Quartile rating: 5.5/10 · 1 rating
Dr. Louis Creed and his wife, Rachel, move from Boston to Ludlow, in rural Maine, with their two young children. Hidden in the woods near the new family home, Ellie, their eldest daughter, discovers a mysterious cemetery where the pets of community members are buried.
The 2019 Pet Sematary remake struggles to carve out its own identity despite a notable third-act twist swapping which child dies. The plot hews closely to King's source material but loses much of the emotional weight and dread that made the original adaptation compelling. Acting is serviceable but unremarkable, with the adult leads delivering flat performances that undercut the family tragedy at the story's core. Cinematography is competently handled with solid rural Maine atmosphere and some effective shadow work, but nothing truly distinctive. The Ellie twist adds a degree of novelty over the 1989 film but the execution doesn't fully capitalize on it, making the swap feel more like a gimmick than a meaningful reimagining. The ending, while bleak, lands without the gut-punch horror it aims for, feeling rushed and unearned compared to the source material's devastating conclusion.