Pet Sematary (sometimes referred to as Stephen King's Pet Sematary) is a 1989 horror film adaptation of the Stephen King novel of the same name. Directed by Mary Lambert, the film features Dale Midkiff as Louis Creed, Denise Crosby as Rachel Creed, Blaze Berdahl as Ellie Creed, Miko Hughes as Gage Creed, and Fred Gwynne as Jud Crandall. A man, Andrew Hubatsek, was chosen for Zelda's role. Stephen King wrote the screenplay and appears briefly in the film as a minister at a funeral.
Pet Sematary was filmed in King's home state of Maine, utilizing locations such as Mount Hope Cemetery (Bangor) and Ellsworth. There was also a sequel, Pet Sematary 2, which met with less financial and critical success.
Plot
The plot revolves around the corporeal reanimation of deceased pets and humans in an abandoned Micmac burial ground outside the town of Ludlow, Maine. The Creed family moves into a new home and befriends their new neighbor, Jud Crandall, who tells them about a pet cemetery and the burial grounds nearby. Louis Creed, taking a job at the University of Maine at Orono hospital, is treating a car accident victim named Victor Pascow, who dies on the operating table. Later that night, in what's seemingly a dream, Pascow visits Louis in his sleep, warning him about the burial ground. Shaken, he wakes up to find his feet covered in dirt, hinting that perhaps it wasn't a dream, after all. Not long after, Church, the cat owned by Louis's daughter Ellie, is run over by a truck on the highway road in front of their house while the rest of the family is in Chicago for Thanksgiving. In doing what he believes is a favor to Louis and Ellie, Jud takes Louis to a burial ground beyond the pet sematary he and his family had visited earlier in the film. These burial grounds are much deeper in the woods, therefore being unknown to most people in the surrounding area. He buries the cat there, underneath a cairn. Church is surprisingly brought back to life, but he acts differently; he attacks Louis, hisses at him, and seems to still reek of decomposition, despite his injuries having healed and his biological functions fully restored. Louis begins regretting ever burying the cat there in the first place.
Tragically, Louis's young son Gage is run over by a passing semi truck on the very same road Church was, during a family picnic. The entire family stricken with grief, Louis considers burying Gage in the burial grounds, as well. Jud tries to dissuade him from doing so, by telling him about a young soldier from town, Timmy Baterman, who had returned dead from World War II. His father, Bill, upset over his son's death, had placed his son's corpse into the Micmac burial ground, only to have it reanimate and terrify the townsfolk. Jud and three of his friends tried to save the father and burn down the house with the son in it, but unfortunately Bill was attacked by "Timmy", both perishing in the fire. Jud ends his story by saying, "Don't think about doing it, Louis. This place...is evil. Sometimes...dead is better," and confesses that the place made Gage die, because he introduced Louis to it. Ellie and Rachel travel back to Chicago, but Ellie is reluctant, as she had a bad dream about her father, Gage, and Pascow. She pleads her father to go with her. Nevertheless, they leave, Louis once again being alone. He heads to the cemetery Gage is buried in, intending on exhuming his son's corpse, despite the story Jud had told him. He is met at the graveyard by Pascow, who tells him the barrier was not meant to be crossed, and that the ground is sour.
That night in Chicago, Ellie has a nightmare, stating that Pascow warned her that Louis is going to do something really bad, and that he's trying to help him because Louis tried to save his life. Rachel, with a little help from Pascow, whose spirit is still inside the house, realizes who her daughter was talking about, and phones her husband. Not getting an answer, she then calls Jud. She asks if he's seen Louis, and then tells him she's coming home. He tries to warn her not to, but she has already hung up.
Despite the warnings from both Pascow and Jud, Louis digs up Gage's body, narrowly dodging security. He then takes his son's corpse from its grave, and heads to the burial ground with it. Heading up the steep, lumber littered trail to the grounds, Pascow's spirit once again trying to stop him from making the mistake of bringing Gage back. It startles Louis, but he holds strong and continues on to the Micmac grounds, burying Gage there. Louis heads back home, exhausted from his activities. Back at the burial ground, the cairn he placed on top of Gage's new grave moves, a tiny hand emerging from the rocks, an unnatural growl heard from underneath. Gage returns home, but obviously not the same little boy he used to be, as he heads for his father's room, removing a scalpel from one of his doctor's bags. He heads for Jud's house, playing a game of hide and go seek with the old man, which turns deadly when Gage slices Jud's Achilles tendon and rips his throat out.
Rachel then arrives home, upon which she hears something that sounds like her late sister Zelda calling her name, then Gage's laughter. She wanders into Jud's house, to find Gage, dressed in one of Jud's old hats and one of his canes. He tells her he brought her something, and shows her Louis's scalpel. Thinking nothing of it, Rachel hugs her son in disbelief, and is stabbed through the back.
