Pet Sematary is a 2019 American supernatural horror film directed by Kevin Kölsch and Dennis Widmyer and written by Jeff Buhler, from a screen story by Matt Greenberg. It is the second adaptation of the 1983 novel of the same name by Stephen King, and a remake to the 1989 film. The film stars Jason Clarke, Amy Seimetz, and John Lithgow, and follows a family that discovers a mysterious graveyard in the woods behind their new home.

Talks for a new adaptation of Pet Sematary began in March 2010, with Greenberg initially writing the screenplay. Lorenzo di Bonaventura and Steven Schneider were revealed to be producing the remake with Juan Carlos Fresnadillo in talks to direct it. By December 2017, Paramount Pictures had greenlit this new film version of King s novel, with duo filmmakers Kölsch and Widmyer directing. Principal photography commenced on June 18, 2018, in Montreal and Hudson, Quebec, Canada, and wrapped on August 11, 2018.

Pet Sematary premiered at South by Southwest festival on March 16, 2019, and was theatrically released in the United States on April 5, 2019, by Paramount Pictures. The film grossed over $113 million worldwide and received mixed reviews from critics, who praised the dark tone, atmosphere and performances, but disliked the slow pacing and reliance on jump scares. Critics and audiences were both divided on the changes between the film and book, though many named it better than the 1989 adaptation.

Plot

After being evicted from their home, Louis Creed, an ER doctor from Boston, Massachusetts, moves to the small town of Ludlow, Maine with his wife, Rachel, their two young children, Ellie and Gage, and Ellie s pet cat, Church. Exploring the woods, Rachel and Ellie stumble across a funeral procession of children taking a dead dog to a cemetery called Pet Sematary. At the university hospital, Louis is left shaken after failing to save the life of Victor Pascow, a student who was fatally injured after being struck and dragged by a vehicle. He later experiences a vivid dream in which Victor leads him to the deadfall at the back of the cemetery and warns him not to venture beyond. Louis awakens to find his feet and sheets caked in mud, suggesting that the events were more than just a nightmare.

On Halloween, Church is killed by a truck. Jud Crandall, their neighbor who has a soft spot for Ellie, takes Louis past the pet cemetery to an ancient burial ground to bury Church. The next day, Louis is stunned when Church returns home alive, though he is different: aggressive and violent, tearing apart a bird and eating it alive. Jud reveals to Louis that the burial ground brings things back from the dead and is believed to be inhabited by a spirit known as the Wendigo. He apologizes, having thought Church would return the same. After Church attacks Gage, Louis tries to kill him and he fails. So he decides to set him free in the wild.

During her birthday party, Ellie spots Church on the road and excitedly rushes to him, but is hit and killed by a derailed tanker truck. The family is devastated, and Rachel and Gage leave to spend a few days with Rachel s parents. Sensing that Louis is planning on resurrecting Ellie, Jud warns the grieving father that sometimes dead is better. Though Victor s spirit similarly warns him, Louis s grief spurs him to carry out his plan. He drugs Jud, exhumes Ellie s corpse, and reburies her in the animal graveyard as the Wendigo looks on. Ellie rises from the dead but manifests a disturbing demeanor.

Meanwhile, Rachel is frightened by visions of her dead sister Zelda, who suffered from spinal meningitis and died after falling down a dumbwaiter shaft. Gage is also frightened by the ghost of Victor who tries to warn him about going home. Jud wakes up and spots Ellie in the house. He flees home in horror to retrieve his revolver, but Jud, distracted by a growling Church, allows Ellie to surprise him on the stairwell—slicing through Jud s Achilles tendon with a scalpel and taunting him with the voice of his dead wife before viciously stabbing him to death.

Rachel and Gage return home and encounter the undead Ellie. Rachel is horrified and flees with Gage to an upstairs bedroom. Ellie, enraged at being rejected by her mother, attacks Rachel as Louis finds Jud s blood-soaked body. Rushing home, Louis manages to save Gage just as Ellie fatally stabs Rachel. He locks Gage in the car, and Rachel begs her husband not to bury her in the pet cemetery. Ellie knocks Louis unconscious and drags her mother s body to the burial ground. At the pet cemetery, Ellie tries to kill Louis. As Louis prepares to decapitate his daughter, he is impaled from behind by a makeshift grave marker, falling and revealing a reanimated Rachel. Ellie and Rachel silently drag Louis away and he is subsequently buried. Rachel, Ellie, Church, and a resurrected Louis set fire to Jud s house before approaching the car. Louis peers into the car at Gage before a beeping sound of the car door unlocking is heard.

