31 Days of Horror: Day 30: Pet Sematary

The downside of seeing so many horror movies is that you can get desensitized to a lot of what the filmmakers are hoping will scare you.  In my less jaded days, “Pet Sematary”, based on the novel by Stephen King, was one of the scariest movies I’d ever seen.  To the point that I stopped watching it because it gave me nightmares (one particular scene being the cause).

Louis and Rachel Creed (Dale Midkiff and Denise Crosby) settle in their new home with their two kids in Maine where Louis is going to be the doctor at the local university.  They meet their elderly neighbor Jud Crandell (Fred Gwynne), who tells them about a nearby pet cemetery where kids bury their pets (many of whom are killed by trucks on the road in front of their house. 

On the first day of Louis’new job, a young man is killed in after being hit by a truck.  His spirit becomes a harbinger; he tries to warn Louis of the events to come and stop him from making some very bad choices.

Later, Louis’s daughter Ellie’s (Blaze Berdahl) cat is killed.  Jud takes Louis to an old Indian burial ground beyond the pet cemetery where they bury the cat.  Later, the cat comes back, but it’s not quite the same.  Louis asks Jud if anyone ever buried a person up there.  Jud denies it initially, but he later learns that someone had done it before, but that what came back wasn’t human.

A tragic accident claims the life of Louis’s son Gage (Miko Hughes), and despite being warned by Jud not to do it, Louis buries his son in the Indian burial ground.  Gage come backs and utters one of the most haunting lines in the film.  “First I played with Jud; then I played with mommy.  We had an awfully good time.  Now I want to play wif yew!”

Fred Gwynne is amazing in the film and completely makes you forget (almost) that this is the same guy who was Herman Munster.  His characterization of Jud has withstood the test of time and is still being mocked on “South Park” more than twenty years later.

Ghosts, evil cats, and murderous toddlers, “Pet Sematary” had it all, but truthfully the scene that always caused my bad dreams had nothing to do with the primary plot of the film, but a subplot that deals with Rachel’s childhood and a sister suffering from spinal meningitis.  Zelda (Andrew Hubatsek) has given me many sleepless nights over the years as I would wake up from a nightmare waiting for her to twist my back like hers so that I could never get out of bed again.

I have to admit that in rewatching the film, it wasn’t nearly as terrifying as I remembered it (though Zelda is still creepier than Hell).  I’ve heard this film is being slated for a remake; I can’t imagine them topping the original and there’s no way they can make those scenes with Zelda scarier (and if they can I DO NOT want to watch them)!