The Pet Sematary franchise has been a difficult one to justify. The first one released back in 1989 had some problems but director Mary Lambert did a great job as adapting Stephen King’s own screenplay and turning it into a nice B-movie thriller. Despite what some people have said, it’s not a slasher but deals more with the issues on when life is worth saving and when we sometimes have to let people go.
Reportedly King wrote the idea when he was a “writer-in-residence” at the University of Maine in the late 1970s and his daughter’s cat had been run over on the highway where they were living in Orrington, Maine. He said, Naomi, his daughter, had a hard time trying to get over it and got angry at God. There was also a pet cemetery near their backyard. However, after writing the first draft, he showed it to his wife, Tabitha, and both of them felt it was too dark and bleak. Yet, King reportedly only sent it off to be published because he wanted to get out of a contractural obligation with Doubleday who he and others had felt been treating him disrespectfully.
In the early 1990s, a terrible sequel to the movie Pet Sematary Two was filmed near Atlanta and released to horrible reviews. King even demanded his name be taken off the credits. Naturally, the popularity of the first movie grew over the years as people forget about the second one which was too violent and gory and nothing else. Years passed and acclaim for the movie grew and it was even parodied on South Park.
So naturally, Hollywood does what it always does and decides they need to do a newer version but it lacks any of the horror and terror the original brought. But there was still a story that was in the King novel they could tell that didn’t get much attention. It’s about Timmy Baterman (Jack Mulhern) who was the person who was buried in the Micmac Burial Ground by his grieving father, Bill (David Duchovny in a thankless role). Because it’s a prequel to the 2019 version, Timmy is killed in action in Vietnam instead of World War II as in the novel and 1989 version.
When the movie opens, Bill is taking the body to burial. The next day, Jud Crandall (Jackson White) is a young man who is preparing to leave Ludlow, Maine to join the Peace Corps with his girlfriend, Norma (Natalie Alyn Lind). But as they’re leaving town, a bird hits their car and they see the Baterman’s dog in the road. So they take it to the house as Jud hears from Bill that Timmy is back in town.
Apparently, Jud, Timmy and anothert Manny (Forrest Goodluck) used to be good friends before a criminal incident caused them to drift apart and Bill harbors some resentment that Jud’s father, Dan (Henry Thomas) pulled some strings. Timmy went to Vietnam and Jud gets to stay home. Unfortunately, the movie doesn’t work well with this concept. A friend of mine says the script probably needed a few more drafts and I agree.
As they try to take the dog back to the Baterman, it attacks Norma on the arm and their trip out of town is delayed as she’s rushed to the hospital. And more strange things occur as the dog attacks a local, Marjorie Washburn (Pam Grier) who kills it. And the town’s people beging to wonder a lot but don’t do much. Even at 84 minutes with credits, this movie feels like they had a great idea but couldn’t come with a good execution. In the end, it just turns into a slasher movie.
It’s hard to believe Thomas, who famously played Elliott in E.T. back in 1982 is 52. But he tries to act like an older man while still looking a little youthful, which is good for him. But the role really needed to be for another actor. Thomas has become a regular with King’s adaptations appearing in Gerald’s Game and Desperation. White does what he can with the role of Judd. And he has the right leading man looks to do something better in the near future. But Mulhern isn’t at all scary as Timmy. And Native American actors Goodluck and Isabella Star LeBlanc who play Manny’s sister, Donna, are underused. I liked seeing Grier but felt she was given nothing to do. It’s nice to see that in 1969 a black woman in rural Maine would be treated so equally, even though I have my doubts.
I still felt the premise might have worked better and there are some parts I felt could’ve been improved on. Like I said, White has the right looks and feel that you know one day he’s going to do more things. But just like in the novel and 1989 movie, there wasn’t much to the Baterman story. A grieving man did the wrong thing and the townspeople couldn’t stop it in time. There’s no foreboding sense of horror that was in the novel or 1989 movie.
Producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura has talked about expanding on the story, but sometimes a dead movie franchise is better. Look at the failed Dark Universe.
What do you think? Please comment.
Zane Says 