The Pumpkin King: PET SEMATARY (2019)

“Anything But Dead”

When it comes to resurrecting classic horror movies, often times “dead is better.” But after the runaway commercial and critical success of IT (2017), Stephen King reboots, remakes, and new adaptations were naturally fast-tracked for production. And in 2019, PET SEMATARY came crawling out of the grave for more undead cats and killer kids.

Thematically, much of the content between this adaption and the 1989 adaptation PET SEMATARY remain the same—trauma, grief, and the lengths a parent will go to circumvent the loss of a child.

But cinematic purists, be warned: There are considerably differences in tone, character traits, and even in the tragic event that the Creed family endures.

But first, to briefly describe the plot: Dr. Louis Creed (Jason Clarke) and his wife, Rachel (Amy Seimetz), their 8 year-old daughter Ellie (Jeté Laurence), and toddler Gage (Hugo and Lucas Lavoie) move to a farmhouse in rural Maine. But there is something deep in the woods on their property…something evil.

It might take a little too long to get there due to some pacing problems, but rest assured that evil is coming. It’s just taking an unexpected detour. Still, Dr. Creed is given fair warning through the foreboding ghost of Victor Pascow (Obssa Ahmed)—Creed’s patient that did not survive a bike accident.

Unlike his predecessor from the 1989 original, this Pascow isn’t the least bit of a comedic relief. His presence is brief, and it’s all business. Also notably absent was the humor, however unintentional, of legendary character actor Fred Gwynne. His performance as the original Jud Crandall was the heart of the film. He perfectly embodied the small town local who’s harboring a big secret. He’s friendly and helpful…and unfortunately he inadvertently sets the whole tragic affair into motion.

Of course, John Lithgow is more than capable to fill Gwynne’s boots for this iteration of Jud Crandall. But this Jud is different. His character isn’t here as the surrogate father-figure to Louis Creed.

His connection is with Ellie Creed, the sweet and curious new kid to the neighborhood.

They take a liking to each other immediately. So naturally when Ellie’s cat, Church, is killed in the road, Jud knows just what to do. Meanwhile, the new home seems to manifest some buried memories for Rachel. Maybe it’s the stress of the move, or the uncertainty if she should be truthful with her young daughter about the cat’s death, but something haunts her.

“Raaaaaa-chel. Raaaaaaaa-chel.” Can you hear it? That’s the raspy echo of Zelda the older sister, bedridden and deformed by spinal meningitis. It’s revealed that she died in Rachel’s care when a dumbwaiter failed and she fell into the shaft. It’s a violent end to a miserable life.  And in this version of PET SEMATARY, it’s never far from Rachel’s thoughts. A monstrous, menacing Zelda—crumpled and contorted at the bottom of the dumbwaiter shaft. It’s easy to see why Rachel has some issues with the permanence of death, pleading with Louis to lie about Church’s whereabouts, begging, “Anything but dead.”

Still, she is hopeful that eternal peace awaits the dying. And actress Amy Seimetz brings a true vulnerability and sense of post-traumatic stress that the original character didn’t have. The 1989 Rachel Creed (Denise Crosby) was written to avoid the topic of death all together. This version of Rachel has the avoidance issue, but believes in the possibility of life after death.

This is in stark contrast to her husband. He’s all about facts and science, metabolism and natural life. The irony is thicker than the stench of looming death.

Okay. It’s the point of no return. Spoilers abound!

When the weary widower Jud Crandall opens his heart to Ellie Creed and her family, the least he could do is suggest that her father bury the dead cat in the very accursed ground which Victor Pascow warned Louis not to cross, right? Wrong. He knew Church would be resurrected by the land, and what lives within it. And he had the inkling that it wouldn’t come back quite the same.

So why the hell did he do it!? I mean…low-key villain? Amiright? The original film is slightly ambiguous in Jud’s reasoning. But this version clarifies: The land beyond the deadfall calls to him. And in taking more directly from Stephen King’s novel, this supernatural influence has a name. It’s the Wendigo, an indigenous legend that stalks the woods and feeds on tragedy. And even with Jud’s best intentions at heart, the Wendigo obliges its powers with tragic results.

