When i was a child i used to have a hamster named Akira ( i named him after the Manga animated cyber punk action film Akira that i watched in early 1990 ). My hamster Akira was fearless, my sister had a rabbit named Mimmi and even if she was really big compared to him and he would run towards her, she was very afraid of him. He tried to climb inside her cage several times, he was going to see her no matter how much he had to climb. When i took him outside in the grass he would eat snails that looked too big to swallow. No problem for Akira he would just swallow them whole. I had Akira for at least 3 years until he passed away and i still remember the morning i found him lifeless in his hamster house inside his cage. I made a wooden coffin for him out of wooden planks we had lying outside my mother´s home and buried him in a chosen location in the forest. Pets are wonderful to have no matter if you love cats, dogs, rabbits, birds no matter what you prefer and in many ways pets can help us go through rough times in life. They cheer us up and also make us remember special moments. Not only that i think we sometimes can learn from our pets, like when we see a happy dog playing outside. To me that´s a simple way saying appreciate the small things in life, everything doesnt need to be big or majestic to be appreciated. Unfortunately we all know we have to face the loss of our beloved pets, even how hard it can be there is no other way out. Speaking of burying your dead pet, what if you buried your animal in a pet sematary in a place where they could come back to life? That´s exactly what happened in the Stephen King novel known as Pet Sematary released in 1983. Back in the 80´s i did not read this novel, not until i saw the film adaptation in 1990 on VHS. I remember before borrowing the film from our neighbors The Ostwald and i went to our local library to borrow the novel as well. So while i watched the film i actually read parts of the novel ( i could have just read the whole novel i know ) just to compare it to the film. I remember really enjoying the film adaptation from director Mary Lambert ( who directed the classic Madonna music videos of Like A Virgin, La Isla Bonita and Like A Prayer ). I noticed recently that this year it is 35 years ago since Pet Sematary hit cinemas worldwide so i decided to rewatch it on blu ray to see how i feel about it today. Is this still a horror classic from the 80´s or have Pet Sematary aged a lot and lost some power along the way?
Dr. Louis Creed ( Dale Midkiff ) and his wife Rachel Creed ( Denise Crosby ) move to a house in the countryside with their 2 children Ellie Creed ( Blaze Berdahl ) and Gage Creed ( Miko Hughes ). While Rachel and the children are visiting relatives in another city, their neighbor Jud Crandall ( Fred Gwynne ) discover the Creed´s family cat Church dead outside his house. Louis plans to bury Church but knows hos sad his daughter will especially be if she finds out that hes dead. Jud suggest that they should bury Church close to a Pet Semetary, where the outside location if known for being ancient burial ground. It turns out that Church comes back to life after being burried, but doesn´t seem to be the same. At a tragic moment their youngest son Gage runs out on the highway and hit by a truck. Struggling with the loss of his son, Louis decides to bury his son on the same ground as Church to bring back his son back to life.
While some horror films talks about death i feel that Pet Sematary does it in a different way than most ordinary horror releases. In fact, in this film we do get to go through several parts of the impact of death and how it can affect us emotionally and also in a psychological way. Especially when we are talking about the death of a child, is there anything worse than that in this world? I can´t even imagine the pain a parent would feel ( i am no father myself so i can never understand the pain of this ). Another interesting detail regarding this film is if you would be able to bring your child back from death would you really go that far? As a parent i would imagine most parents would want to see their child again, but the question would remain would it be the same child that you knew before the child passed away? Pet Sematary have some very interesting views on death and this is a very dark horror film in many ways. I also feel that this film does a really good job on looking at the challenges of a marriage and how you deal with it after losing your child. How do you go on in life and is there way to go on even though you are suffering within your heart and soul? At the same time this film also deals with the loss of your pet as well so it is definetely a very heavy film to digest. The background story regarding the pet sematary is also interesting knowing this is an ancient burial ground once used by the Mi´kmaq. The film looks really good from cinematographer Peter Stein ( who is the director of photography on the classic horror film Friday The 13th Part 2 ) and i especially love the dark sad scenes that capture the right look for this film. The cast does a wonderful job on their characters and im especially impressed by child actor Miko Hughes playing the character of Gage. To be able to be this good as a small child on screen is really impressive. Legndary actor Fred Gwynne ( who plays Herman Munster in the classic TV series The Munsters in the 1960´s ) gives one of in my opinion one of his best acting performances as the character Jud Crandall. Pet Sematary is a horror film that is not only really effective from a horror perspective but i also feel that this film have a much deeper meaning than most horror films. Director Mary Lambert did not only make her best film with Pet Semetary but she also proved that you can talk about death by using a very broad view on this subject, where she clearly wanted the audience to feel the impact of this heavy story. Pet Semetary may not be my favourite Stephen King film adaptation but it is definetely a worthy 80´s classic that everyone should see, especially if you are a big horror fan. I suggest you also pick up your physical copy and experience a time period when horror films were actually powerful and unique.
Rating: DDDD
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