OK everybody, it is that time again, that time for my remake rant. It appalls me just how much Hollywood has gotten completely lazy with Horror movies that they feel the compulsion to remake a classic and add THEIR own twist and plot. Something that deviates plenty from the original. I have been skeptical about remakes and yet at the same time I am curious to see how badly the producers and directors will butcher it. I mean just look at the remake of Carrie. In a world incapacitated with social media, selfies, sexting and cyber bullying, in a less conservative era, is it really believable that a 17 year old girl does not have a remote clue what menstruation is???? The IT remake might have been faithful to the novel in some aspects, but a live killer dancing clown scares me more than a computer generated one, sorry. So that now leaves me with the remake of Pet Sematary...
If you have read the novel, you already know that the story is a very bleak and dark one with no resolution whatsoever. In the original film, while some points did deviate from the book, the essence did not. The vibe was truly somber and tragic. There was a darkness that loomed over the Creed family which as human beings, we can all comprehend. Rachel's fear of death after watching her sister Zelda hunch up and die of a horrific illness; Ellie's unconditional love and attachment for her cat Church and her fear of him someday ending up in the Pet Sematary; the internal family feud between Louis and his in-laws, and Rachel being stuck in the middle; having to contend with living in a beautiful home in the countryside right next to the main highway where the Orinco Trucks consume the pets of the children, hence leading them to build their own Pet Sematary. This is just to name a few major key points that attribute to the development of the characters. The Creed family in spite of love, harbored their own insecurities and doubts about death and weather or not there was anything else after death. In the book and the original film, I already got a good sense of how it was all going to end for them. Rachel Creed, having gone through an extremely traumatizing childhood experience, that plagued her nightmares for years, and then having to go through the uttermost horrific tragedy in the history of tragedies, when watching little Gage get consumed by The Orinco truck, made her a tragic iconic figure in my eyes. Louis Creed, being the father, the breadwinner, and attempting to hold his family together despite the pressures on him, could only sustain his sanity for so long. The Creed family tragedy was the crux of Pet Sematary. In the book and the original, you felt sorry for them, even cried for them. But with Pet Sematary 2019, where was the pity?
I won't completely tear it down because there at least was no CGI overkill, and the jump scares with Zelda was heart stopping. There were somethings that seemed interesting such as the mention of The Wendigo, which is emphasized in the novel, and Norma Crandall being mentioned in the beginning and then seen taunting Jud in the end. BUT...and this is a HUGE BUT...this is where the remake did not seem justifiable...
1) This Rachel Creed did not seem very fragile to me. When discussing her sister Zelda and death, she did not fall apart nor entirely dismiss the subject. In the original, the topics of death were off limits for Rachel until after Missy Dandridge died and little Ellie initiated the conversation with her Father about where Missy is now that she died. Did Missy go to Heaven? Where did she go? Where do we all go when we die? This is when Rachel while overhearing the conversation that was off limits, begins to fall apart. Slowly but surely, she begins to come to terms with how she truly felt when Zelda died. This is the moment of true intimacy between husband and wife, when Rachel breaks down to Louis disclosing the "dirty family secret" which Zelda became when her illness consumed her entirely. But this new-age Rachel Creed? I just can't seem to want to cry with her...
2) Victor Pascow.. The poor boy's brain was hanging out of his skull. But instead of screaming in hysterics like in the original, where the boy's girlfriend was screaming when they brought him to the hospital, "He can't die....VICTOR!!!", the reaction for this Victor Pascow was so comical that is was disappointingly unbelievable. And then Louis Creed sees the corpse sitting up trying to warn him about the burial ground behind the Pet Sematary. He approaches Louis in his dreams too just as the original, but unlike the original, the chemistry between the good corpse and the doctor was very limp and non existent. You cannot forget the original Victor Pascow. He conversed with Louis. He followed the Creeds everywhere. He saw what Louis was going to do and why. Hell, he even knew. You felt his gratitude, sorrow and concern for Louis Creed. You cannot forget it. But this version of Victor Pascow?? After just a few lines, forgettable..
