Pet Sematary (1989) review

(6/10)

This disturbing horror movie from the mind of Stephen King could have been done better with its performances and execution. However, this movie still has the power to scare and stir up certain emotions.

PLOT:Louis Creed (Dale Midkiff), his wife, Rachel (Denise Crosby), and his kids decide to move into a new house a small-town area of Maine. While there, they meet their nice elder neighbor, Jud Crandall (Fred Gwynne), who knows all the history of the area and the legend behind their house: the child-constructed Pet Sematary. Deeper behind the Pet Sematary, Jud tells Lous about a sacred Indian burial ground where the dead come back to life. Jud proves himself when the family's cat, Church, gets ran over on the dangerous road in front of the house constantly traveled by fast trucks and tankers. The ground still works, but according to Jud, it's soured. The being buried in the ground isn't the same one that comes back, meaning it changes to an evil being once it comes back. Louis take note of this, but becomes tested when an accident involving his youngest child sends his family into sad hysteria. Louis may make a bad decision and test the boundaries of Jud and Victor Pascow (Brad Greenquist), the ghost of a dead patient haunting Louis and his family. It's a great plot executed decently.



ACTING:The performances in here are just okay. Dale Midkiff and Denise Crosby play near-decent roles as Louis and Rachel Creed. The best performances in this movie would have to be Fred Gwynne as Jud Crandall and Brad Greenquist as Victor Pascow, with a special cameo by Stephen King as the minister. These two put more feeling in the role and didn't feel as bland as these performances did, though they both have fine moments in the movie. The other performance I'd like to mention would probably have to be Andrew Hubatsek as Zelda, Rachel's sick sister. He did alright playing her part.

SCORE:The score in this movie was pretty okay. There's nothing I really found unique about it, but it accomplished what it set out to do.



OTHER CONTENT:This horror movie was very problematic in its execution and screenplay at certain parts. The movie doesn't stick that much to the book as it should and is very cheesy with some parts of the movie. The movie sometimes feels like a disturbing treat and sometimes feels like a cheesy horror story at others. There were some scenes I felt more like laughing and shaking my head when I was supposed to be scared. However, there were also some scenes that ran chills up my spine and freaked me out, like the scenes with Zelda and the scenes involving Gage's accident and its aftermath. This movie overall is unbalanced with its scares and comedy reliefs as well as with its accuracy. If it had been up to me, I would have left the movie as a book, the way I felt it should be.

OVERALL,an okay horror movie with a great plot, okay performances, okay score, and some very disturbing moments, but the performances seemed bland at times, the story seemed cheesy through its execution, and it seemed to unbalanced throughout.