Pet Sematary (1989) • 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray
By: Sam Lenz
Tags: Film, Culture, Horror, Review, Movies

Pet Sematary (1989) • 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray

After tragedy strikes, a grieving father discovers an ancient burial ground behind his home with the power to raise the dead.

The 1980s were good to Stephen King. It was the decade in which the acclaimed horror author wrote some of his best works of fiction, including perhaps his scariest novel, Pet Sematary. A story rooted in grief and guilt, Pet Sematary was almost never published. King thought he’d finally crossed a line and only submitted it to his publisher to fulfil a contract, but once released it was a massive success.

Six years after hitting bookshops, director Mary Lambert adapted King’s best-seller to the big screen and Pet Sematary became the highest grossing horror film of 1989. It performed well above studio expectations with an opening weekend gross of $12M, ending its theatrical run with $57M from a reported $11.5M budget. The film earned a good reputation and later became a big hit on VHS. Now, 30 years later, Paramount Pictures have remastered it on 4K Ultra HD to capitalise on the interest generated by this year’s remake. But does this late-’80s horror classic still hold up?

The short answer is yes. Pet Sematary is a damn good film and a perfect snapshot of ’80s horror: cheesy and humorous but also eerie and chilling. The filmmakers created deeply unsettling imagery that always lingered and has stood the test of time. The screenplay by King himself barely strays from his novel, following Dr Louis Creed (Time Trax’s Dale Midkiff) and his family as they move to rural Maine, New England. Behind their new house, a winding path leads to a strange pet cemetery — misspelt by local kids as a pet “sematary” — but it’s a second burial ground hidden behind the Pet Sematary that contains the power to reanimate whatever’s buried there. So when an unspeakable tragedy strikes, Louis makes some a poor decision that leads to terrifying consequences.

Mary Lambert began her career directing music videos (most famously Madonna’s “Like a Virgin”, “Material Girl”, and “Like a Prayer”), and her sense of style is on full display here. Everything is soaked in melodrama, imbued with just enough flamboyance and quirkiness to counteract such bleak subject matter. This was only Lambert’s second feature film after Siesta (1987), but it’s full of confidence and style.

The MVP is undoubtedly Fred Gwynne (The Munsters) as Jud Crandall. He was the perfect actor to embody the mysterious yet empathetic old man who lives across the road from the Creed family. His deep-set eyes are the key to his whole performance: one minute, they’re twinkling, the next they’re heavy and worn. He’s the beating heart of the film.

Elsewhere, Brad Greenquist hams it up as Victor Pascow, the spirit of Louis’ deceased patient, and his scenes have a darkly comic air to them. Midkiff gives an anchoring performance as Louis, the patriarch descending into madness, while Denise Crosby (Star Trek: The Next Generation) impresses as his death-phobic wife but is marginalised for too much of the film. Blaze Berdahl and Miko Hughes play the Creed children, Ellie and Gage respectively, and both turned in impressive performances considering their young ages. But the most chilling performance comes from Andrew Hubatsek as Rachel’s diseased sister Zelda, mostly because the decision to cast an adult male as a sick adolescent girl gives the character a very unsettling appearance.