TotalTelly.co.uk

Devoted to Popular, Cult and Retro TV

Pet Sematary [1989]


RRP: £15.99
Our Price: £4.25 (subject to change)

Does The Job..
Review date: 2008-08-09 Rating: 10 out of 10

When I first heard of "Pet Sematary" I was clicking through the channels late at night as an innocent 13 year old to see the Spinal Meningitis inflicted girl fling up in bed to give quite a traumatising speech, a scene that has stuck with me since..
Since then I have read the novel, bought the dvd and have been scarying myself ever since.

I am being honest here, but this is probably the most scariest film I have ever seen, I am not sure why because I am 18 now and only just gained the courage to watch it by myself at night with no one in the house (and my house is in the middle of the woods).

Part of me wants to give the film 4 stars because I believe a little bit of the acting could have been slightly better which is a shame, but in terms of camerawork, editing and special effects it rightly deserves whatever praise it has recieved. To say this film is a few months shy of seeing its second decade some of the special effects are amongst some of the best I have ever seen in film, for example the road-accident victim, Victor Pascow is enough to make a grown man walk out of the room in shock. Also with the camera work it is filmed with plenty of flair and dizzying shots that adds to the overall discomforting feel of the film.

The film isn't for the faint hearted at all and is generally not pleasant viewing in most parts but manages to maintain itself before morbidity and tastelessness starts to seap in and should keep you entertained long enough to see quite a ghastly climax.

So OK, the film could have been better in terms of acting but get's it 5 stars because it does its job as a horror movie like no other and is geniunly scary which is quite a rare quality for films to posess these days, especially in horror. I have also shown this film a few friends and they have said near enough the same thing and that it was really quite scary.

So if you're in need of a scary film that has a decent story-line to keep you intrigued and not too gory (it has its moments) then Pet Sematary is definatley worth the buy and like every good old horror, works to best effect when watched at night!

Hope this helps!

Similar Products

Reviews


PRETTY DECENT
Review date: 2007-11-04 Rating: 8 out of 10


A family, Louis, (Dale Midkiff), Rachel, (Denise Crosby) and daughter Ellen (Blaze Berdahl) and son Gage, (Miko Hughes) move into a new house out into the country where Louis is the new town doctor. They meet neighbor Jud Crandell (Fred Gywnne) who warms them of a path near their house that goes into the woods to a local pet cemetery. After getting settled in, Jud takes the family up to the cemetery and his talk of the dead spooks Ellen. While on his assignment, Louis treats a guy who got ran over by a car, but after he dies, he sees the dead kid in a series of visions. It leads Louis back to the cemetery who reveals a cryptic secret about the graveyard. He never remembers the experience, but awakes with his evidence of the journey. He keeps his experience hidden from the family as they leave to go to her father's for Thanksgiving. While they're gone, Ellen's cat dies and Louis decides to bury it, but Jud has a better idea and together raise the cat from the dead in a secret spot beyond the cemetery. When they come back from their trip, the cat is alive and well. After several days being back, Gage dies in a terrible and horrific truck accident. Ellen takes it almost as bad as Rachel, as they were good friends. Jud tells Louis that he better not bury Gage in the special spot, like the cat, but Louis does it anyway and brings Gage back to life. Ellen begins having visions of the guy that Louis first met and says that he was sent to warn him about Louis and Gage. Rachel also begins hearing his visions, and starts to suspect something might be wrong. After being resurrected, Gage begins to terrify Jud and Louis, and he and Rachel have to stop him from murdering their friends.

The Good News: Not a whole lot to talk about here. The main thing, which I like the movie for, is it is the first movie in a long time to capture an essence about it that perfectly mirrors Hammer films. Instead of delivering shocks and jumps constantly, 'Pet Cemetery' wants you to pay attention to the atmosphere it builds up in the beginning and it concludes in the ending. It relies more on its fine cast more than on gore and shocks. The good news is that there is some gore in here, and it is very well done. The blood isn't really graphic, as in 'Friday the 13th' style, but more necessary to the story. In other words, it wasn't gory for the sake of being gory, but rather to push the storyline along. Along with that, that is pretty much it.

The Bad News: This takes forever to get started. It lasts about an hour and a half, but the main plot kicks in about fifty minutes into the movie. To me, there's nothing more irritating when a movie offers up a plot then abandons it and starts a new plot. There are a few out there who do that, but this one irritates me more because it happens so late in the movie that I thought the plot up to that point was very interesting. If it would've continued with that plot, I think it would've been a lot better movie.

The Final Verdict: While they are a lot better Stephen King adaptations, there are also a lot worse ones you could watch than this. It has its moments, but those are pretty rare, if that matters. With this one, I offer caution: see it if you love Stephen King and his adoption, but use judgment if you care that the movie you watch is all that interesting.


Mediocre Slasher Movie
Review date: 2007-09-30 Rating: 4 out of 10

"Pet Sematary" is based on the novel written by Stephen King. The Creeds have just moved to a new house in the countryside. Their house is perfect, except for two things: the semi-trailers that roar past on the narrow road, and the mysterious cemetery, which is misspelled to spell sematary, in the woods behind the house. The Creed's neighbors are reluctant to talk about the cemetery. Is there really something wrong with the cemetery or is the neighborhood extremely crazy?

There is no question that this movie could have been a lot better. The movie was not exactly horrible. There were some good little creepy moments throughout. Unfortunately, the tension was never consistent until the very end. Sadly, that sequence towards the end felt like the typical 1980's slasher.

