MovieChat Forums > Pet Sematary (2019) Discussion > Not terrible, but....meeeehhhhh!

Not terrible, but....meeeehhhhh!

posted 5 years ago by atd8vii (592)
3 replies | jump to latest

I just got out of the theater after watching the latest incarnation of Pet Semetary and overall I think it's just okay. I dig that they made some changes but I don't think it was executed quite right. Something felt off about the whole movie & I think it comes down to the script and the direction given by Kolsch and Widmyer.

The first half felt like it was completely rushed and just laid on the exposition to go through the motions. The Victor Pascow character was pretty much pointless this time round and was bought up only when convenient and then brushed off completely. I also felt that the actors, while pretty good in their own right, didn't quite hit the right notes when it came to the emotional beats of the story, again this may be due to the directors not getting the right performances out of their actors, even John Lithgow's character felt a bit redundant.

I could go on a bit, but I liked the atmosphere that was established. It had a 80's Stephen King adaption vibe with a bit of polish. I can see myself re-watching it eventually but it's not great for now.

[–] MrFilmJunkie (857) 5 years ago

i agree. it felt very rushed, in a way that time periods are a complete mess.
for example, when jud says how "in love" he is with the neighbour daugther elly - i was like: "wait, didn't elly just move to the place a few days ago? how did jud and her establish such a strong connection within this short period of time?".
or elly being happy that church is back - i was like "has she even realized that church had been gone?"
or the mother calling jud from the car asking him to go over to look after louis. and it seems like only 3 minutes later she arrives at the house, which would make the phone call pretty redundant.
there are a lot more moments like this in the film that seemed like weird time jumps to me...

[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

I won't go to see it. I saw in in '89 when I was twelve years old. Those were the scariest 90 minutes of my life. If I see the remake, it would probably be dullest minutes I would never get back.

[–] MrFilmJunkie (857) 5 years ago

it wasn't dull by any means, just a very odd pacing or editing and a disputable direction for the story in the third act. wasted potential...