6 Feet Under: Pet Sematary

Pet Sematary: 5th April 2019

Bare feet prance across the word floor, leaving a trail of sticky red in their path. The girl – no older than nine – grasps the knife in her cold dead hands. She looks at the mother, with a state as cold as the winter breeze. Lifeless, but somehow alive. Walking, dragging her feet. Cornering the mother, trapping her within the path of death.

But what if she should have stayed dead?

Stephen King is back on the big screen, and with animal masks at the ready, we were ready to see the latest King horror dance to the beat of its own drum. But instead it may have dug its own grave.

Pet Sematary was originally a book written by Stephen King. It is based on Dr. Louis Creed and his wife, Rachel, relocate from Boston to rural Maine with their two young children. The couple soon discover a mysterious burial ground hidden deep in the woods near their new home. The original was directed by Mary lambert on April 21, 1989, and has a domestic total gross of $130,428,200. Whereas, the remake was directed by the due of Kevin Kolsch and Dennis Widmver on April 5th 2019. The total domestic gross for the remake (as of May 7th 2019) is $53,878,869. Bit of a striking difference if you ask me. So, what went wrong?

Maybe the dead should have stayed buried… literally.

We all know what people say, remakes are never better. Always stick to the original. Well, sometimes this isn’t the case… or casket… but for Pet Sematary I can’t say the same. “Sometimes, dead is better.” Although the story is somewhat the same, bringing a movie back form the dead can cause it to lose its soul. The film will begin to lack the emotion and depth that the original created for its viewers, and that will always be a bust within the filming industry. And what else does this remake lack? Relationships. Any film isn’t going to get very far if the characters don’t build upon their bonds and strengthen (or worsen) their relationships. So why didn’t the remake do this? With the original movie already out and available to watch. The relationships were already created. Audiences from around the world had grew up with the knowledge that Dr. Louis Creed loved his two children and wife beyond compare, and so maybe Kolsch and Widmver believed revisiting this wasn’t as necessary. As a film student, I am here to tell you that is very much necessary. A film derives form the relationships shown within the narrative, and without this a film has no structure. A film with no structure is then just a bunch of scenes with no meaning – and I don’t think an audience are going to appreciate watching. Bunch of scenes with no meaning.

But of course, there are always other opinions, and there are the odd few reading this that though “But I thought the movie was amazing.” Well, the movie certainly still has amazing aspects to it, such as the jaw dropping, gruesome gore created by a nine-year-old girl. That will surely keep even the most boring people on the edges of their seats. And let’s not forget baby Gage, the star of the movie (if you ask me). Even with only being a toddler, he truly adds emotion and depth within the scenes of a mother and her child – showing how a mother would give her own life in order to save her children.

Pet Sematary will continue to be in cinemas across the UK. So if you haven’t seen it yet, and are curious on the critiques which can be fund across the internet, then be sure to check it out!


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