Alternate ending

Louis spares Ellie instead of killing her, and they both bury Rachel behind the pet cemetery, promising that they will be a family together forever. After burning Jud s house, Louis and Ellie approach the family car, where Gage is still locked in. In the house, Ellie, Church, and a newly resurrected Rachel approach and reunite with an unhappy Louis holding Gage, who is crying.

Cast

• Jason Clarke as Dr. Louis Creed
• Amy Seimetz as Rachel Creed (née Goldman) Sonia Maria Chirila as Young Rachel
• Sonia Maria Chirila as Young Rachel
• John Lithgow as Jud Crandall
• Jeté Laurence as Eleanor Ellie Creed
• Hugo and Lucas Lavoie as Gage Creed
• Obssa Ahmed as Victor Pascow
• Alyssa Brooke Levine as Zelda Goldman
• Suzy Stingl as Norma Crandall
• Maria Herrera as Marcela
• Jacob Lemieux as Mouse Face
• Maverick Fortin as Dog Face
• Lou Ferrando as Rabbit Face
• Najya Muipatayi as Cat Face
• Emma Hill as Horse Face
• Leo, Tonic, Jager and JD as Church the Cat
• Frank Schorpion as Irwin Goldman
• Linda E. Smith as Dory Goldman

Production

Development

On March 5, 2010, Paramount Pictures was developing a new adaptation of Stephen King s novel Pet Sematary, and that Matt Greenberg had been hired to write the screenplay. (He was later credited with the screen story .) By October 2013, Lorenzo di Bonaventura and Steven Schneider were to serve as producers for the production, and Juan Carlos Fresnadillo was in talks to direct.

In August 2017, Andy Muschietti, director of the 2017 film adaptation of Stephen King s It, said that he and his sister, Barbara Muschietti, wanted to adapt Pet Sematary.

On October 30, 2017, it was announced that Paramount Pictures had officially greenlit the film, which was expected to be directed by Kevin Kölsch and Dennis Widmyer, from a screenplay by Jeff Buhler and David Kajganich (the latter went uncredited). Aside from Di Bonaventura and Schneider, Mark Vahradian also produced. Other filmmakers considered were Sean Carter and Johannes Roberts.

Casting

On April 16, 2018, it was announced that Jason Clarke had been cast in the lead role of Louis Creed. On May 4, 2018, it was reported John Lithgow had joined the cast in the role of Jud Crandall.

In June 2018, it was announced that Amy Seimetz would have the film s lead female role, Rachel Creed, along with Jeté Laurence as Creed s daughter Ellie and twins Hugo and Lucas Lavoie as Creed s son Gage.

In October 2018, it was reported that Obssa Ahmed had been added as college student Victor Pascow, and Alyssa Brooke Levine as Zelda Goldman. Zelda was previously portrayed by stuntman Andrew Hubatsek in the 1989 film.

Filming

Principal photography commenced on June 18, 2018, in Hudson, Quebec, Canada. Filming wrapped on August 11, 2018.

Soundtrack

Christopher Young composed the film score. The end credits include a cover version of the Ramones song Pet Sematary by American punk rock band Starcrawler. Waxwork Records released the soundtrack on a double LP in 2019 following the release of the film.

Track list

Double LP track list

Release

The film had its world premiere at South by Southwest on March 16, 2019, and was theatrically released in the United States on April 5, 2019, by Paramount Pictures.

The film was originally going to be released on April 19, 2019, but was moved two weeks from its original release date of April 19, 2019, to April 5, 2019.

Reception

Box office

Pet Sematary grossed $54.7 million in the United States and Canada, and $58.3 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $113.1 million, against a production budget of $21 million.

In the United States and Canada, Pet Sematary was released alongside Shazam! and The Best of Enemies, and was projected to gross $20–30 million from 2,500 theaters in its opening weekend. It made $2.3 million from Thursday night previews. It then grossed $10 million on its first day, including previews. It went on to debut to $24.5 million, finishing second, behind Shazam!. The film fell 60% in its second weekend to $9.7 million, finishing fourth, and then made $4.9 million in its third weekend, finishing seventh.

Critical response

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 57% based on 279 reviews, with an average rating of 5.9/10. The website s critical consensus reads: Pet Sematary takes its source material in a few different directions, but this remake feels like an exhuming almost as often as it does a revival. The rating fell from 92% since the original critical consensus. On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 57 out of 100, based on 42 critics, indicating mixed or average reviews . Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of C+ on an A+ to F scale, while those at PostTrak gave it an overall positive score of 66% and a 47% definite recommend .

