A family relocates to the great outdoors away from their former home of Boston but they discover a burial ground in the deep dark woods.
Their cat gets killed by a truck and beyond the burial ground, there's a place that can resurrect the dead but however are not the same and in an evil way as the family man Dr. Louis Creed (Jason Clarke) takes his dead cat to the area that was advised by their eccentric elderly neighbor Jud Crandell (John Lithgow) but things turn bad for this family afterwards.
When I went to see this movie I expected it to look real dark within the beginning and I knew what I got myself into big time as it seemed to show a prologue of the aftermath at the home with a bloody trail leading to a cabin which is a great touch to what we expect later on in the story.
The setting looked very impressive with the family going to their new home in a peaceful countryside with great shots on it all as it made me think the terror will break this moment later on in the story but again that's how Stephen King makes his stories at first happy ending off as an unhappy story. Everything is peaceful and lovely when they exlpore their dream home and a good jumping moment with a truck speeding by as this was clever just like in the original.
Rachel and Ellie go off walking in the woods as mother and daughter with some fog floating around as it leaves a nice creepy setting as well as hearing something which is another nice mysterious moment along with a group of kids wearing masks carrying a dead animal which looked impressive since we all know that they're heading towards a pet semetary making me want to watch for more later on in the story.
Perfect setting when Ellie goes out in the woods and spots the semetary which looked genuinely creepy as well as her trying to climb up a pack of dead trees of some sort along with a disturbance on an elderly man whom is of course Jud which leaves more of a mysterious feel as to why he tells her not to carry on.
What grabbed my attention is when Ellie asks as to why animals have a shorter life span than people which was well put into the story big time and her dad Louis explaining everything towards her.
Louise goes to work in his hospital with a bloodied patient dying in which things looked terrifically intense by trying to revive this person as well as great tripping out creepy moments that rotates around this situation.
Then the haunting moments begin with something calling towards Louise while he's trying t o sleep making me wonder if the forest is calling towards him along with good special effects when he enters outside in which this looked wicked to watch and very haunting like. I kinda wondered if he was just dreaming this but suddenly when the situation makes out he was it throws you back saying that this really happened.
Later on during the early evening there's a nice happy moment when Louise takes Ellie trick or treating but Jud tries to show him on a devastating moment on what happened to her pet which looked well done making you feel sad. Plus later on Jud taking him past the pet semetary later on at night as the setting looked marvellously creepy along with lightning striking which works greatly in a horror flick. Good moment with mist and a windstorm occuring during this situation as it stands out well for a remake such as this one.
More moments with Rachel thinking about her crippled sister during her childhood moments as well as her hallucinating as she opens a medicine cabinet mirror in the bathroom and suddenly
something makes you jump out of your seat as this was strongly well done.
Both Louis and Rachel try to tell Ellie that her cat ran away but she tells them he's here in the house as there's good shots on muddy cat prints leading to a closet which made me watch carefully as to what will happen when Louis goes to the closet to open up the door.
While rolling along in the story of course the cat is evil and Ellie tells her father to keep the door closed as she doesn't want the cat in her room as well as what he tries to do to resolve the issue which is a cruel thing to do to a cat which I won't give away.
Then well focused moments on Ellie's birthday party on her feeling a bit down on her missing pet and her Dad tries to lighten things up with her which looked quite touching to watch and well done too.
Then the tragic and real effective moments start to come into this scene as she spots her pet walking back to her home and she runs to see it and a speeding truck comes rolling along as well as her baby brother running to see something on the road as his mother chases after him to get him off the road in which we think like in the original it's too late to save him but this time there's a different twist since this seems to be common in today's remakes which works well kind of teasing you a bit.
Then there's the funeral and the whole other bit as I must admit caused me to cry that it really touched me since the story so far was well written for these moments to happen and really work well into anyones emotions when watching the flick.
The real terror begins big time as to what Louis tries to do to revive one of his children and boy does he act strange like he's losing his sanity as well as Jud trying to find out as to what is going on along with him knowing that one of the children plans to do him in which made me watch in total suspense wondering if he will survive or not.
Then the Mom comes home and is not happy to see her resurrected child as this looked truly eerie and dysfunctional to watch along woth this child about to do something nasty as well as alot of action packed struggling against the whole family involving the areas of the pet semetary as this all looked exciting and terrifically well done.
Bottom line is that remakes back in the days were done right and this one almost made it like that but just not quite. Still it's not a disappointing one and is very watchable but not wasting your time whatsoever. More haunting cgi effects and upsetting moments compared to the first one. Worth looking into and enjoyable watching it on the silver screen.
The acting is in fine shape as Jason Clarke (Louis) seemed to come to life in a fair fashion as the family man in which he offers a good wise and uplifting attitude in the first bit of the film. Was great with his seriousness as well as his troubled attitude too. Plus offers a nice mysterious behavior quaerter way through like he's not the same as he used to be as this shows off in a pretty good fashion too.
Amy Seimetz (Rachel) does her part in very well as a caring mother with a dark pastlife in which she brings off her disturbed and emotional attitude right on target. She really studied this behavior perfectly well and brought it to life. Also does well with her frightened personality quarter way through after she discovers as to not know what to think of a situation.
John Lithgow (Jud) was one of the best out of the cast with his eccentric but charming elderly type of behavior. He truly made his part perfectly likeable as well as drawing in perfectly serious when he explains a situation about the resurrecting animals and so fourth. He offered a good creepy like attitude when discussing all of this. Does a great job acting alert for suspenseful situations. A true character actor.
I must say that child actress Jeté Laurence (Ellie) was the best out of the whole cast making her part really believeable as an intelligent 8 year old who acts very mature which she represents this well. Plus does well with her good girl type of behavior along with showing her upsetting actions later on making you truly feel sorry for her. Then she offers a perfect versatality by acting emotionless as well as having a cold violent and evil attitude without making this seem phony whatsoever. i give this kid a gold star big time and hope she gets more work cause of her role in this one!!!!
A person's cracked open head with his brain is revealed.
Cat is mangled on the side of the road.
Sharp object is impaled through someone's chest.
Ankle of someone's foot is sliced off.
Christopher Young was terrific with his piece in this flick as he knows on how to make everything sound creepy and dark especially for the beginning of the story as well as to what happens in the deep dark woods and so fourth. Alot of terrific hissing and groaning effects sounding perfectly haunting. There's also echoey piano playing which didn't tickle my fancy as it's too common in modern flicks which is my only criticism but it wasn't overly played so it didn't matter.
Louis Creed: [as they arrive at their new home] Here we go. Ok, so what do you think?
Ellie: Wow! This place is ours?
Louis Creed: I even got them to throw in a whole forest as a new backyard.
Ellie: His name's Church. It's short for Winston Churchill. He's someone who lived a really long time ago.
Jud Crandall: I know who Winston Churchill is.
Ellie: Wow. You must be really old.
Rachel: How long have you lived here?
Jud Crandall: In Maine or in that old house?
Rachel: Either.
Jud Crandall: Well, the answer to both is all my life.
Rachel: In the woods today, Ellie discovered a charming little landmark.
Ellie: The Pet Sematary.
Louis Creed: A place to bury our pets and remember them. I know it seems scary, but it's not. Perfectly natural, just like dying is natural.
Jud Crandall: It was a myth. Kids used to dare each other to go into the woods at night. They knew the power of that place. They feared it. Those woods belong to something else. The ground is bad. It maybe just some crazy folktale, but there is something up in those woods, something that brings things back. Sometimes dead is better.
Jud Crandall: She won't come back the same.
Louis Creed: Hug your daughter. |
