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Lee (2222 KP) rated Pet Sematary (2019) in Movies

Apr 2, 2019 (Updated Apr 5, 2019)  
Pet Sematary (2019)
Pet Sematary (2019)
2019 | Horror
8
6.1 (68 Ratings)
Movie Rating Watch
Not only have I not read the Stephen King book that Pet Sematary is based on, I haven't even seen the original 1989 movie either. As much as I feel ashamed for completely missing out on both of those, it also meant that I was able to head into this movie with nothing to compare it to and no idea of what to expect, other than a bit of creepy-burial-ground-raising-the-dead type stuff that the first trailer covered. One quick note on the trailers before I begin though - the most recent one, which luckily I only saw after I had seen the movie, pretty much gives away the entire plot. Granted, if you're a fan of Stephen Kings work, or even the original movie, then you're going to know what to expect anyway. But, if you're like me - someone who enjoys a good horror movie, but doesn't read books and has gaping holes in his movie viewing history, then try and give the trailers a miss on this occasion before heading into the cinema.

Louis Creed (Jason Clarke) is a Boston doctor who moves his family to the (hopefully) less chaotic setting of rural Maine - wife Rachel (Amy Seimetz), 8 year old daughter Ellie (Jeté Laurence), toddler Gage and friendly family cat Church. However, the family soon discover that their house is located right alongside a road which is prone to noisy trucks suddenly speeding past - our first jump scare and something already given away by the trailers! Those trucks also have a tendency to end the lives of any local pets who might happen to wander out in front of them, so it's pretty handy that there happens to be a Native American graveyard out in the woods at the back of the Creed's new house.

The local children make good use of the area, carrying out a funeral procession while wearing masks before burying deceased pets there, and they have also erected a sign - "Pet Sematary", which is nailed to one of the trees outside of it. Unfortunately, it's not too long before Church falls victim to a passing truck, at which point friendly neighbour Jud (John Lithgow) tells Louis of a special burial ritual which can be carried out on an area of ground located even further into the forest. It's a ritual that can bring the dead back to life so, in order to avoid upsetting daughter Ellie, Louis keeps the death a secret until he and Jud can head out late that night to perform the ritual with Church. Sure enough, Church is back with the family the next morning - alive, but looking very disheveled and in a seriously grumpy mood. He's not quite the cute little bundle of joy he once was - as Jud puts it, "Sometimes dead is better".

After banging on earlier about spoilers for movies, I feel it would be wrong of me to go and do the same thing here. If you're familiar with the story, then you'll know what happens anyway, although there is a moderate change of detail in this particular version which has already had a few die hard Stephen King fans up in arms. I'll just say that the special properties of the burial ground get used on a few more occasions during the course of the movie, with increasingly devastating consequences, and I personally felt that the change to the source material totally worked within the confines of this version of the story.

Ok, so what did I think of the movie overall? Well, I found Pet Sematary to be pretty intense, even more so than 'Us' recently. There were a couple of guys to the side of me in the cinema who were sitting forward on the edge of their seat for the majority of the movie just hyperventilating - I thought they were going to have a heart attack at one point! Yes, there are some jump scares, but this was more the kind of nightmare horror that I loved while watching 'Us' and it had me gripped to my seat for a good 80% or so of its run-time. Everyone involved in the movie is on top form - the children are outstanding, as is Jason Clarke, John Lithgow, even the cat! The dread-filled atmosphere, the tragedy and the horror of it all, it really resonated with me and I came away from this exhausted but happy!
  
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Sarah (7798 KP) Apr 2, 2019

Did the trailer ruin the film at all? I've just seen the trailer for the first time before a showing of Us, and it looked like it spoilt the whole thing!
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Lee (2222 KP) Apr 3, 2019

@Sarah yes, it does! Luckily I only watched the latest trailer after seeing the movie, I don't think the first trailer, which was the only one I'd seen, had any spoilers in it. Unbelievable really, maybe they think everybody already knows the exact plot so they can just happily reference all the plot points in the trailer
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Sarah (7798 KP) rated Velvet Buzzsaw (2019) in Movies

Feb 2, 2019 (Updated Feb 3, 2019)  
Velvet Buzzsaw (2019)
Velvet Buzzsaw (2019)
2019 | Drama, Horror, Mystery
6
6.1 (18 Ratings)
Movie Rating Watch
A little confused
A little confused is definitely how I feel about this film. In parts it’s a darkly satirical take on the art world with some horror thrown in, but the rest is just plain old dull with a handful of characters you care little about. Jake Gyllenhaal is great as usual, but I feel the rest of the cast were a let down. Zawe Ashton especially seemed to put in a very deadpan and robot like performance - must have been how her character was intended but it just didn’t work. It also doesn’t help that despite Jake Gyllenhaal, there’s no real main character in this and this is where it falls done, bouncing between a lot of mostly conceited unliveable characters.

This film spends far too much time talking and poking fun at the art world, instead of focusing more on the horror aspect. The story of art killing people is an intriguing one that sounds like it’s been taken straight out of a Stephen King book, it’s just a shame the film didn’t capitalise on this until well over an hour in. Especially as a lot of the horror parts were well done and quite disturbing, although some of the special effects were a bit OTT.

I just find this entire film a little bit meh. It wasn’t terrible, but it’s not particularly memorable either. And whilst I’m sure there’s a message about the fake and judgemental art world, it doesn’t really make for a great film.
  
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Andy K (10821 KP) Feb 2, 2019

What a bummer. I thought this looked good.
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Dutch (59 KP) rated The Burning Soul in Books

Feb 22, 2019  
The Burning Soul
The Burning Soul
John Connolly | 2011 | Crime
8
9.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
What's the worst thing you have ever done?
The worse thing Randall Haight has ever done was killing a 14-year-old girl when he was only a child himself. Now someone seems to have discovered his secret and is tormenting him anonymously, and, to further complicate things a 14-year-old girl has gone missing in the same town that Randall lives in.
Charlie Parker takes on the case against his better judgement as it brings back painful memories of the death of his own daughter and he also finds himself up against a mobster by the name of Tommy Morris, the FBI and a police chief who may have secrets of his own.
As a rule I generally navigate towards horror but in the Charlie Parker series John Connolly has crafted a multi-layered world that mixes in supernatural elements and a superb supporting cast (Louis, Angel, the Collector) as well as great writing, a flawed (but likeable) main character and most importantly stories that draw me in totally. In fact I would put John Connolly up there with Stephen King as one of my favourite authors and I absolutely cannot get enough of the Charlie Parker series. If you have a love for the crime or horror genres there is no excuse for not diving into this series.
The next book in the series is The Wrath of Angels and it marks the return of the Collecter and promises to bring back the more supernatural/horror elements of the series and that is certainly not a bad thing.