Not that Great...
Review date: 2007-07-19 Rating: 2 out of 10

In 2007 originality is a rarity, too often remakes of classic films are produced that more often crap all over the memories of the originals rather than better them. Indeed, most remakes are pointless and are simply awful in comparison with their source material. When it comes to 1989's "Pet Sematary", which is due to remade in 2008, a remake might actually be necessary. Even if its bad, it should be an improvement on this abysmal horror effort. Based on Stephen King novel of the same name, "Pet Sematary" is a very bad motion picture adapted from what was a very good novel. Much like too many movie adaptations of the horror author's work, this winds up being an unscary and silly cinematic experience.

Having gotten a job working as a school doctor, Louis Creed (Dale Midkiff) uproots along with his family and moves to a small community. Everything seems nice there, kindly neighbour Jud Crandall (Fred Gwynne) quickly forms a close bond with Louis and introduces the family to their new surroundings. Unfortunately, part of said surroundings is a stretch of road directly in front of the Creed family's new home that sees trucks constantly driving back and forth. Soon enough, the family cat Church is hit by a truck and killed. What is worst about the cat's death is that his daughter Ellie (Blaze Berdahl) is so attached to the cat. With Elli, her brother Gage (Miko Hughes) and Louis' wife Rachel (Denise Crosby) visiting Rachel's parents when the accident occurs, Louis decides it would be best not to ruin their holiday and tell them about Church's death when they get back. However, when neighbour Jud encourages him to bury Church in an indian burial ground not far from the nearby Pet Cemetery such a situation is rendered an impossibility when Church comes back later that night, alive and well but a little different.

From there, the family continue to live peacefully, aware nevertheless that somewhere along the line Church has changed. When Louis' son Gage is tragically killed in a truck accident, the family are stricken with immense grief. While a distraught Rachel and Ellie visit Rachel's parents not long after the funeral Louis decides to revisit the indian burial ground, adamant that his son should be brought back to life. So he digs up Gage's body and buries him in the indian burial ground. Naturally, Gage springs mysteriously back to life. However, he's been dead long enough to be infected by a murderous demon dead set on killing everyone in touching distance.

The acting, if it can be readily called that, is unskilled and bland. In the lead role as Louis Creed, Dale Midkiff wears the same disinterested facial expression throughout. Thus, the audience doesn't form a bond with his character and doesn't care in the slightest about his fate. As wife Rachel, Denise Crosby's role is one-dimensional and uninteresting, much like her performance. Not dissimilar to Midkiff, she opts to express only a limited amount of emotion. As friendly neighbour Jud, who realises he's made a mistake in introducing Louis to the mysterious indian burial ground, Fred Gwynne is better. The only character built-upon and developed enough for the audience to care about, Jud Crandall is made all the more endearing by Gwynne's great performance. Gwynne outshines the other central performers, delivering more than one facial expression, thankfully. As Gage Creed, the very young Miko Hughes has a difficult task. That doesn't make his performance and his character's usage any less laughable.

"Pet Sematary" is never scary, much the opposite of the Stephen King novel on which it is based. The book creates a great level of tension and frightens the viewer towards the end. In the movie, the final scene, supposed to be an unnerving and horrific climax -- as it is in the book --, is rendered cheesy and flat by hack director Mary Lambert. Nor is Gage's transformation from innocent child to murderous monster handled with any skill by Stephen King's own screenplay. That King wrote said screenplay himself is surprising, as it posesses none of the horror and tension of his own book.

Uninteresting and dreary, "Pet Sematary" is a bad horror movie. Ordinarily I wouldn't encourage a remake but, as mentioned earlier, any remake of this mess would surely be an improvement. If you must see every movie adaptation of Stephen King's work than go ahead. If you wish to see a good Stephen King adaptation, however, it is best to avoid this.

A firm favorite
Review date: 2006-01-21 Rating: 10 out of 10

The book is my favorite, the plot is so well structured. When I first saw the film I couldn't get properly engrossed (too much stuff on my mind, I suppose!) but when I watched it again I couldn't help liking it. The music at the end credits is wicked, and the best part is right at the end. Generally a good show from the actors involved, this is not to be missed. Most of the Stephen King books are my favourites, you should also see The Shining, like Pet Sematary not to be missed! One tip though: don't watch by yourself at night!

Product Details/Specifications


Actor(s):
Dale Midkiff
Blaze Berdahl
Fred Gwynne
Miko Hughes
Denise Crosby

Creators:
Dale Midkiff (Primary Contributor)
Denise Crosby (Primary Contributor)

Director(s):

Recording label: Paramount Home Entertainment
Manufacturer: Paramount Home Entertainment
EAN: 5014437809032
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 1
Format: Anamorphic, Dubbed, PAL,
Release date: 2002-10-14
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Audience rating: Suitable for 18 years and over
Region code: 2
Running time: 98 minutes
Theatrical release date: 1989
Language: Arabic (Subtitled)
Language: Bulgarian (Subtitled)
Language: Czech (Subtitled)
Language: Danish (Subtitled)
Language: Dutch (Subtitled)
Language: English (Subtitled)
Language: Finnish (Subtitled)
Language: French (Subtitled)
Language: German (Subtitled)
Language: Greek (Subtitled)
Language: Hebrew (Subtitled)
Language: Hungarian (Subtitled)
Language: Icelandic (Subtitled)
Language: Italian (Subtitled)
Language: Norwegian (Subtitled)
Language: Polish (Subtitled)
Language: Portuguese (Subtitled)
Language: Romanian (Subtitled)
Language: Spanish (Subtitled)
Language: Swedish (Subtitled)
Language: Turkish (Subtitled)
Language: English (Original Language)
Language: French (Dubbed)
Language: German (Dubbed)
Language: Hungarian (Dubbed)
Language: Italian (Dubbed)
Language: Spanish (Dubbed)

Add to Cart

© 2006 Darren Hester, DesignsByDarren.com, Some Rights Reserved.
Valid XHTML 1.0 Transitional