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Pet Sematary is a film based on a novel with the same name by Stephen King. It is a remake of the 1989 film adaptation of the novel. It was released on April 5, 2019.

A prequel, Pet Sematary: Bloodlines, premiered in October, 2023 on Paramount+.

Plot[]

After being evicted from their home, Louis Creed, an ER doctor from Boston, Massachusetts, moves to the small town of Ludlow, Maine with his wife, Rachel, their two young children, Ellie and Gage, and Ellie's pet cat, Church. Exploring the woods, Rachel and Ellie stumble across a funeral procession of children taking a dead dog to a cemetery called "Pet Sematary." At the university hospital, Louis is left shaken after failing to save the life of Victor Pascow, a student who was fatally injured after being struck and dragged by a vehicle. He later experiences a vivid dream in which Victor leads him to the deadfall at the back of the cemetery and warns him not to "venture beyond." Louis awakens to find his feet and sheets caked in mud, suggesting that the events were more than just a nightmare.

On Halloween, Church is killed by a truck. Jud Crandall, their neighbor who has a soft spot for Ellie, takes Louis past the pet cemetery to an ancient burial ground to bury Church. The next day, Louis is stunned when Church returns home alive, though he is different: aggressive and violent, tearing apart a bird and eating it alive. Jud reveals to Louis that the burial ground brings things back from the dead and is believed to be inhabited by a spirit known as the Wendigo. He apologizes, having thought Church would return the same. After Church attacks Gage, Louis tries to euthanize him, but relents and decides to set him free in the wild.

During her birthday party, Ellie spots Church on the road and excitedly rushes to him, but is hit and killed by a derailed tanker truck. The family is devastated, and Rachel and Gage leave to spend a few days with Rachel's parents. Sensing that Louis is planning on resurrecting Ellie, Jud warns the grieving father that "sometimes dead is better." Though Victor's spirit similarly warns him, Louis's grief spurs him to carry out his plan. He drugs Jud, exhumes Ellie's corpse, and reburies her in the animal graveyard as the Wendigo looks on. Ellie rises from the dead but manifests a disturbing demeanor.

Meanwhile, Rachel is frightened by visions of her dead sister Zelda, who suffered from spinal meningitis and died after falling down a dumbwaiter shaft. Gage is also frightened by the ghost of Victor who tries to warn him about going home. Jud wakes up and spots Ellie in the house. He flees home in horror to retrieve his revolver, but Jud, distracted by a growling Church, allows Ellie to surprise him on the stairwell—slicing through Jud's Achilles tendon with a scalpel and taunting him with the voice of his dead wife before viciously stabbing him to death.

Rachel and Gage return home and encounter the undead Ellie. Rachel is horrified and flees with Gage to an upstairs bedroom. Ellie, enraged at being rejected by her mother, attacks Rachel as Louis finds Jud's blood-soaked body. Rushing home, Louis manages to save Gage just as Ellie fatally stabs Rachel. He locks Gage in the car, and Rachel begs her husband not to bury her in the pet cemetery. Ellie knocks Louis unconscious and drags her mother's body to the burial ground. At the pet cemetery, Ellie tries to kill Louis. As Louis prepares to decapitate his daughter, he is impaled from behind by a makeshift grave marker, falling and revealing a reanimated Rachel. Ellie and Rachel silently drag Louis away and he is subsequently buried. Rachel, Ellie, Church, and a resurrected Louis set fire to Jud's house before approaching the car. Louis peers into the car at Gage before a beeping sound of the car door unlocking is heard.

Cast[]

Gallery[]

Trailers[]

Differences from the 1989 version[]

  • The Creeds came from Chicago in the original film while in the remake, they came from Boston, Massachusetts.
    • The reason why they moved in the remake is because they were evicted rather than just moving there due to Louis getting a job in Ludlow, Maine.
  • Victor Pascow is a student rather than a jogger in the remake.
    • While it is stated that he got hit by a truck in the original film, the remake does not reveal what kind of vehicle hit him.
    • His ghost is more terrifying in the remake than in the original film. He also made lesser appearances in the remake.
    • He interacts with Ellie, Louis and Rachel in the original film while in the remake, he also interact with Gage, but not with Ellie.
  • Masked kids were seen carrying a dead animal to the cemetery in the remake.
  • The family meeting Jud is different in the remake. In the original film, he met them after saving Gage from being hit by a truck while in this film, he meets them in the cemetery.
  • Ellie injures herself differently in the remake. Instead of falling from a tire swing, she falls from a cliff in the cemetery.
  • When first visiting the cemetery, Louis and Gage weren't in this scene in the remake.
  • The burial ground is an ancient Mi'kmaq ground with evil forces in the original film. In the remake, it is not known what the burial ground is called and it is inhabited by an evil spirit called the Wendigo.
  • Rachel's sister Zelda dies differently in the remake. In the original film, Zelda has spinal meningitis and it ends up making her bedridden while Rachel was a little girl she had been left all alone to take care of Zelda. She dies soon afterwards. This film shows Rachel using a dumbwaiter to send food to Zelda while she’s upstairs. Zelda ends up falling down the dumbwaiter and dying.
  • Missy Dandridge doesn't appear in the remake.
  • Rachel and Ellie never revisit their old home in the remake.
  • Jud's backstories relating to the cemetery were never visibly shown in the remake.
  • Ellie and Gages switch roles in the remake. Gage dies in the original film while in the remake, Ellie dies instead.
  • During Gage's funerial, a fight occurs. This does not happen during Ellie's funerial.
    • This happens inside the church in the original film. In the remake, it's outside.
  • Louis drugs Jud to revive Ellie without him knowing in the remake while in the original film, he just does this behind his back.
    • The police did not appear in this scene in the remake.
  • In the original film, Gage is lured onto the road by a kite while in the remake, Ellie is lured by Church.
    • The original film has this happen at the park while the remake has it happen at the Creeds' home during Ellie's birthday.
  • Louis sent Church to live in the wild in the remake. He never did this in the original film.
  • Church does not get killed a second time in the remake.
    • Louis initially attempts to euthanize Church, but then decides to release him into the wild.
  • Rachel did not show fear towards the revived Gages in the original film while she did show this to Ellie in the remake.
  • Jud's death has a couple of differences:
    • Gages bites his neck; Ellie instead repeatedly stabs him.
    • Ellie impersonates Jud's deceased wife while Gages does not. He does impersonate Zelda upon meeting Rachel.
    • Jud dies on the stairs rather than his bedroom.
    • Jud uses a gun rather than a knife in the remake.
  • Jud never mentions his wife in the original film.
  • The final confrontation takes place in the Creeds' home and later in the cemetery rather than at Jud's home in the remake.
  • Louis manages to kill Gage in the original film. In the remake, he failed to kill Ellie as a revived Rachel stabbed him at the last second.
  • Rachel's revival is different in the remake. In the original film, Louis takes her to the burial ground after killing Gage while in the remake, Ellie does this instead.
  • Rachel and Louis were separated during their confrontation with their undead children in the original film. They were together in the remake.
  • Louis is seemly stabbed by Rachel using a knife in the original film while in the remake, she stabs him with a grave marker instead.
    • This happens in the cemetery rather than at the Creed's home in the remake.
  • Louis was reanimated in the remake. This was never revealed in the original film.
  • Louis burns Jud's house alone in the original film. In the remake, he does this with Ellie and Rachel after being reanimated.
  • The final member of the Creed family member had different fates in both films: In the remake, Gage is left in a car while his undead family attempt to get in. In the original film, Ellie stays in Chicago for the remainder of the film and does not take part in the last scene, but she may still be suffering from her nightmares.

References[]

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