Opened: April 5, 2019

Directed by: Kevin Kölsch & Dennis Widmyer

Starring: Jason Clarke, Amy Seimetz, John Lithgow, Jeté Laurence, Hugo Lavoie, Lucas Lavoie, Obssa Ahmed & Alyssa Brooke Levine

Based on the Stephen King novel of the same name, Pet Sematary unsuccessfully diverts the direction of the original story in attempt to make it scarier.

Dr. Louis Creed (Jason Clarke) and his family move to a new town. There, his daughter Ellie (Jeté Laurence) meets neighbor Jud Crandall (John Lithgow) who shows her the Pet Sematary. When Ellie’s cat dies, Jud shows Louis a special place beyond the Pet Sematary that will give new life to the dead.

While the film maintains a fantastic dark tone – the kids in the masks at the beginning are haunting long after the credits – there’s a lot of backstory cut out here. Because of this, you don’t feel the connection with Jud or the Creed family to truly care what happens to them.

Final say: Best leave it dead. ★★☆☆☆