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title = "Pet Sematary"
[taxonomies]
authors = ["harald"]
tags = ["film", "horror", "zombies", "USA", "Stephen King"]
[extra]
genre = "Horror"
country = "USA"
year = 1989
+++
{% figure(img="pet-sematary-still.jpg", alt="angry child with scalpel") %}
Gage (Miko Hughes) is getting angry. Still from _Pet Sematary_ (1989).
{% end %}
I read _Pet Sematary_, the novel, when I was 15 or so, and really liked it at the
time. Somehow, I never got sround to see the film when it came out a few years
later. So when I recently found a restored version on BluRay at a discount, I
figured now was as good time as any.
This is a film without any surprises — even if you have not read the novel.
Once the first milestone of the plot is reached, the rest comes exactly as
expected. What it does well is the way it builds up the tension. Not rushing
it, but not too slow either. It feels like a decent adaptation of the novel
as far as I can remember.
Where the film shows it's age is in the performances of the cast. Stiff
dialogue and a bit exagerated performances make this an interesting study of
the genre and period. However it does less to make the film feel beleivable or
frightening. The sole exception is the small kid (Gage, played by Miko Hughes)
who does an amazing role. Especially at the end.
The film was remade in 2019, but I have not seen this version. From the trailer
it looks like a much more slick and less interesting production. Younger
audiences will probably prefer it though.
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