing force may be blamed for their obtuseness, but\nin the end the characters appear to be doing senseless things not out of\nobligation to the burial mound, but rather a screenplay that needs to move the plot\nforward and get to the next attack sequence. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

There’s clearly some potential here in a tale where characters are forced to deal head on with mortality and loss and I enjoyed individual moments in the story. However, this take doesn’t do as much at it could with the concept, other than to recommend that one must eventually say goodbye to loved ones… and warn against resurrecting them. The cast members make Pet Sematary<\/em> tolerable, but the script can’t do its source material justice, and the film eventually sinks into silliness by the final act. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’ll be honest. I was never a big fan of the 1989 original film adaptation of this Stephen King novel. While this reviewer enjoyed some of the story elements (including Fred Gwynne’s supporting role and the catchy Ramones tune that graced the end credits), the whole picture never gelled or chilled me the way it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":18108,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[197,741,1298,3305,7889,9319,10417,10673,10881,15943,15944,15946,15947,16846,19051,23504],"class_list":["post-18107","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-197","tag-adaptation","tag-amy-seimetz","tag-book-to-film","tag-fred-gwynne","tag-horror","tag-jason-clarke","tag-jete-laurence","tag-john-lithgow","tag-pet-sematary","tag-pet-sematary-film-review","tag-pet-sematary-movie-review","tag-pet-sematary-review","tag-remake","tag-stephen-king","tag-undead"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18107","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18107"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18107\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18107"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18107"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18107"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}