Pet Sematary: Bloodlines Review

Pet Sematary: Bloodlines Review

The horror icon is known as Stephen King has indulged horror fans with countless tales in one of the best genres for years on end. Penning classics such as IT, Salem’s Lot, The Stand, Sometimes They Come Back, and of course, Pet Sematary. King is a one-of-a-kind mind in horror and produces stories at an inhuman rate. Many of these stories have found further life on the big and small screen. One of the most iconic adaptations is Pet Sematary. It also happens to be the latest adaptation of King’s work with the prequel film Pet Sematary: Bloodlines.

The film starring Jackson White, David Duchovny, Jack Mulhern, Natalie Alyn Lind, Pam Grier, Henry Thomas, Forrest Goodluck, and Isabella Star LaBlanc and helmed by Lindsey Anderson Beer took us to Ludlow in 1969. In a very Nightmare on Elm Street fashion, the town’s longtime residents, house the long-kept secret of the cursed ground in Ludlow and aim to protect the younger generations of the founding families while also nudging them to move on with their lives outside of Ludlow.

The film captures the same ambiance of its predecessors with the inkling of suspense and terror scratching at you as you await for the events to unfold. There is always a grief-stricken resident who finds themselves ignoring the warning of burying a loved one, knowing they never return the same.

The film itself was enjoyable, although it felt unnecessary. Taking the story back a few decades before the novel’s time period. Although the ambiance was captured within the film, there was a nagging feeling of the lack of malevolence and suffocating tragedy that we have come to enjoy from the original films and the source material itself.

That being said, the cast does the film a great service as Duchovny, shows his veteran chops, and delivers a portrayal of the dreary father who loses his son to the war and in a moment of grief succumbs to bringing him back to life. Thomas, another veteran in the industry, shares a portrayal as Jud’s father who is humble, and calm, and yet the secrets hidden within are always present.

The younger cast all brought life to the film with their innocence in display slowly dissipating as the film progresses. The balancing act of the older generations in Ludlow pushing their children out of the town while the cursed town slowly digs its claws into them created an interesting vision which Beer made clear many times before when she spoke of her helming the film.

Although a bit lost and unwarranted, the prequel film does have some highlights and offers a visit to Ludlow, Maine decades before we first experienced the town where the famous words were uttered, “Sometimes, dead is better.” In the madness of the events unfolding in the film, the film does seem to lose itself as well. Whether it be a lack of imagination or a misunderstanding of the source material.

When measured against the iconic story that unfolds in the classic novel and original adaptations, Pet Sematary: Bloodlines finds itself feeling bland and without a true understanding of the story it wanted to tell. The iconic words bode true when it comes to the film, “Sometimes, dead is better.”