Pet Sematary early reactions: New Stephen King adaptation 'manages to reach Kubrick/Shining level heights'

Pet Sematary ’s premiered at SXSW on Saturday, 16 March, and the film has garnered positive reviews across the board. While most remakes are often considered a lesser film compared to the original, Pet Sematary’s 2019 adaptation may well stand as an exception. Based on the seminal horror novel by Stephen King, the movie is slated to release on 5 April.

#PetSematary is *vicious* and I LOVED it. Super brutal visuals and was thrilled to see Widmyer & Kölsch fully embrace the deeply unsettling themes of mortality from the book. And WOW Jeté Laurence. They really pushed it with this adaptation & it worked for me - big time. 😺 #sxsw

— Perri Nemiroff (@PNemiroff) March 17, 2019

#PetSematary has the kind of serious balls any good adaptation should have. The themes and encroaching dread of King’s novel are alive and well, but there are enough clever deviations to give diehard fans some welcome surprises. Big ups all around, but Seimetz is a legend. #SXSW

— Haleigh Foutch (@HaleighFoutch) March 17, 2019

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Pet Sematary tells the story of Dr Louis Creed (Jason Clarke) who moves his family — wife Rachel (Amy Seimetz), daughter Ellie (Jeté Laurence) and toddler Gage (Hugo Lavoie) — out to the country, completely unaware of the dangers that lurk in the forest beyond their house. Their friendly neighbour, Jud Crandall (Lithgow), tells them about the local pet cemetery, where the buried come back to life as is evident when the family’s cat comes back from the dead.

#PetSematary is a hoot and a half! Super dark, twisted, gory, and surprisingly funny! More of a dark comedy than the original movie, and it all works once the fucked up third act kicks in. The cast is fantastic. Jeté Laurence is a revelation! What a way to end #SXSW

— Rafael Motamayor (@RafaelMotamayor) March 17, 2019

For fans of the novel #PetSematary, the new film LOVES to taunt us. The tension rises to an all time high on many occasions. #SXSW

— Noah Levine (@ZProductionz) March 17, 2019

#PetSematary: It’s creepy! There’s a lot of creepy evil kiddo wickedness! I like the “flip!” I yelped in joy during the end credits because, well, yeah! A solid close to #SXSW.

— Dude Bro Party Mattsacre III (@DoNatoBomb) March 17, 2019

Omg y’all. #PetSematary is scary AF. It’s not for the faint of heart. Zelda is Queen. 😭

— chris evans (@notcapnamerica) March 17, 2019