Pet Sematary – 2019 (4K UHD Blu-ray Review)

Pet Sematary kind of freaked me out as a kid, but truth be told I never read the 1983 novel of the same name by Stephen King.  Revisiting the film nowadays feels a bit silly thanks to the shoddy special effects and all back then, but the core of the terror is still there.  It’s that core I’ve seen repeated in countless movies since its science never grows tiresome on me or countless others.  I’m all about re-animation.  However, it’s 2019 now and like it or not we have our second adaptation of King’s infamous literary work.  This is also my first time taking this 2019 incarnation of Pet Sematary in so what you’re about to read below is literally my first account on the subject matter at hand.

Film 

Pet Sematary is directed by Kevin Kölsch and Dennis Widmyer from a screenplay by Jeff Buhler and story by Matt Greenberg.  The follows stars Jason Clarke, Amy Seimetz and John Lithgow where a family recently moves and discovers a graveyard in the woods on their property.  But wait!  It ain’t just any graveyard.  Oh no!  This is a pet cemetery!  Hence the name, eh.  Right!  Before I begin through I want to selfishly link over to our look at the original 1989 feature HERE.

It’s really that simple folks.  Oh wait!  I left out the most important part.  There is a particular section of this cemetery where re-animation of the dead is possible.  Tell me you didn’t know that one already.  Ha!  It’s that whole be careful what you wish for mentality going on throughout here.  Pet Sematary deals with some pretty hard grief and by no means is it an uplifting feature.  However, just because there’s light at the end of the tunnel, meaning you can bring someone back fr0m the dead, doesn’t equate to a happy silver lining.  Oh no!  It’s quite the opposite.  But some people just can’t let go.  Depression and grief are two very hard sentiments to combat.  Some people in real life know this more than others.

If you’re unfamiliar with this property, then you’re probably wondering what’s up with the spelling of such.  I can explain that in one word.  Kids!  Enough said.  Now if you want to compare this to the 1989 incarnation, there are some differences in plot, etc.  I’m not going to go any deeper there.  However, I do want to dive into just how procedural this one is.  Yes, I know the basic story and all going in, but it just felt so generic almost like every other movie that has come before and dealt with this same very subject.  Now I don’t know what could have been done differently, hence why I am reviewing and not producing.  But I do know this.  I did not invest in the characters as much as I would like to.

At the end of the day Pet Sematary kind of just feels like a meandering, geriatric remake on King’s classic horror tale.  If that’s all it was going for, then bravo.  However, for me it achieved little else.  It was just an above average take on the horrific subject matter and while I didn’t hate it the world definitely didn’t need it.  Let’s also put aside the superior special effects this time out and all the premise is still the same and very little has changed.  Boo!

Now I know it’s a fine line to walk here too when doing a remake of a famous motion picture.  If you change it too much, purists of the original will protest.  And if you do very little to it, then people accuse you of making a mindless remake.  You can’t please them all.  This version also doesn’t get too much into the psychology of things, but instead relies heavily on jump scares.  I can’t fault them there though.  You need something to drum up the scares!

Video 

The below video score and related critique of things here are based solely upon my viewing of the 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray presentation of Paramount’s Pet Sematary.

• Encoding: HEVC / H.265
• Resolution: 2160p
• Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1
• Clarity/Detail: There’s a haze to things here, but when it’s on…it’s on.  I’m talking about closeups which reveal fine wrinkles, scars, pores, stubble, cat fur and more.  However, it’s the textures that stand out such as concrete cracks, dirt, fabric on Judd’s flannel shirt and more.  This presentation is not overly sharp, but more natural and like I said before a bit hazy.
• Depth: There’s a lot of depth to be found should you take the time to look such as traveling down city streets, cemetery, the way the onscreen characters pop against the woods, within the woods themselves and more.
• Black Levels: The black levels are deep and natural here.  The HDR is the saving grace of this presentation because let’s face it.  A lot of this film takes place during the nighttime.
• Color Reproduction: There’s a natural color grading to it all here with green vegetation, authentic red barn coloring and more.
• Flesh Tones: The skin tones are for the most part all natural in appearance.
• Noise/Artifacts: This 4K presentation is completely clean with zero debris.  There’s no doubt about it that this one was shot digitally.

Audio

Like I mention up above in the video section, the below audio score and critical comments of such are based solely upon my viewing of Paramount’s 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray presentation of Pet Sematary.