Prequel

In March 2019, di Bonaventura stated that discussions of the development of a prequel had begun. Buhler reaffirmed this, stating that a continuation would explore digging into the mythology of the town, these rituals that children present, the mythology of the Miꞌkmaq, the Wendigo, the cemetery, the origins, Jud s life.

In February 2021, the film was officially green-lit with Buhler and di Bonaventura returning in their roles as screenwriter and producer, respectively. The project will be released via streaming, as a Paramount+ exclusive film. In May 2021, it was announced Lindsey Beer will make her directing debut with the film. In June 2021, Deadline Hollywood reported that Jackson White was in final negotiations as the young Jud Crandall. The same month, Jack Mulhern, Forrest Goodluck, Natalie Alyn Lind and Isabella Star LaBlanc were cast in undisclosed roles, with filming scheduled to commence in August. Samantha Mathis and Henry Thomas were cast in undisclosed roles in August 2021.

Year	2019
ReleaseDate	2019-04-05
RuntimeMins	101
RuntimeStr	1h 41min
Plot	Dr. Louis Creed and his wife, Rachel, relocate from Boston to rural Maine with their two young children. The couple soon discover a mysterious burial ground hidden deep in the woods near the… Read all
Awards	Awards, 1 win & 9 nominations
Directors	Kevin Kölsch, Dennis Widmyer
Writers	Stephen King, Matt Greenberg, Jeff Buhler
Stars	Jason Clarke, Amy Seimetz, John Lithgow
Produced by	Allegra Clegg,Lorenzo di Bonaventura,Mark Moran,Steven Schneider,Mark Vahradian
Music by	Christopher Young
Cinematography by	Laurie Rose
Film Editing by	Sarah Broshar
Casting By	Andrea Kenyon,Joseph Middleton,Monika Mikkelsen,Randi Wells
Production Design by	Todd Cherniawsky
Art Direction by	Mathieu Giguère,Félix Larivière-Charron,Andrew LemMon
Set Decoration by	Vincent Aird,Léa-Valérie Létourneau,Ann Smart
Costume Design by	Simonetta Mariano
Makeup Department	Caroline Aquin,Stephan Ashdown,Marianne Bobet,Michel Bougie,Camille Bouvet,Kevin Carter,Annick Chartier,Melissa Fafard,Laurie Frigon,Cyril Hipaux,Pierre-Emmanuel Kaas,Félix Larivière,Jonathan Lavallée,Colette Martel,Jean-Manuel Medina,Adrien Morot,Vasilica Pintea,Carly Paige Salzman,Shane Shisheboran,Patrick St-Pierre,Susie Tawakul,Kathy Tse,Vague Vartanian
Production Management	Abigail Callahan,Didier Communaux,Frederik Joly,Mark Moran,Simon Paquin,Hélène Ross
Second Unit Director or Assistant Director	Renato De Cotiis,Beau Ferris,Marlee Gruss-Neidhardt,Raphaël Hébert,Matthew Jemus,Paul Jennings,Carl Kouri,Ela Miszkurka
Art Department	Serge Archambault,Véronique Arcouette,Gina Alexandra Arganese,Carole Arpin,Daniel Auclair,Francois Beaudry,Julie Beaudry,Jacque Beaupre,Ariane Benmergui,Linda Bicari,Patrick Boulianne,Adrien Bourgailt,Alain Brochu,Doug Brode,Jonathan Brouillard,Catherine Bélanger,Leo Caroit,Naima Cusson Charron,Fabien Chevrier,Christian Corvellec,Stephen Craig,Sarah Cusenier,Edmond De Lorimier,Rémy Deroy,Jeremi Gaudet Desjardins,Alain Desroches,Simon Dupras-Tessier,Audrey Ejdelman,Anne-Marie Fisette,Yvan Forget,Alexandre Fortin,Bruno Fortin,Lucie Fournier,Alexandre Gelinas,Vincent Gendron,Anne-Marie Giroux,Claude Goyette,Sylvain Grenier,Martin Handfield,Michael Hentges,Reno Hébert,Serge Julien,Dylan La Frenière,Hans Laliberté,Annie