Wednesday, October 28, 2015

Pet Sematary II Movie Review – Better Than You Remember






Runtime: 100 minutes
Release Date: August 28, 1992
Rating: R
Director: Mary Lambert

Jeff Matthews is a young teenager sent to live with his veterinarian father after his actress mother dies in an accident on her latest film set. Chase, his father, decides to move them both to a new town in the hopes of starting over fresh without memories of her weighing them down. Unfortunately, he moves them to the same town where she lived in her younger years, which puts them in contact with the sheriff who once dated her. Jeff also meets and befriends Drew, the stepson of the sheriff.

Though Jeff initially makes a new friend and seems happy with his new kitten, it doesn't take long before things go a little off. Zowie, Drew's dog, dies after the sheriff Gus makes him put the dog outside. The two boys learn about the Creed family from the first film and decide to bury Zowie in the pet cemetery. Zowie comes back changed and different. He attacks the sheriff and won't let anyone except Drew near him. After Zowie attacks and kills Gus and the boys bury him in the same cemetery, things get even darker.

Years ago, when I was way too young to be reading Stephen King books, I read Pet Sematary and later watched the movie. The scene of a dead Pascal standing in the doorway completely traumatized me. At the time, my bedroom had four doors leading to the house, outside, and to the garage. Basically, no matter where I looked, there was a door where I expected to see Pascal.

Pet Sematary 2 was far less traumatizing to me. I remember first watching it when it came out in the theaters, watching it later on video, and eventually even getting a copy on DVD. Since I have no idea where my copy is and it was about to expire on Netflix, I figured now was a good time to watch it again. While it gets some terrible reviews, I have to say that I like it.

Clancy Brown is just plain amazing in this movie. As Gus, he is so downright creepy and just plain mean that you can't wait to see him die, but then you'll find that you like him even more when he comes back from the dead. He pretty much spends the whole movie chewing on the scenery, as if he knows that he's in a bad movie.

And while it is bad, Pet Sematary is bad in a completely fun and ridiculous way! It's the type of movie where you see Anthony Edwards enjoying a sex scene with his dead wife and the woman suddenly transforms into a half woman/half wolf hybrid. It's also probably the last “good” movie that Edward Furlong appeared in before his career tanked. While I do have a fondness for some of his bad later films, this was one of the last fun ones he did.

Is Pet Sematary 2 absolutely anything like the original film? Not at all. The only thing it really has in common is the cemetery itself. While you would expect the residents of the town to freak out given what happened in the last movie, they barely mention it or talk about it. Despite that, it's actually a pretty enjoyable movie. Pet Sematary 2 is definitely the type of movie you want to watch with some friends so you can laugh and point out all the ridiculous moments together.

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