Distributed by
Pioneer LDCE

Cat.no: PLFEB 35321

Cert: 18

Running time: 98 minutes

Sides: 2 (CLV)

Year: 1989

Pressing: UK, 1997

Chapters: 31 (17/13+1)

Sound: Dolby Surround

Presented in Fullscreen

Price: £19.99

Extras : Trailers for The War of the Worlds, Barbarella, Mission: Impossible. Teaser trailer for Star Trek: First Contact.

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Director:

Mary Lambert (Pet Sematary 2, Siesta)

Producers:

Richard P. Rubenstein

Screenplay:

Stephen King

Music:

Elliot Goldenthal

Cast:

Louis Creed : Dale Midkiff (Time Trax (TV))
Rachel Creed : Denise Crosby (Miracle Mile, Star Trek : Next Generation (TV))
Jud Crandall : Fred Gwynne (My Cousin Vinny, The Munsters (TV))
Victor Pascow : Brad Greenquist
Gage Creed : Miko Hughes (Wes Craven's New Nightmare)
Zelda : Andrew Hubatsek

Stephen King's Pet Sematary tells the story of the Creeds, a new family who have moved into town for a new start in life, with father of the family, Louis Creed (played by Dale Midkiff, last seen in TV flop, Time Trax) as a doctor whose first patient is a dead man named Victor Pascow. Well, he's not quite dead...

Pascow breathes his last in front of Louis, then when they're alone, Pascow sits up, grabs hold of Louis's arm and whispers some bizarre words of wisdom. Later that night, Louis wakes up to find that the dead walk as well as they talk, and he is led to the local cemetary where he finds himself waking up the next morning.

Shortly after this incident the family cat, Church, dies, and is buried in the "Pet Sematary", a place which children built out of broken dreams. On that patch of land is a mysterious Indian burial ground with the power of resurrection, and yes the cat comes back to life, but now Church is an evil cat. After an introduction to the whys and wherefores of the burial ground, from local old man, Jud Crandall (played by the late Herman Munster, Fred Gwynne), it doesn't take a genius to work out what's going to happen to Louis and Rachel Creed's son, Gage, after he shuffles off his mortal coil, (Note : The picture on the back of the sleeve is a bit of a giveway...), and then things go from the bizarre to the extreme, and beyond.

It's been a number of years since I first saw this film, and I wasn't too big a fan of it at the time, but it is worth a watch, partly for its cast of C-list actors, most of which you may not be able to put a face to when you see their names above, but when you see them chances are you'll recognise them; partly for some of the overacting, particularly Fred Gwynne's as he blames himself for Gage's death after "introducing Louis to 'The Power'"; and it'll appeal if you like a bit of schlock horror, which prevails for most of the film, especially the laughable ending, which I wasn't too sure was meant to be funny, or meant to be unintentionally funny...

Throw in a cameo from Stephen King himself as the minister at Missy Dandridge's funeral; Denise Crosby as Louis's wife Rachel, who can't bring herself to terms with her actions as a young child, when she inadvertently killed off her sister (played by a male actor!), who was meant to be suffering severe spinobifida but looked more like Amanda Plummer on a bad day, when she choked on the food Rachel was feeding her; an evil Gage back from the dead and behaving more like Chucky, the doll from the Child's Play film series; and quote of all quotes from Dale Midkiff who responds to dead Church's actions of dumping a dead rat in his bath, and then scratching half his face off, with "Fuck off, hairball !", and it's quite a bit of fun in parts.

Picture quality is very good indeed, and no it's not presented in widescreen but the film was shot flat and matted to 1.85:1 in cinemas, so while you'll lose a small amount of picture information at the sides, you'll gain at the top and bottom, but this fullscreen transfer is very pleasing to the eye. However, full marks go to the use of the surround sound in most of the scenes to give an eerie atmosphere. The disc is well-chaptered with 30 in all for the 98 minutes of film, plus one for the following trailers : War of the Worlds, Barbarella, Mission: Impossible and a teaser trailer for Star Trek: First Contact which was the one beginning with the camera panning down the Next Generation logo, before being 'intercepted' by the Borg's less eliptical oblong spaceship.

Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 1997.