Pet Sematary (1989) ***
I hadn't watched Pet Sematary (1989) since 2007 and, 30 years on, it honestly didn't hold up as well as I'd remembered. It's a weird combination of mean-spiritedness and attempts at both Greek tragedy and sentimentality. In some scenes it succeeds; in others the tone just isn't right. It's also a lot cheesier than I remembered (particularly some of the effects).
Pascow—the helpful ghost—is a terrible plot mechanism and there are a lot of other tropey horror moments that kind of make me roll my eyes. Dale Midkiff is a very uneven lead—too over the top at times and too bland at others. Fred Gwynne, despite laying on the Maine accent a bit too thick, is the best part of the film. There are things to appreciate—the cinematography and score are both solid, the Zelda scenes are creepy, and Church (or rather, the multiple felines portraying him) is one gorgeous cat.
I've never read Stephen King's 1983 book but I imagine it must be better than either film adaptation (the 1989 version was the first time that King wrote a screenplay from one of his own books). Both films fall short of being great (my review of the 2019 film here), but the 1989 film has good production values and it's enjoyable enough. And I know most Ramones fans don't like it, but I love their theme song.
You can find my Stephen King Feature & Television Film Adaptations Ranked list here.
Pascow—the helpful ghost—is a terrible plot mechanism and there are a lot of other tropey horror moments that kind of make me roll my eyes. Dale Midkiff is a very uneven lead—too over the top at times and too bland at others. Fred Gwynne, despite laying on the Maine accent a bit too thick, is the best part of the film. There are things to appreciate—the cinematography and score are both solid, the Zelda scenes are creepy, and Church (or rather, the multiple felines portraying him) is one gorgeous cat.
I've never read Stephen King's 1983 book but I imagine it must be better than either film adaptation (the 1989 version was the first time that King wrote a screenplay from one of his own books). Both films fall short of being great (my review of the 2019 film here), but the 1989 film has good production values and it's enjoyable enough. And I know most Ramones fans don't like it, but I love their theme song.
You can find my Stephen King Feature & Television Film Adaptations Ranked list here.
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