Pet Sematary

SYNOPSIS

The Creed family moves to a somewhat isolated town where Louis, a doctor, has just landed a job at the local college. He isn't alone, though; he’s joined by his wife Rachel, their daughter Ellie, little Gage—who is barely even walking yet—and their cat, Church.

There's a massive, high-traffic highway running right past their house, which explains why so many local pets end up meeting an untimely end—and why there's a makeshift pet cemetery tucked away behind their property. Tragedy strikes when the family cat meets its demise, leaving little Ellie absolutely devastated.

Prompted by some local advice from neighbor Juda, Louis decides to bury the cat in an old, indigenous burial ground, under the belief that it might bring the pet back to life. Well, it actually works—the cat shows up at the house the next day—but it doesn't take long to realize that things aren't quite "right" about him anymore.

It turns out Juda dealt with the exact same nightmare when he had to put down his own resurrected dog. But honestly? None of that compares to the sheer, unadulterated horror the Creed family faces when a truck tragedy claims little Gage.

*Stephen King actually wrote the screenplay himself and was quite adamant about two things: sticking strictly to his script and ensuring the whole thing was filmed in Maine.

Personally, this ranks as one of my absolute favorite King adaptations 😍 — it’s just an excellent and bone-chilling film. 👍 I first watched it about 17 years ago and was completely floored by it. 😱 I actually still have a copy on DVD, too. 😍

This is easily sliding into my personal TOP 5 horror movies👍 Excellent! Seriously creepy stuff. Just more proof that King is hands down the king of horror🙏

btw, that IMDb rating needs to be way higher than a 6.4.

It was absolutely terrifying, wasn't it? I remember watching it when I was just a kid, and honestly, the memory of it still lingers quite vividly in my mind.😁

I remember watching this when I was about six or seven years old. 😂 Naturally, it felt way more terrifying back then. My brain is mostly stuck on that scene where Gage cuts Juda's heel with a scalpel, and that haunting moment when Louis digs up little Gage in the middle of the night. 😱 For some reason, I also have this lingering memory of the cat being a killer. 😬

redgull8 said:This lands right in my TOP 5 favorite horror movies 👍 excellent ! Unbelievably creepy. Just more proof that King is definitely the king of the horror genre 🙏

Btw, the rating on IMDb should be way higher than a 6.4.

Why are you mixing up the book and the movie? Once you've actually read the book, you can claim King is the king of horror, but you shouldn't say that just after watching the film.

Anyway, I’ve only seen the movie once, but I remember it being absolutely terrifying. I don't recall the specific dialogue, but I know I was screaming every time that ghost popped up.😱

analogpanther55 said:Why are you mixing up the book and the movie? Once you've actually read the book, you can call King the king of horror, sure, but you can't say that just from watching the film.

That's literally the whole point, though—the movie exists because of the book.

redgull8 said:That's exactly why, considering the movie was based on his book.

True, but honestly, that doesn't carry all that weight when we're talking about King adaptations. A movie might turn out completely different from the book, the book might be better than the film, or maybe the whole thing is just a bore. 🤷

analogpanther55 said:I mean, yeah, but that doesn't really matter much when you're talking about Stephen King adaptations. Maybe the movie is totally different from the book, maybe the book is better, or maybe the whole thing is just boring. 🤷

Fair enough. I'm just sharing my two cents. Since I'm a huge King fan, I tend to love both his books and the movies because, at the end of the day, the whole plot and the core ideas came from him. Even if I think something like the movie The Shining is a weaker adaptation than the book—which, honestly, is still a pretty solid flick—it's still great.

So, I'm not trying to blur the lines between the book and the movie, just stating how I feel. 🙂

I actually disagree regarding the radiation aspect. To me, the movie was a masterpiece, even if I found the book pretty tedious. But honestly, because I used to constantly compare King's films to King's books back in the day, it really bugs me now when people start generalizing everything in threads about movies based on his work. It just isn't fair to King as an author, nor is it fair to the directors.

The Shining was a disappointment for me, but on the complete opposite end of the spectrum, Salem's Lot was pure genius. I absolutely adore that book, even though the screen adaptations feel weak and shallow. It would be so silly for someone to reject reading such an excellent book just because it's by King, simply because they thought the adaptation was bad—you know what I mean?
Well, if you don't get it, I don't even get myself half the time.🤣

Anyway, regarding Pet Sematary, it's about time I rewatch it, but I'm also planning to read the book, so we'll see which one happens first. 🙂

analogpanther55 said:Honestly, I don't really agree regarding radiation. For me, the movie is a masterpiece even if the book felt kind of dull. But the reason I'm bringing this up is because back then, I used to constantly mix up King's movies with his books. Now, it really sticks out to me when people start generalizing everything in threads about movies based on his work. It just feels unfair to King as an author, and honestly, pretty unfair to the directors too.

The Shining was a letdown for me, but on the flip side, Salem's Lot was pure genius. I absolutely love that book, even though the adaptations feel weak and shallow. It would be pretty stupid to pass up reading such an excellent book just because someone thinks the movie version sucks, you know what I mean?
If you don't get it, don't worry, I don't even understand myself half the time lately.🤣

Anyway, regarding Pet Sematary, it's probably time for a rewatch, but I'm also planning to dive into the book, so we'll see which one happens first. 🙂

I get where you're coming from, but I wasn't trying to generalize anything. I was just stating my own take, but yeah, obviously I have massive respect for the director just as much as I do for King.

Solid movie. That old neighbor guy has a legendary voice.

A documentary about the making of the film drops this October 👋

Unearthed & Untold: The Path to Pet Sematary (2016)



I assume some torrent will surface somewhere soon... 🙂

P.S. Could the moderator please list the year (1989) instead of using the local title? Thanks.

Hey... has anyone actually brought up Ramonese here yet? 😬

Steven Newman50 said:so... has anyone happened to bring up Ramonese yet? 😬

I really think I’m going to have to sit down and actually read the book...
and then maybe catch the movie too...

northernbadger71 said:

I really need to sit down and read the book...
then finally catch the movie!

Honestly, I actually heard about this whole thing and saw that video long before I even knew the movie existed!😬

I remember seeing the ads for this movie when I was just a kid. I wanted to see it so bad, but I never actually got the chance back then.

Now that I’ve finally sat down to watch it—probably after something like 25 years or more—I gotta say, it’s definitely not even in my top 5 King adaptations. It feels naive, it's poorly shot, and the acting is just off. Sure, they managed a few creepy, effective scenes here and there, but that's about it.

+Spoiler+
There are these houses out in the middle of nowhere where truck drivers constantly refuse to drive at a normal speed (?), and somehow these guys always end up getting distracted, leaving a little kid to just wander aimlessly toward and around that road. Then you have the kid picking violets right on the pavement and chasing birds... That part totally lost me.

It’s all kind of a blur, honestly—just these hazy, half-remembered fragments floating around in my head. I definitely need to go back and give it another watch.

This is a killer horror flick if you want to be genuinely terrified. Definitely watch it alone.

Steven Newman50 said:To be honest, I actually stumbled upon that whole thing—the concept and that specific commercial—well before I even realized there was an actual movie attached to it. 😬

It’s the exact same story on my end—it really is. There’s about a twenty-year gap between the first time I ever heard that track and the moment I finally sat down to watch the movie. 😁