"Sometimes Dead is Better" uttered in a slightly country, twang voice that only the late, great Fred Gwynne could muster. Pet Sematary is one of those rare horror gems that is often under appreciated (and rarely talked about) by the horror community...

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In our opinion this film was a great adaptation of Stephen King’s novel and why wouldn’t it? King himself wrote the screenplay. However, is the movie perfect? By no means are we claiming that, but the question we’re asking is, “does it need the remake treatment?”.

We’re not going to be that naïve and let our fondness of Pet Sematary cloud obvious improvements that are needed. We’ll be the first to admit that the rumored Paramount remake could address a few issues that resulted from the transfer of the novel to film. Most of the time when books are condensed to movies the screenwriters have to decide which narrative elements are most important in telling the story. They then have to chop less vital sections of the book in order to tell the story in the allotted time to bring it to the screen. Fans of books often complain about the absence of their favorite scenes in movies. In reality, if a book was transferred word for word almost all adapted films would be ten hours long minimum. Since many of us lack the patience to sit through a normal two hour film without playing on our cell phones and the fact that the mega-movie (our pet name for a 10 hour film) would tank at the box office because there aren’t enough hours in a day to play it more than once, we agree that parts of books need to left out of when concerning their big screen counterparts.

Concerning Pet Sematary, however, King himself (who also had a cameo in the movie) was the screenwriter for the film and we believe most of the book’s integrity (along with most of our favorite moments) made the transfer. Still, if not done properly or due to a lack of technological advancement, special effects in film can often appear dated and take away from the movie going experience – which is more essential with the horror genre than any other.

In 1989 director Mary Lambert made Pet Sematary into a film but it was obvious that the technology just wasn’t there nor was the budget to make an over the top grade A horror film that you might see today. However, for it’s time Pet Sematary did what most 80’s horror films did and that was working with what little they had and appealing to a booming secondary VHS market as well as the core horror community. We’ve come to believe that the studio set out to create a good representation of a book, hoping it would perform well theatrically and if failure occurred to fall back on the secondary market to pick up the pieces – a system that’s still in place today for the most part. With that being said, Mary Lambert turned to special F/X guru’s Dave Anderson and John Blake who brought us the ultra creepy Zelda (sister of Rachel Creed “Denise Crosby”), Pascow, and the rest of the ghostly cast without the use of fancy CGI. Instead they did it with old fashioned camera techniques along with latex and corn syrup. Some of these techniques hold up to this day while others borderline campy. From peeling dead cats off the front lawn to flying baby dolls, PS has a little bit of both.

Our biggest original PS complaint that could use the remake treatment is in the Victor Pascow (Brad Greenquist) department. Pascow was a patient of Dr. Louis Creed (Dale Midkiff) who died on the operating table only to come back in a haunting form to warn the doctor of the troubles ahead. The make-up for Pascow, while dated, still holds up to this day. The few things that don’t are Pascow’s SPFX transparency shots and his clothing department. No offense to the filmmakers but today a twelve year-old’s youtube video has better special effects. Also, Brad’s very typical 80’s wardrobe (nut hugger neon shorts and Champion gray zip up hoodie) makes one think that maybe dead isn’t better. Check one in favor of a remake.

Poor little Gage Creed (Miko Hughes). Probably one of the cutest kids in Hollywood at the time. Leave it to the horror genre to take someone so adorable and turn them into a resurrected walking nightmare of diapers. Chucky, eat your heart out. The look of Gage is beyond creepy. Miko’s performance combined with the doll like appearance still haunts our dreams to this day, however, it doesn’t really fit the story. If a child was pancaked by a semi-trailer doing at least 60 mph we’re pretty sure he’d have more than a little scratch on his forehead. Obviously there’s only so much you can do with an actor who’s only three years old so too much make-up probably wouldn’t fly. This is where CGI would come to the rescue. Also, the flying baby doll gags need to go. So as wicked as Gage was (and still is) it would be interesting to see a different take on this character.


So we agree that the SPFX department and threads could use some work but what about the human factor? The hardest part of remake is going to be recasting the wise, fatherly, neighbor Jud Crandall (Fred Gwynne). Again, in our biased opinion Fred’s performance is 90% of what brought Pet Sematary to life. It’s as if he was born to play the role. From the humbling accident scenes to the stone cold looks, Fred put on a show that will never be topped. Admittedly, some of his PS lines are often stated on a weekly basis at our office and it’s always done while trying to capture the sound of Gwynne’s voice. Lines like, “Thawt place is where the dead . . . speak” and, “I’ve gawt something here for ya Gage”. Classics, all classics! Who could be Fred Gwynne’s Jackie Earl Haley?



Another fan fav of the film that is going to be tough to top is Zelda. To this day that scene is one of the creepiest in horror film history. You don’t have to be a Stephen King or Pet Sematary fan to agree with that. Zelda (who was actually played by a man named Andrew Hubatsek) is shown in flashbacks and really serves no other role than to frighten the viewers – or so the film leads us to believe. This lack of importance is a result from book to film transfer. Actually it was important to Rachel Creed’s back story and King obviously knew what he was doing by keeping this in the film. If you’ve not had the pleasure of watching Pet Sematary, we’ll fill you in. Rachel Creed dreams of herself as a young girl who had to care for her dying sister named Zelda. Zelda was suffering from Spinal Meningitis and her appearance could make any kid watching this flick pee their pants like Regan in the Exorcist. The scene pictured below does and will continue to cause nightmares for children for eons to come. Could a remake recapture this? Let’s ask RAAACCHHEEELLLL!!!!!!!

It goes without saying that this film has a hardcore group of cult fans that do not want to see this film remade. A part of us completely understands their reasons. Past memories linked to a great movie going experience perverted by money driven remakes. That sum it up for ya? Unfortunately we all know that Hollywood is going to remake anything and everything that they think will turn a profit. Is it right or wrong of them to remake films? That’s a whole different topic which we won’t be discussing here. We’ll leave that to you Bidites. The issue is that remakes ARE going to happen whether we or you like it or not, and to be honest we’re ok with that. Some stories are so good that they deserve a remake (or at least a George Lucas Star Wars Special Edition update) so that future generations will watch them. The unbiased reality is that remakes don’t make originals disappear. It’s not like a remake comes out and poof! your original vanishes from the video shelf. To be frank, if people don’t like the idea of a remake then just don’t watch them. A remake can’t change anything about an original . . . period. However, this is an emotional subject and we understand the feelings one experiences when a favorite story gets raped ten times over remake style. Still, after countless online tantrums why do many of us often find ourselves buying that ticket anyways and willingly strapping ourselves into the torture rack? Sure, many of the remakes suck (like our shirt says) but there are always a few that stand out. If the rumors are true, we hope a Pet Sematary remake is one of those few because the original (as much as it’s loved) could stand for a makeover.

Below is the original theatrical trailer for Stephen King's 1989 movie Pet Sematary (Pet Cemetery, Pet Sematery)

Source:HorrorBid