Louis wakes up the next day, to find Gage's muddy footprints on the floor, his doctor's bag opened and his scalpel gone. He receives a call from "Gage", saying, "Come play with me daddy! First I played with Jud, and then I played with mommy. We had an awful good time. Now I want to play with you." Preparing a couple of shots of morphine, he heads to Jud's house, running into Church once more. He distracts the cat with a raw steak, then gives him a shot of morphine, the cat dying almost instantaneously. He heads into the house, once more taunted by "Gage", and prepares the second shot of Morphine, telling Gage: "All right, let's play." Louis searches the house for him, only to have Rachel's corpse fall down from the attic space, hung by her neck. The dead boy then leaps from the attic door, attacking his father viciously, biting and stabbing him with the scalpel. Louis drops the morphine shot down the stairs in the fight. Finally able to get his reanimated son off him, he grabs another morphine shot from his pocket. Gage heads for him again, scalpel in hand, but Louis is ready this time, and injects the boy with the shot. Giving up, Gage walks away, muttering, "No fair", until he finally slumps against a wall, dead. Louis then soaks the house in kerosene, and sets it on fire, carrying his wife's body out of it. Pascow watches, knowing what he is doing, and tells him that he's sorry, and not to make it worse by burying Rachel in the same place, to which Louis replies that he waited too long with Gage, and that it'll work this time with his wife, because she just died. Pascow tries to warn him, but his calls of protest fall on deaf ears, as the man is simply too grief stricken to listen.
Louis heads home after burying her, and plays solitaire while he waits. At midnight, Rachel comes through the kitchen door, walking towards her husband. She is dirty from being buried, and her eye is completely ripped out of her face. She coos, "Darling..." and the two embrace, kissing. As they're doing so, "Rachel" reaches for a knife on the kitchen table and grabs it slowly. The screen blacks out, and we hear Louis scream.
Cast and crew
Produced by Richard P. Rubinstein, Executive Produced by Tim Zinneman and Co-Produced by Mitchell Galin. Directed by Mary Lambert. Stephen King wrote both the novel and the screenplay for the movie. Earlier drafts of the screenplay include the Wendigo (not mentioned in the movie) and an ending closer to the book.[citation needed]
The soundtrack was composed by Elliot Goldenthal. The end credits contained a song, called "Pet Sematary", by punk rock band, The Ramones, which was a radio hit and was later released on their 1989 album Brain Drain. The end of Pet Sematary 2 also had The Ramones play their hit "Poison Heart" in the end credits.
- Cast
- Dale Midkiff as Louis Creed
- Fred Gwynne as Jud Crandall
- Denise Crosby as Rachel Creed
- Brad Greenquist as Victor Pascow
- Michael Lombard as Irwin Goldman
- Miko Hughes as Gage Creed
- Blaze Berdahl as Ellie Creed
- Susan Blommaert as Missy Dandridge
- Mara Clark as Marcy Charlton
- Kavi Raz as Steve Masterton
- Mary Louise Wilson as Dory Goldman
- Andrew Hubatsek as Zelda
- Matthew August Ferrell as Jud as a child
- Lisa Stathoplos as Jud's mother
- Stephen King as Minister
- Elizabeth Ureneck as Rachel as a child
- Chuck Courtney as Bill Baterman
- Peter Stader as Timmy Baterman
- Beau Berdahl as Ellie Creed II
Reception
Despite an initially positive reception by many eminent critics, Pet Sematary generated mostly mixed reviews, and was considered to be a moderate box office hit of that year, taking in $16 million in its first week at the North American box-office. The controversial nature of the film may have led to some of its alleged "unviewability", and Pet Sematary remains to this day banned in several countries. Nevertheless, it has recently developed an ardent cult following.
Among the reviews, the November 1989 Films and Filming wrote:
"This is the first screenplay that Stephen King has adapted from one of his own novels..." "and while it is a generally competent effort, there's some absolute howlers in the dialogue..." "There is also a taut Halloween-style ending that almost justifies the preceding hour and a half. But ultimately there are still too many unanswered questions."
Fear magazine wrote:
"The viewer is made to feel personal grief with some realism, and that's something which most horror film-makers have never handled or been willing to handle."
Mary Lambert was quite protective of her work, stating "Pet Sematary is about a love of a father for his child that is obsessive to the point of breaking certain taboos, passing certain boundaries that shouldn't be passed. I think I brought a sense of mystery and mysticism to the story that they were looking for. There are certain aspects of this story that take it beyond just another horror movie."
2006 DVD
On September 26, 2006, Paramount released a Special Collector's Edition DVD. It features:
- Commentary by Director Mary Lambert
- Documentary: Stephen King's Pet Sematary: Stephen King Territory
- Documentary: Stephen King's Pet Sematary: The Characters
- Documentary: Stephen King's Pet Sematary: Filming the Horror
The documentaries feature interviews with Dale Midkiff, Brad Greenquist, Denise Crosby, Stephen King, director Mary Lambert, Fred Gwynne, and other members of the cast and crew.
External links
