On the second try. Pet Sematary Review
Death is not an easy topic of conversation. Especially with a nine year old. However, Louis believes that it is time for his daughter to know about this natural process, and lying about the fact that her beloved cat named Church escaped is not an option. Mom, on the other hand, has a fundamentally opposite position on this issue: for her, the euphemism is not so much an attempt to console a girl, to whose throat a lump of bitterness is slowly but surely approaching, as her own psychological barrier, which arose as a result of childhood trauma from the loss of a loved one.The themes of grief, loss and trauma, directly affecting a person's consciousness and determining his further destiny, have always been the cornerstone of Stephen King's novels. His early, gothic novel Pet Sematary (according to the author), which hit book shelves in 1983, excelled in exploring these topics, perhaps better than any other horror master ever created. It is not surprising that the work about "second chances" received a worthy film adaptation only the second time around. If you look back at that first attempt in 1989 directed by Mary Lambert, you get the impression of the reverse ritual described in the book - first a rotten, brainless dead man appeared, and only after he was buried, a vigorous, living representative of his genre finally appeared.  The Creed family moves into their newly purchased, spacious country home, which comes with a dozen more acres of woodland as a gift, starting right behind the garage. Nearby attractions include a dangerous country road hidden behind trees, along which heavy trucks with cylinders of oil are driven as if from the prologue of "Fast and the Furious 4", and a pet cemetery, located almost in the backyard of the house. The only living soul for kilometers is old Jud (John Lithgow), the keeper of local secrets and legends that have overgrown their most sacred place in the area. The Creeds are gradually settling into their new home: Louis (Jason Clarke) gets a job as a doctor in a nearby hospital, his wife Rachel (Amy Simetz) enthusiastically tries on a housewife's apron, only recently learned to speak, baby Cage (Hugo Lavoie) babbles happily under the impression of the new environment, and inquisitive Ellie (Jete Laurence) immediately sets off to explore the area. A little earlier, she and her mother saw a snake of children in frightening animal masks, ceremonially walking in the direction of somewhere in the forest with the corpse of a dog in a wheelbarrow. For an impressionable nine-year-old, such a picture worked not as a warning sign, but, of course, as an invitation to that very pet cemetery. For an impressionable nine-year-old, such a picture worked not as a warning sign, but, of course, as an invitation to that very pet cemetery. For an impressionable nine-year-old, such a picture worked not as a warning sign, but, of course, as an invitation to that very pet cemetery.  The nearby road plays the role of Chekhov's gun for directors Kevin Kolsch and Dennis Widmyer: they persistently show us how recklessly truck drivers violate all permitted speed limits. The tragedy seems imminent. And guesswork turns into fact as soon as Louis finds Church's body on the sidelines, but Jud has an idea. An idea that even Jud himself would regret having come to his mind. But for now, for him, who made friends with cute Ellie and became convinced of her reverent love for her pet, this seems to be the only right decision. On a fateful night (thunderstorm and rain included) Jud leads Louis to the pet cemetery to bury Church, but not to the back of the house. He leads him into the depths of the forest - to a place covered with Indian symbols, like a shaman is covered with ritual paraphernalia.  On the one hand, the very fact that there was a 1989 film makes the new adaptation secondary, unnecessary in terms of the freshness of the story. But on the other hand, firstly, not everyone, fortunately, saw Lambert's horror movie, and secondly, this "Pet Sematary" is successfully working on mistakes. The plot itself was subject to small permutations, even the slightest description of which will give this text a spoiler character, so we can only say that the new version will surprise you. In addition, screenwriters Matt Greenberg and Jeffrey Buechler made a number of changes to the book canon for the sake of cinematography, which certainly will not be to the liking of fans of the original source, but film fans may find this version more acceptable. In fact, this is what the aforementioned error correction is about. The new "Cemetery" is more cinematic. It feels like a full-fledged horror film in which the directors are more concerned with whipping up the atmosphere than paging the events of the book on the screen. And here it is impossible to really single out any outstanding direction, as, for example, in Ari Astaire's "Reincarnation", nor a chilling soundtrack, like Jordan Peel in "We", nor a bright cast, playing all five points, like it was in King's other film adaptation, It by Andy Muschetti. This movie works on the principle of a broom assembled from thin twigs: none of the components of the production process is particularly impressive, but together they create the desired effect.  “Pet Sematary” by Kolsh and Widmyer dreams of following in the footsteps of “It” (it’s not for nothing that it even contains a reference in the form of a road sign with the name of the city of Derry): another reimagining of Stephen King's classics, which was once not very successfully transferred to screens , gets a new life. Both films are not limited to entertainment functions and touch on serious topics: one is bullying at school and bullying among peers, the other is fear of losing a child and necrophobia. But weak screenwriters, mid-range directors and Jason Clarke, who plays the same role in all films with his participation, seem to have established the impossibility of repeating the success of Muschetti's horror at the start. Against all odds, the final result is impressive: we have a truly atmospheric horror film that keeps you on your toes until the very end. Even if not the best King's film adaptation, The Topic of Article: On the second try. Pet Sematary Review. |
