Pet Sematary (1989)

Pet Sematary (1989)

Another one of the many Stephen King adaptations that are currently playing for IFC Center's weekend midnight series in NYC.  I have never been a hugs fan of most of the movies made from his books, so I never go in expecting too much,but I had been told by so many people that this was one of the really good ones.

Most people are very aware of the plot, so I will be brief.  Family moves to a new town, right near a pet cemetery.  Pet dies, neighbor tells the Dad where to bury it so it will come back.  Bad things start to happen.  Nothing mind blowing about this plot, so it is all up to the execution (so to speak) to either make or break this film.

The lead actors who play the Mom and Dad are pretty terrible, they scream TV ACTOR all over them.  There is no subtlety here.  The children are good enough, and the other actors are OK but only one actor stands out, and that is Fred Gwynne, who plays the neighbor.  He is the only light in this band of mediocre actors. 

The direction is fine, but nothing great by any means.  The sets are OK, but nothing special.  The whole movie is nothing special at all.  It just hangs there, leaving you screaming at the screen at how stupid each and every one of the characters act.  I was told how the sister in this movie would really freak me out, and it literally did nothing for me, I was so bored by that point.  Maybe it would have been scary if there had been some suspense through out, but by the time we reached this portion I was ready for this to wrap up.

As with most of the Stephen King horror movie adaptations, this one is a dud, too boring, predictable, and slow for my taste.  It seemed like it was made for a TV movie. 

6 out of 10 stars, not worth the time unless you really love the way his movies turn out.