I've never had a dog or a cat for a pet, though I have had fish. When a fish dies, you just flush it. There's no real ceremoney, no finding a plot in the backyard, no expensive fees from the Veterinarian for "putting the animal to sleep." I've never had a use for a pet cemetery, though I'm sure such places exist.
Pet Sematary (1989) is a movie adaptation for another Stephen King story. The title is misspelled because it was kids who wrote the sign for the Cemetery, misspelling the word as "Sematary." Pet Sematary is about a doctor and his family who move to new place in the country. There's a pretty busy road out in front of their home, and when their pet cat "Church" is hit by a truck and killed, they bury it in the cemetery. Only, when something is buried in this cemetery, it doesn't stay dead. It comes back...
Acting is pretty good in this film, with Dale Midkiff as Louis Creed, Denise Crosby (of Star Trek fame) playing his wife, Brad Greenquist playing Victor Pascow (the dead guy), and Fred Gwynne playing Jud Crandall, the elderly neighbor living across the street. I'd say Fred Gwynne really anchors the whole cast in this movie. Most people know Fred Gwynne from the Munsters, or his appearance as the judge in My Cousin Vinny, or Officer Muldoon in Car 54, Where are you? If you really want to see his acting range, watch him in Pet Sematary, then check him out as Max Green in Disorganized Crime, where he plays a safe-cracker who becomes increasingly disgruntled at how badly his latest crime caper is going. Then, realize that these two movies came out the very same year, 1989. Sadly, he passed away in 1993, just 4 years after Pet Sematary movie came out.
A little bit more about Jud Crandall, the character Fred Gwynne plays. Spoilers to follow, so if you don't want those, skip this paragraph. I'd like to say he's just an old man in this movie, but I am not sure if that's absolutely correct. The minute the Creeds move into the house across his street, he's already keeping an eye on them. First, he saves their son from dying a horrible death, just to ingratiate himself into their good graces. Then, their cat dies, on Jud's property. Sure, it COULD have been an accident. MAYBE the cat was just hit by a car. But was it? Then, he's showing Louis the way to the Pet Sematary (the other one), and he's moving like a man a third of his age. Sure, maybe it's just because Jud's a farmer, and Louis is a big-city doctor, and Jud's in a lot better shape than the doc is... but is it? They climb rocky cliffs, travel over log barricades and up and down hills, and Jud's always way out in front of the doc. "Just a little farther, Doc." Jud keeps calling back. The old man's not even breaking a sweat by the time they get there, and then he stops and has a cigarette, like he has breath to spare. Louis Creed would never have found that old cemetery by himself, not without Jud's help. Old man, what kind of game are you playing at? Are you even really an old man? I wonder!
I caught Pet Sematary on Epix Drive-In, one of the premium channels, if you guys want to check it out. Obviously I've seen it before, so it certainly passes the rewatchability test. Few effects to speak of, and they age well. I'd certainly watch it again, so check it out if you haven't already. Good way to introduce kids to the concept of death, as Jud says. Let them watch Pet Sematary, I say! If that doesn't introduce them to the concept of death, I'm not sure what will. It's how I learned, and look how great I turned out! Actually, this movie came out when I was 19, so, I probably had a small grasp of what death was before this. Maybe.
Kooky and creepy little coincidence, while I was looking this movie up on IMDB.com. I'm listening to Halloween music on the "sounds of the season" music channel, typing up this review, and I'm looking up the cast of the movie to see what they're doing nowadays. Obviously the younger cast members are all grown up, and I'm guessing the older cast members are probably retired by now. So I'm looking up Denise Crosby, because I remember her from Star Trek (where she played Tasha Yar), and I see she's doing a movie called "Itsy-Bitsy" that's due out in 2018. At that moment, the "Itsy-Bitsy Spider" song plays on the sounds of the season music channel. Just one of those creepy Halloween coincidences, right? Sure! (laughs nervously) Sure it was... OR WAS IT? :-o
No other news to discuss tonight. Hope everyone is enjoying the fall colors, or spending their every waking moment watching horror movies! Yes! Can you think of a more fun existence? I can't! Well, maybe not every waking moment. There's that whole eating and sleeping thing to deal with. Yeah. Til next time!
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