Pet Sematary (1989)

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

Director:

Mary Lambert

Writers:

Stephen King (novel), Stephen King (screenplay)

Stars:

Dale Midkiff, Denise Crosby, Fred Gwynne

1 win & 5 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Dale Midkiff	...	Louis Creed
Fred Gwynne	...	Jud Crandall
Denise Crosby	...	Rachel Creed
Brad Greenquist	...	Victor Pascow
Michael Lombard	...	Irwin Goldman
Miko Hughes	...	Gage Creed
Blaze Berdahl	...	Ellie Creed
Susan Blommaert	...	Missy Dandridge
Mara Clark	...	Marcy Charlton
Kavi Raz	...	Steve Masterton
Mary Louise Wilson	...	Dory Goldman
Andrew Hubatsek	...	Zelda
Liz Davies	...	Girl at Infirmary
Kara Dalke	...	Candystriper
Matthew August Ferrell	...	Jud as a Child

Storyline

Eager to start afresh, the young doctor, Louis Creed, and his family--his wife, Rachel, their daughter, Ellie, and their three-year-old toddler, Gage--move to their new home in the small rural town of Ludlow, Maine, alarmingly close to a busy highway. However, after the inadvertent death of Rachel's cherished tomcat in an awful accident, reluctantly, a desperate Louis will take his friendly neighbour's advice to bury it in an ancient Micmac graveyard: a mystical burial ground imbued with alleged reanimating powers. Now, despite the terrible results and the insistent warnings from a recently deceased, tragedy-stricken Louis has no other choice but to go back to the Indian cemetery, in high hopes that, this time, things will be different. Nevertheless, can the dead truly return from the grave?

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Plot Keywords:

intentionally misspelled title | neighbor | indian burial ground | scalpel | ghost | 

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Taglines:

Sometimes dead is better.

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Genres:

Horror | Thriller

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

21 April 1989 (USA)

Also Known As:

Pet Cemetery

Filming Locations:

Bucksport, Maine, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$11,500,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$12,046,179, 23 April 1989

Gross USA:

$57,469,467

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$57,469,467

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paramount Pictures, Laurel Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

103 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Stereo Dolby Digital

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Some people, probably producers or studio executives, suggested cutting the funeral scene for fear it would inject too much reality into the horror film.

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Goofs

When Louis is checking on Ellie after she fell off the tire swing in the next shot when the tire is visible again, the tire now has a rim on it.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Broken Hearted Child 1: [the voices of broken hearted children burying their pets at the Pet Sematary, voice-over] Bye, old Shep. See you in heaven. Yeah?
Broken Hearted Child 2: [voice over] This is where my kitty lays. No more he screams and hollers.
Broken Hearted Child 3: [voice-over] He lived for 5 and 20 days. He cost me $50.
Young Jud: [voice-over] Spot - A good fella. We love you.

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Alternate Versions

Television censors of some of the films gorier moments included alternate shots from different angles that hide the more graphic images. This especially came into play with the Timmy Baterman scenes and the films finale in the Creed's kitchen.

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Connections

Referenced in The Andromeda Strain (2008)

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Soundtracks

Pet Sematary
By Dee Dee Ramone & Daniel Rey
Performed by Ramones
Produced by Jean Beauvoir & Daniel Rey
Courtesy of Sire Records Company

User Reviews

Creepy story , nasty deeds and morbid scenes by the master Stephen King

Supernatural terror for a curse caused by a cemetery against a happy family. The Creed family formed by the father , a successful doctor named Louis Creed (Dale Midkiff) , mother (Denise Crosby) and two sons has moved to a little community, at Maine place , but shortly after they move , their son is murdered by a great truck that thunder pass near his newly purchased rural home . The father learns by a neighbor (Fred Gwynne) that there is a graveyard where you can bury your loved ones , and then he plans come back to life his kid ; as he attempts to revive his three-years-old little boy with the magical resurrecting qualities of an Indian burial ground . He takes his son to this location, and he is brought back to life . It seems all is well again, until the son kills a person. Now, he has to find out a manner to stop his child before he murders other people . Louis is shocked to discover that danger and horror lurks .

The big success at box-office ¨Pet Sematary¨ was written by Stephen King , who sometimes writes under pseudonym Richard Bachman and based on horror master bestselling novel of the same title . The Paramount Pictures took the production with interesting script by Stephen King. Casting is frankly decent, Dale Midkiff as grief-stricken daddy , Denise Crosby as affecting mummy , but the honor acting goes to Fred Gwynne as untrusted neighbor . And of course , brief performance of Stephen King , an usual cameo , as church minister . The film displays adequate musical score fitting to terror and suspense by Elliot Goldenthal . The motion picture is professionally directed by Mary Lambert though seem doesn't improve in the transition from page to screen and fails the visualising of complex narrative plot by means of confuse flashbacks . She also realized the following (1992) , much worse than original, with Edward Furlong , Anthony Edwards and Clancy Brown , causing similar terror and same kind of gore as the previous movie . The result is better than previous Stephen King adaptation, the mediocre, Running man . King movies rendition are converting as prolific as his novels, from ¨Creepshow¨ along with ¨Cats's eye¨, ¨Silver bullet¨,¨Maximum overdrive¨ unique directed by King and various TV take on as ¨Rose red, The storm of the century,The stand,Golden years and Langoliers¨ have been numerous his adaptations. Rating : Passable and acceptable ,well worth watching for Stephen King fonds.