Lamarre,Michel Lambert,Michel R. Lambert,Raymond Larose,Colin Lavigne,Prescillia Dumont LeBlanc,Valérie Leclair,Ann Leduc,Jean-Philippe Lefebvre,Carl Lessard,Oleksandra Lykova,Marie-Eve Marceau,Michael Menard,Raúl Monge,Jackie Morin,Jason Nardella,Xavier Nolet,Mar-Antoine Paquet,Jean-Françoise Portelance,Isabelle Potvin,Thomas Pringle,Rodrigo Rojas,Marie-Félixe Roy,Kathleen Speight,Jessica Surendorff,Simon Theberge,Lola Thirard,Scott Thompson,Valèrie Tremblay,Viviane Vallée,Steve Ward,Aaron Zak,Olya Zarapina,Audrey Ejdelman
Sound Department	Erik Aadahl,Deb Adair,David Bach,Steve Baine,Malte Bieler,David V. Butler,Matt Cavanaugh,Justin M. Davey,Chris Diebold,Maxime Ferland,Kevin Froines,Sébastien Froment,Casey Genton,Simon Goulet,Justin Herman,Edward J. Hernandez,Jason W. Jennings,Brandon Jones,Bob Kellough,Ralph Osborn,Peter Persaud,Simon Poudrette,Emma Present,Jessie Anne Spence,John C. Stuver,Ethan Van der Ryn,Tim Walston,Matt Yocum,Kristin Catuogno,John Chamberlin,Jeff Faustman,Gina Gyles,Bill Higley,Brandon Jones,Mariusz Langner,Adrià Mateu,Jason Oliver,Darren Polish,Carlos Sanches,Ted Teske
Special Effects by	Dana Campbell,Georges Chartrand,Louis Craig,Jean-Martin Desmarais,Peter Ejupovic,André Fortin,Marc Godding,Stacey Godding,François Laurion,Denis Lavigne,Vincent Marion,Eric-André Paquin,Kenneth Wiliamson
Visual Effects by	Saravana Kumar A.,Ameya Adchule,David Agudelo,AyushSaraogi,Cyril Balavoine,David Bocquillon,Rakesha C.R.,Andrew Carruthers,Camille Charpigny,Guillaume Charron,Jessica A. Chiarella,Christopher Collis,Gilles De Saint-Aubert,Kunal Dhawan,Michael DiCarlo,Mike DiCarlo,Jeremy Dineen,Paul Docherty,Selena Farkas,Naomi Foakes,Jérôme Foucout,Fabien Félicité,Shania Gharagozlou,Mark Gordon,Xavier Goubin,Jeanlin Guillaume,Carlota Gutiérrez Pou,Thomas Hallé,Damien Hurgon,Jafin Jacob,Jordan Jardine,Dragos Jieanu,Rahul K.R.,K. Karthikeyan,R. Sathesh Kumar,Jean-Francois Lafleur,Maria Ximena Lozano,Matheus Marques,Laura Martin,Sarah McMurdo,Seungki Min,Niju Krishnan Mohandas,Trevor Moniz,Raphaël Moreault-Truchon,Vincent Ménard,Manickam Pachamuthu,Pranav Pande,Suresh Pandi,Vita Pardales,Graham Peddie,Jason Pereira,Rohan Ponda,Karthik R.L.,Andrey Ragozin,Amélie Rey,Ananthakrishnan S.,Neha Kiran Sadre,Rosa Sanchez,Sergei Sarichev,Ben Schoen,Josh Schoen,Vidushi Singh,Priya Sinha,Patrick Taillefer,Stephen Trepanier,Valentin Tuil,Alexis Turbé,Rahul Venugopal,Anita Vergara-Alarcon,Zhujun Bamboo Wang,Cleiton Wiggers Werncke,Kyle Yoneda,Hao Zhang,Lambert Assémat,Jacquelyn Racine
Stunts	Derek Barnes,Ron Bell,Alexandre Cadieux,Sharon Canovas,Amanda Dellapenta,Jean Frenette,Naomi Frenette,Stephannie Hawkins,Stéphane Julien,Héléna Laliberté,David McKeown,Jesse Provencher,Bas Reitsma,Stephane Savard,Pascal Souvay,Philippe Souvay,Martin St-Antoine,Suzi Stingl
Camera and Electrical Department	Olivia Aravecchia,Felix Bellehumeur-Lemay,Alexandre Bouchard,Pierre-Luc Bouchard,Benoit Bureau,Moni Caballero,Jean-Sébastien Caron,Charles Castonguay,Marc Charlebois,Daniel Chrétien Jr.,Joost Clerinx,Benoit Daoust,Michael Darby,Pierre Daudelin,David Desgroseillers,David Dinel,Eames Gagnon,Martin Gagnon,Claude Gervais,Stéphanie Girard-Hamelin,Rémi Giroux,Jason Goodall,Dan Goyens,Benjamin Granet,Austin Grass,Marie-Pierre Gratton,Rene Guillard,Kerry Hayes,Marc Hénaut,Soupharak Keoborakoth,Isabelle Lauzon,Constant Lavallée,Martin Lebel,Martine Leclerc,Kenneth MacKenzie,Kenneth Mackenzie,Brad MacLean,Émilie Marchand,Daniel Moise,Patrick Pereira,Geneviève Perron,Gerry Prévost,Dany Racine,Sébastien Raymond,Leon Rivers-Moore,Daniel Robidoux,Patrick St-Arnaud,Geoffroy St-Hilaire,Melanie St-Pierre,Lena Stolarska,Sean Sweeney,Marc-Antoine Theriault-Daunais