It is Church, the undead cat, that lures the Creed children into the road when that Orinoco truck comes barreling down. In a corrective last-second redemption to the original plot, Louis saves Gage. But not Ellie. For those who didn’t already know of the victim switch, that was a shocker. But it ultimately proved to be a smart decision—lending the true horror of PET SEMATARY more literal strength, more manipulation in the psychological torment, and even higher stakes. Because Dr. Creed cannot accept the awful truth. And so, his daughter comes back…

Ellie—affectionately called “Ellie-phant The Great and Terrible,” throughout the film in a wonderful little reference to The Wizard of Oz—is truly terrible now. Like the eponymous Wizard, Ellie is projecting a false image, a con. She looks like Ellie and retains her memories. But she’s so much more. And she knows it—wielding her psychological blows as deftly as her physical attacks. Actress Jeté Laurence is brilliant as both the living and the dead Ellie Creed. (And in a side note, represents a much-needed revision of the character. The original Ellie was way too whiny to be taken seriously. A common problem, I find, with how some child characters are written).

This isn’t to say that original mini-villain Gage Creed doesn’t bring the scares in the 1989 PET SEMATARY. Skilled child actor Mike Hughes switched from sweet to psycho with an impressive ease. But reassigning the undead role to the older sibling lends the writers more creative freedoms…with slightly less taboo. Plus viewers are treated to zombie-Ellie’s undead dance rehearsal. That’s a fun little scene.

Though truth be told, the gore factor was rather restrained despite the aged-up villain that could potentially allow a slightly more gruesome makeup application than a toddler could or should ethically have.

But the restraint works. The offset eye, the pallor and veins, the post-mortem staples in the back of the head. It’s not gory, but it’s an effectively unsettling monster-Ellie.

Of course using the terms zombie or monster is fairly reductive. Ellie Creed, however “Great and Terrible” she may be, didn’t choose this life after death. She’s Dr. Louis Creed’s monster. But as anyone who has read Frankenstein knows, the real monster isn’t the creation—it’s the creator that dares to defy the natural law. And Louis himself confirms the theory. At Ellie’s 9th birthday party, just moments before her untimely death, Louis is blindfolded and chasing the kids yelling, “I’m the monster.” Literally. He’s blindfolded to the truth, ignorant of the consequences, and becomes the monster of the story.

Ironic, isn’t it? That Rachel Creed feels that an accidental death when she was a child “makes her a monster,” but has the belief in a peaceful afterlife while her atheist doctor-husband actively resurrects the dead he once so firmly believed met a “natural” end? Sounds like the aptly-named Creeds have their entire belief system collapse beneath them. And that’s the Stephen King trademark. It’s not a single monster, a single mistake. It’s not that simple.

And neither are the undead. It’s not enough to simply return and kill—there is very much a sinister plot at work. An undead agenda, if you will. Jud Crandall and Ellie Creed first meet at the deadfall barrier in the pet “sematary.” Her curiosity piqued—the Wendigo calls to her as it calls to Jud. Church is killed and buried in the land beyond the deadfall. Church returns and lures the children into the road, killing Ellie. Louis resurrects Ellie. Ellie kills then reanimates Rachel. Rachel kills Louis. Ellie and Rachel reanimate Louis. Then the three undead members of the Creed family (and undead Church, of course) shamble towards a defenseless Gage. The pattern: Die—Resurrect—Kill—Resurrect. It’s an endless life cycle… in reverse. So much for all that “perfectly natural” science stuff, Doc.

All in all, it’s a pretty grim film. No funny little Pascow moments, no pint-sized villain, no Fred Gwynne. But is there even a place for humor in this version of PET SEMATARY? It doesn’t seem so. The original PET SEMATARY, however, was very much a product of the time. 1980s horror was ripe with campiness, some humor to season the scares. It just fit. This venture doesn’t season or sugarcoat anything—you’re eating this thing raw and bloody. And why not? As Ellie Creed says, “You can suffer with us.”