3) John Lithgow as Judd Crandall was not the worst, but he is no Fred Gwynne that's for sure. The original Judd Crandall had a unique voice that sounded like a pipe organ which you cannot forget. Him and Louis had a father-son like chemistry and in the novel Louis felt Judd should have been his father. In the original movie, he looked at Judd with that same exact expression in his eyes. Expression is key. In this one, I just couldn't see it nor feel it.
4) No Missy Dandridge and no hanging scene leading up to the emotional climactic moment where the Pandora's Box of death and tragic consequences is opened.
5) Ellie dies this time, not little Gage. Losing a child especially so horrifically at any age is beyond unfathomable for a parent. I get that the producers and directors did not think it would make much sense having a 2 year old get resurrected from the Micmac Burial Ground, come back and say taunting things without relying on some mechanics and puppetry. But again, what's the point then? When Ellie dies in the road, where was Louis' unraveling insanity? Or did I just happen to miss it due to the bad acting? With the original, we saw and felt Louis coming apart.. But with this one? What insanity?
6) Where was the family feud between Louis and his in-laws? No fist fight at little Ellie's funeral?
7) Get ready for this one guys. There is NO Timmy Baterman! Yep you heard me! Judd knew the diabolical secret of the Micmac Burial ground. He introduced Louis to the power of the place when Church got killed in the road. When Gage died, Louis was thinking thoughts not best thought of as Judd exclaimed to him. He sat with Louis and as a father figure, told him the story of Timmy Baterman. He was killed in the war and his father was so overcome with grief, that he took his son up there to the Micmac Burial ground to resurrect him. Timmy did come back but he was not the same. He was not human. He was a monster who tried to kill his own father. In the book, Timmy came back and knew the dirty secrets of his circle that he wanted to expose of to contribute to their downfall. He was like a radio signal. Judd begged Louis to never think of doing what Bill Baterman did. Dead is better, he said. But in the remake, the only mention of Timmy Baterman is on a newspaper clipping slide.
8) Ellie comes back to taunt Judd before slicing him to death with her father's scalpel. Her face is transformed into Norma's face. It was interesting, but in the book Norma hits home by taunting Judd about how she screwed around on him with his friends and laughed at him. "I knew about your whores, but you never knew you married a whore!" But no such words were spoken. No in depth man to man talk between Judd and Louis regarding his relationship with Norma and his transgressions. This new pull with Norma taunting Judd would have been more interesting if they put more meat on its' bone. Norma was never mentioned in the original at all, but the film had meat on it with its' tragic climactic moments. But in this, Norma just blamed Judd for divulging the secrets of the Micmac Burial ground. Could take it or leave it, either way it was bone dry..
9) Ellie taunts her mother about Zelda and kills her. She takes her mother up to the burial ground. She fights with Louis, who left little Gage in the car. Rachel Creed comes back to stab Louis. All 3 of them are dead and resurrected. The whole family with Church, now come back to get little Gage.. Interesting bittersweet ending. The whole family reunites in death as opposed to only leaving one survivor. When Gage was the one who died and was brought back, Louis had to let him die the second time. It was tragic then too. He brought back Rachel, who in the end, with her eye cut out and oozing blood, embraced her husband in a passionate kiss. The second most intimate moment we saw between Louis and Rachel Creed. No matter how dead she looked, he looked at her, walked over to her and kissed her and though they had just recited their wedding vows. It was their final kiss before she kills him. Now they are all dead, except for Ellie. This story is a big gradual spiral into the darkness. And the original was dark as mentioned before as the story itself was intended. But with the 2019 version of Pet Sematary, there was no vibe nor essence that duplicate the original.
In closing, I would like to say for the umpteenth time, Hollywood, stop remaking the originals unless you are going to be ENTIRELY faithful to the novel and not pick and choose what YOU want! Put your marketing and publicity dollars into doing that instead of creating the bark with NO bite!
Grade - C-
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