Show notes
With the Pet Sematary remake right around the corner, we decided it best to give the original 1989 Pet Sematary the full Horror Movie Talk treatment. Pet Sematary is not really about a pet cemetery, but is really about what lies beyond…the pet cemetery. The only horror trope more predictable than a Stephen King story set in Maine, that’s right, an Indian burial ground. And as with every movie with an Indian burial ground, the moral to the story is: don't mess with an Indian burial ground. The movie, directed by Mary Lambert and written by Stephen King is based on his novel of the same title.
Pet Sematary 1989 Synopsis
Pet Sematary tells the story of the young Creed family. Louis Creed (Dale Midkiff) is a doctor moving to the small town of Ludlow, Maine with his wife Rachel (Denise Crosby) and his two children Elle and Gage. Immediately they meet the kindly old man Jud Crandall (Fred Gwynne) who introduces them to the features of the property. Mainly a busy road filled exclusively with speeding 18 wheelers, and a spooky forest where people bury their dead pets that were killed by those same 18 wheelers.
The crux of the plot however relies on what lay beyond yonder Pet Sematary. A Mic Mac Indian burial ground holds the secret to resurrection.
After the loss of a family cat “Church”, Jud takes Louis to the Indian burial ground which has the unique feature where whatever is buried there will come back to life. While the feline resurrection saves Elle the grief of losing her favorite cat. The knowledge of a power to restore life is a Pandora's box that only results in misery for the Creed family.
Original Pet Sematary Trailer
https://youtu.be/JMao8sg4DPA
Pet Sematary (1989) Trailer #1
Review of Pet Sematary (1989)
Pet Sematary deals really well with the concepts of loss and the folly of trying to cheat death. It’s surprising how much is packed into this movie and how well it still delivers. It deals with the loss of a pet and teaching about the afterlife to your children. It deals with protecting your children from physical and psychological trauma. It deals with resentment of caring for people on their deathbed. Ideals with the grief of losing a loved one, and the desire to get them back at any cost. And it does these all really well.
Check Out Our Review of Pet Sematary (2019)
https://www.horrormovietalk.com/2019/04/10/pet-sematary-2019-review/
The acting is not particularly good, but the writing makes up for it. The dialogue can have weird asides like those found in Stephen King’s novels, but they are done tastefully and they add to the tone of the film. The script does a really good job of laying out the plot very logically and creating moments of escalation in ways that aren’t always predictable.
The film has equal parts dread, jump scares, and gore. All of which are very effective. The special effects are good, save for the fight with the Gage doll at the end of the film.
Score for Pet Sematary (1989)
7/10
Pet Sematary (1989)Add this classic to your collectionBuy on Amazon
Spoilers
Expand for Spoilers
You can pretty much surmise from the trailer that at least the cat will get resurrected, But the real turning point for the movie is when Gage Creed is run over by a truck.
Lewis in his distress is fate driven to use the powers of the Mic Mac burial ground to bring his son back to life. He does this regardless of the warnings of Jud.
Gage, like Church the cat, does not come back the same. In the place of this innocent adorable toddler, Gage comes back as an evil killing machine.
His first target is Jud, whom he carves up like butter with his father's scalpel.
Zombie Gage then kills his own mother before being tracked down by Lewis and put down like a rabid dog.
The imagery and emotional pull of seeing Lewis reunited with Gage is truly the best part of the film. The conflict and grief that Lewis feels when he puts down Gage feels intense.
Deadly Serious Slasher Fan? Check Out Our Child's Play 1988 Review!
https://www.horrormovietalk.com/2019/06/24/childs-play-1988-review/
The movie ends with Lewis learning nothing and proceeding to take Rachael, his wife, towards the indian burial ground.
Final Recommendation
Pet Sematary is a must see for any fan of family-based horror. The impact of the film is hightened if you have children of your own, but the themes in the film touch on all levels of death and grief.
Also, see it before you see the remake, because from the trailer, the remake has made significant changes to the story.
