Pet Sematary remake may be the funniest film of 2019—no, that’s not a typo

Enlarge / Ellie Creed (Jeti(C) Laurence) visits the Pet Sematary. (credit: Paramount Pictures)

The good news about this week's remake of the 1989 film Pet Sematary is that it's better than the original. The bad news is that this week's stab (pun intended) at a Stephen King story barely got its feet over that incredibly low bar.

Pet Sematary, after all, remains one of the darkest King properties to come out of the author's booze-and-coke '80s period, and while the book burnt up early '80s sales charts and critics' lists, the same couldn't be said for its garbage 1989 film adaptation. The best I can say about the new film is that it really swims a few laps in that boozy, drug-filled pool and relishes its bad-film origins. The result, however, is far more comedic than any trailer would indicate.

"They spelled it wrong!"

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  A new house in the country. What could possibly go wrong? [credit: Paramount Pictures ]

Let's review: family moves to the woods to "get away from it all." Family is initially stoked about the massive backyard in their new property, only to learn via one Google search that it's linked to a few really troubling stories about murders and animals, uh, coming back to life. The property also has a very short driveway with no gate that leads to a two-lane, 60mph highway.

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