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Cult horror Classic you should watch: Pet Sematary (1989)





By Sreejith Kamalanayanan



More women filmmakers are breaking out into the disreputable genre of horror movies, bringing along some innovative twist to the genre conventions. 

Jennifer Kent with The Babadook, Anna Biller with her visually stunning retro masterpiece The Love Witch and Aislinn Clarke with her found footage horror thriller The Devils Doorway brought some new innovation to the genre.

Before all these new breed of filmmakers, there was Mary Lambert who believed in pure horror. Lambert directed Pet Sematary in 1989, an adaptation of the 1983 Stephen King novel of the same name.



Pet Sematary is not a masterpiece but it has a good devoted cult of followers. The movie adheres to conventional filmmaking method which was in vogue in the late '80s and early '90s ,yet it has some unique creepy moments that owe a lot to its director Mary Lambert.



The premise of Pet Sematary is typical of Stephen King's creepy fictional world. Innocent children turning evil, violent animals, monster trucks, death of kids etc. Pet Sematary even has a good ghost that guides the protagonists. Even Stephen King appears in the role of a church minister, that's so Stephen King!

The Killer trucks in Pet Sematary


In the opening shots the movie introduces us to the protagonists. A doctor, his wife and two young kids. They are known as the Creed family, Louis Creed (Dale Mikdiff) the doctor, his wife Rachel Creed(Denise Crosby), daughter Ellie Creed and son Gage Creed (Miko Hughes).


The Creed family moves to a new home as Louis gets a new job at University of Maine. The Creed family meets their neighbor Jud Crandall (Fred Gwynne), who is elderly and a loner.



In the opening scene itself we are introduced to the a couple of things that might act as the inciting incidents later into the movie. A highway through which trucks passes through at a dangerous speed and a pet cemetery, where the dead pets are buried. Only Stephen King could imagine a cemetery for pets made by children.



The cemetery was created by children of the neighborhood and they misspelled it as 'Sematary' instead of cemetery. But its beyond that 'Sematary' that danger awaits everyone. There is a Micmac ground deep into the cemetery. The dead would comeback as vicious zombies if they are buried in the Micmac ground after their death.

The concept is pretty intriguing and creepy too. However, the initial moments in the movie are a tad tedious and gives us the feeling that the movie hasn't aged well. But after the middle of the narrative, it picks up some energy and draws us all in. This is where we must thank Mary Lambert, the director of Pet Sematary.

Sadly, Lambert's sequel to Pet Sematary wasn't received well and she couldn't secure better projects afterwards. Lambert faded into obscurity soon.

Her name cropped up again when they announced a remake is on the anvil. However, Lambert is not directing the upcoming 2019 remake of Pet Sematary.


Do we need a Pet Sematary remake?

Yes, of course. Pet Sematary's interesting premise is enough for a remake. The 1989 original is a good  one, but many scenes are dated. Lambert's full potential wasn't tapped in Pet Sematary. It is in the final scenes that  we come to know about the movie's power. 

It is also commendable that Lambert hasn't overused jump scare. Nowadays, films like The Conjuring and its sequels use jump scares profusely. Hope the new dirctors of Pet Sematary won't fall for too much jump scares.

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