Horror Movie Talk Episode 37: Pet Sematary (1989) Review
https://youtu.be/jbPKcNysjg0
Full Transcript of Episode 37 of Horror Movie Talk
This episode of horror movie talk brought to you by Uncle Wally's Child Coffin warehouse. No one likes to lose a child. Funerals are expensive, and mortuary services often take advantage of people's pocketbooks at their most vulnerable moment. So skip these expensive funeral homes and come on down to Uncle Wally's Discount Child Coffin warehouse. We have certified pre owned infant toddler and pre PBS inside coffins priced at less than half of what the other guys charge. You couldn't save your child, but you can save your money. Come see us at Uncle Wally's Discount Child Coffins in the funeral district on third mentioned this ad when you buy a coffin and get a ten percent off coupon for your next child coffin purchase. Hello and welcome to horror movie talk and opinionated and accidentally funny horror movie review Show Your schlubby host each week are Bryce Hanson, the cool collected nihilist, and David Day, a cool guy who was always cool. New theatrical releases always get priority, but we also review older horror movies both good and whole Roar Bowl. Um, Samson, I, uh, they So Uncle Wally's child Coffon warehouse. Man, they are just what a screaming deal I know. Like and and I mean, the one question I have is like they're certified pre used. Yeah, where? I mean, are they just dumping the kids out? It's best not to. Aunts ask these questions, and it's definitely best not hands. I mean, it's worth the price, though. I mean, you know, you gotta take what you can get. Absolutely coffee, Yeah. All right, everyone, We've got a great show today in preparation for the upcoming remake, will be talking about the original nineteen eighty nine pet cemetery. It's spelled wrong. Oh, boy, I'm excited. This is This is one of my long time like this is one of my formative movies. So pretty excited about this? Yeah, So if you don't know how horror movie talk episodes work will give a brief review and our score for the movie, we score on a scale of one to ten one being miserable enough to make you angry at the film. Five being completely average that hits all the expectant marks and ten being so good that it transcends genre boundaries after we give our score will get into spoilers and take a deeper dive into what we liked and hated about the movie. And then, later on, we'LL have game time. Full boy gives replaying. Bryce will be doing our around our latest round of rotten tomatoes. Game hall. Nothing. Favourite game. Hey, you know what I was thinking as you were reading the intro and and you're calling me a cool guy who's always cool, I was thinking, wouldn't it be nice if the fifth year, actually. Cool. Well, that first of all, obviously, it would be nice to be the thing that I am, but ah, I think the fans should think up something for me to be, Ah, thing that is always thing. So all of the all of all of the suggestions should go ahead and shoot those in their to us. I mean, your brother listens to this, so yeah, it could. It could really go south on us. In fact, I'm counting on it. Alright. So before we get into the review, let's cover some in house business. You can go to our website at horror movie talk dot com, and there you'LL find links to all our social media Facebook, twitter, insta. We even have a subreddit. You can go look at past episodes on and comment. We post new episodes every Wednesday, and we love if you would subscribe and leave a review on your favorite podcast platform. ITunes, especially you, Khun. Support the podcast by buying a renting any movie or product on Amazon. If you click through the green button in the header of our website, that website again is poor or movie talk dot com. Also sponsor, I guess. Technically, sponsor, right? Yeah, A Shudder has a special offer for listeners of court movie talk. If you use the code H m T. At Checkout, you get a thirty day free trial to Shutter, which is basically the Netflix of horror. It's a streaming service for horror movies and TV shows. They've got lots of exclusives, even some really nice original content, and check that out. You can get it for free for thirty days if you use H empty. Thanks again for last name, Last name. I always say, last name. What is my I don't know. Like whenever I hear my own voice, I've been a I've been keen. Intellect, policy. Yeah, I've been cannon on weird speech patterns, patterns that I believed to be weird, that are, in reality, normal. So, like when people say I want a prize, that bothers me to no end. They say I won the championship, but it's one I want it. But they say, want it, It bothers me. Yeah, those kinds of things when they're like mayonnaise. Okay, I see how fancy you are. Pronouncing the wides called Manny's. There's no wire. Oh, in the in the word, say, Manny's, I've been listening to, like some podcasts or just stories featuring, um, Mormon families in true crime stories. Oh, dear God. And there's like I'm pretty keyed in on the Utah accent. It's very I can't imitate it. You can't take it. I can key in on it. Do you fall into it? No, you're never I can't. I can't really do it. My wife could probably do it. I fallen, but it's very earnest, very like over pronounced. So for me, that's a real detriment to me....
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