"Pet Sematary" Continues the Trend of Worthy Stephen King Adaptations

    As a movie-lover and an avid cinema-goer, I can say without hesitation that 2019 is off to a great start. There have been so many wonderful and amazing films that have come out, both on the big screen as well as the small (thanks to the ever-growing streaming world we live in). Genre films seem to be king of the box office, with Captain Marvel raking in over $1 billion globally. One of my favorite genres is horror, and it's one that doesn't get enough love by the critical community. Audiences love them because there's something inherently enticing about getting scared in a controlled environment, but critics tend to dismiss the craft behind the making of these movie, and it's sad. That all being said, one of my most anticipated films of the year opens this weekend, the latest adaptation of a Stephen King novel, Pet Sematary. I've been looking forward to this movie for a couple of reasons. One: the latest batch of King adaptations has been really, truly great; and two, I love this book, this story. I think it's one of my favorite King novels. Well, I saw it last night, and I have some thoughts. But, I'll start by saying that Pet Sematary is a fantastically disturbing and truly effective horror film and everyone should see it.

    When it comes to adaptations, especially one's where you are a fan of the source material, I think you have to go into the movie version with the mindset that "This is not the book, this is the movie." I say this because no film adaptation will ever capture everything from their source material, nor should they. The book exists, so if you don't like the movie version, you always have the original. I had to keep telling myself that while watching this movie, because the film makes some huge deviations from the original novel that I understood, but wasn't initially on board with. This wasn't fair to the movie, and I knew that, so once I was able to make this distinction and accept the movie for what it was, I ended up loving it. The story of Pet Sematary is dark and grim, and Stephen King has even said that he thinks this is the scariest book he's ever written, mainly due to the subject matter, and I would have to agree. The film follows Dr. Louis Creed (Jason Clarke) and his wife, Rachel (Amy Seimetz) as they relocate from Boston to rural Maine with their two young children (Jete Laurence and Lucas Lavoie). The couple soon discover a mysterious burial ground hidden deep in the woods near their home. This burial ground has a unique but harrowing power, and Louis is faced with a haunting decision to access that power in the face of personal tragedy. It's a story about grief, loss, and how you question and deal with those emotions. Despite the narrative changes the movie makes from the book, it still manages to capture that same spirit of the original story. I'll reserve my opinions on these changes and stick primarily to the movie, which is great.

    As horror movies go, this one is a doozy. It's terrifying and deals with a heavy subject matter with a twisted sense of macabre. A lot of what makes this movie work is in the acting. I think Jason Clark does a great job here, as do the children, who do some of the film's heavier lifting. Amy Seimetz gives, what I think, is the best performance of the film as Rachel. Her character's arc here is much more fleshed out than it is in the book, and I really dug that. It added not only depth to the character, but some additional scares that really worked. John Lithgow plays Jud, the Creeds' neighbor. His character is much more solemn and closed off than how he's portrayed in the book, and I understand why. Once you learn about what the Pet Sematary can do, and why Jud feels the way he does about it, it makes sense why he's so closed off. This makes for a great foil against the unrelenting nature of Louis' doubtful mindset, and Lithgow gives one of his best performances to date here. Oh, and let's not forget Church, the cat. Church is a principle character in the book, and I think the way he was portrayed in the movie was spot on.

   The scares are definitely earned. The tone of the film really sets the groundwork for some creepy and truly disturbing events to occur. The narrative is a bit slower in the first half but really picks up towards the end. There's a lot of exposition that takes place to sort of let you in on what the Pet Sematary is and how it might play into certain events that occur. Once that's established, the story really sucks you in, and before you know it you're gripping the arms of your seat. The cinematography is great, and the jump scares felt earned. The atmosphere that is created works brilliantly, and as an overall experience, this movie manages to deliver in spades. Once I was able to disconnect with what I had envisioned in my mind from the book and just accept what I was being shown, I was hooked. Pet Sematary is a horrifying, dreary, suspenseful, ghastly, and disturbingly entertaining horror film, and easily one of the better adaptations around. If you're a fan of the book, you may or may not be on board with some of the bigger deviations, but even so I think this is a worthy adaptation and a frighteningly good time out at the movies. As a straight-up horror flick, it's fantastic. I highly recommend seeing it.