• Audio Format(s): English Dolby Atmos, French 5.1 Dolby Digital, Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital, English Audio Description
• Subtitles: English, English SDH, Spanish, French
• Dynamics: For me this surround track thrives on the score, directionality and prioritization.  More often than not it’s just spoken word and eerie ambiance, but you can wake the dead when trucks pass along the road speeding by.  So you may find yourself constantly wrestling with your remote, but rest assured nothing really gets lost in the shuffle of things.  This one’s a quiet one until it’s basically not.
• Height: The Atmos surround audio moments are plentiful and include examples like the score, scary chants, fire, birds, overhead fluorescent lights flickering, footsteps above the ceiling, lightning, voices, miscellaneous noises from above and more.
• Low Frequency Extension: The bass is pretty heavy hitting here in the score department plus examples like semi trucks blowing by on the roadway, house noises and rattles and of course the jump scare moments created to make you J-U-M-P!
• Surround Sound Presentation: The rear channels are full of score in this one, eerie atmosphere, crickets, voices, scary noises, wind howling, dripping water and basically everything else intended to creep you out.  Good stuff!
• Dialogue Reproduction: The dialogue levels are all clear and intelligible throughout the 4K presentation.  No complaints here other than having to turn the volume up and down due to the contrasting dynamics of it all.

Extras 

The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray release arrives with over 90 minutes of special features, including hair-raising deleted and extended scenes, a chilling alternate ending, a look at the main characters, behind-the-scenes footage, cast interviews and more.  In addition to all that you’ll get a 4K UHD Digital Copy, which is usually redeemable in both VUDU and iTunes.  Tip: Redeem in VUDU first and then enter the code into iTunes to get the version over there too.  You’re welcome!  Now let’s take a closer look down below at everything you can expect here in the Extras Department.

• Deleted Scenes (HD) – In the deleted scenes here one can find the following segments: Daddy’s Nervous Too (2:17), Your Kids are Lucky (1:53), I Wanted Her to Die (3:27), She Didn’t Come Back the Same (3:44), It’s Not Real (1:58), I’m Leaving in the Morning (1:11) and Did You Miss Me Judson? (1:43).
• Alternate Ending (HD, 9:16) – Alright sure there are differences between this ending and the theatrical one.  The main difference though is this one plays out longer.  I don’t want to lead you on though as the basic result is still the same.  There are things I like about this one and stuff I don’t, but if I had to pick between this and the theatrical ending I’d pick this one.
• Night Terrors (HD) – Here we have three scenes of the following three characters facing their fears:  Louis(1:40), Rachel (2:08) and Ellie (1:09).
• The Tale of Timmy Baterman (HD, 3:04) – Jud Crandall tells the tale of a boy killed in war and later resurrected in the mystical burying ground.
• Beyond the Deadfall (HD) – The extra we have here is a four-part feature as listed out below.
  • Chapter One: Resurrection (16:54) – This one is all about bringing King’s book back to the big screen, the changes made for a more contemporary audience, casting, performances and more.
  • Chapter Two: The Final Resting Place (12:38) – Chapter Two here is all about shooting in Montreal, the locations, costumes and more.
  • Chapter Three: The Road to Sorrow (13:59) – We are bringing on the heartbreak.  Duh!  This extra includes mentions of cat training for the feline known as Church, locations and shooting, making the tragic truck death scene, character relationships and more.
  • Chapter Four: Death Comes Home (18:07) – Death!  Death!  And more death!  Ha ha.  Make no mistake this one dives into the theme of death and how its incorporated here from the makeup and prosthetics to changes made on set, performances and more.

Summary 

I think this one is pretty self-explanatory.  What I mean by that is I think you know what you’re getting into here.  There’s very little to surprise or sell someone on here.  You either like the cautionary tale of Pet Sematary or you don’t.  There’s no middle ground.  There are some changes made throughout, but for the most part the core of the story is still here and it has been updated for modern day audiences who want the jump scares and increase bumps in VFX.  Are you sold yet?

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DISCLAIMER: This 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray review was judged and graded using the following 4K certified Ultra HD Premium television set found here and player here.  Make sure to check out all our 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray reviews archived here.  The images used above within the review are not actual 4K screenshots.  They are for illustrative purposes only.  

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Pet Sematary

Re-Animates The Dead on

4K Ultra HD Blu-ray

July 9th

PRE-ORDER NOW!

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