Casting Department	Faith Abraham,Julie Breton,Eddie Jaszek,Ashley Lambert,Arianna Trames
Costume and Wardrobe Department	Anne-Laure Berger,Faostine Berthet,Jacques Doucet,Jonathan Girard,Emmanuelle Godbout,Monika Herédi,A.M.E. Hutchison,Vania Khandjian,Catherine Lord,Marie-Hélène Ménard,Maia Nadon-Chbib,Sylvie Théberge,Felix Tranchemontagne,Madeleine Tremblay
Editorial Department	Hunter Clancey,Leeza Diott,Jason Dougherty,Monica Escalante,Vanessa Galvez,Jessica Larson,Nicholas Lundgren,Gabriele McIntyre,Joel McWilliams,Lauren Orlowski,Chris Patterson,Mitch Paulson,Steven Pristin,Andrey Ragozin,Jennifer Raymond,Stephen Regnier,Alexis Ross,John St. Laurent,Kelsea Williams,Julien Archambault,Helen Ma
Location Management	Alicia Couture,Brigitte Lévesque,Benoît Mathieu,Peo Rousseau,Alicia Couture
Music Department	Christoph Allerstorfer,Jared Banta,Ramiro Belgardt,Max Blomgren,Kostas Christides,Lasse Elkjær,Nicholas Fitzgerald,Gerrit Kinkel,John Jae Lee,Daniel Lepervanche,Vee Noriega,Gregory Reveret,David James Rosen,Peter Rotter,Ben Schor,Michael Shlafman,Del Spiva,Denis Surov,Areli Quirarte
Script and Continuity Department	Elizabeth Tremblay
Transportation Department	Marc Arsenault,Pierre Olivier Chénard,Maxime Cote,Alexandre Desbiens,Sandro Di Gioacchino,David Dufresne,Philippe Gilbert,Bernard Guay,Vincent Houle,Roy Hubler,Victor Lafond,Tasso Mathiopoulos,Eric Paré,Martin Patrice,Michel Robert,Spiro Tsovras
Additional Crew	Michael Annett,Marcello Baccala,Ranjani Brow,Rosana Bruni,Micaela Cain,William Calvert,Alain Caporicci,Sam Carmichael,Sylvain Chaput,Greg Cohen,Ben Daves,Paula Davis,Jan de Calbiac,Puelo Deir,Deborah Domínguez,David Dubé,Audrey Fallu,Chase Fein,Alex Feldman,Lucinda Fortin,Yvan Francoeur,Camille Gagnon-Chalifour,Christine Gamache,Camilo Gomez,Tanya Graham,Bernard Guay,Dan Harder,Robert Harrison,Sheima Hassanlou,Benjamin Hatcher,Keith Hightower,Wendy Hoffman,Amber Hood,Kirk Jarrett,Alyssa Joseph,Jean-Patrick Joseph,Ali Khaleghi,Marine Lacour,Miguel Lambert,Charles Lamoureux,Eric LaPointe,Jean-Marc Larivière,Nina Lauren,Martin Lemire,Daniel Lepage,Ernesto Martinez,Kate Maudlin,Lindsay McCaw,Kyla McFeat,Daniel McGraw,Jonathan Meunier,David Midgen,Melissa Millett,Stewart Scott Mitchell,Martin Monette,Thomas Noel,Capri Oliver,Lily Oliver,Laurence Ouellet,Serge Pominville,Stephanie Proulx,Kiran Pulinthitta,Courtney Rasmussen,Nathan Samdahl,Sylvain Savard,Tristan Stevens,Agnes Stuart,Andrea Swallow,Kathy Ann Thomas,Ella Thompson,Kirsten Tobey,Pierre-Marc Tremblay Grandbois,Brian Whissell,Tauren Wrate
Thanks	Nat Mundel
Genres	Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Companies	Paramount Pictures, Di Bonaventura Pictures, Room 101
Countries	USA, Canada
Languages	English
ContentRating	R
ImDbRating	5.7
ImDbRatingVotes	92182
MetacriticRating	57
Keywords	horror movie remake,cat,based on book,indian burial ground,childhood flashback