by Austen Terry, Contributing Writer
Spooky season is officially here, and there’s no better way to spend the Halloween season than watching scary movies. Over the last few years, we have had some brilliant horror films, but the genre has also stuck to what it’s done in the past: returning to an existing IP and churning out more movies. That includes Paramount+, which has returned to the Pet Sematary well to find their latest addition to the mythos: the prequel, Pet Sematary: Bloodlines. Stephen King is a titan in the world of horror, having many movies and shows based on his work. Bloodlines, though, does something a little different by taking bits of a story Jud Crandall mentions in the book to put this movie together, leaving many wondering whether this would be a fulfilling backstory to the terrifying Pet Sematary universe or be a dud.
Taking place in 1969, Jud (Jackson White) and his girlfriend Norma (Natalie Alyn Lind) are planning to leave the town of Ludlow, Maine for the Peace Corps, but when Norma is attacked, they are forced to stay. They run into Timmy Baterman (Jack Mulhern), who just supposedly returned from Vietnam, and has begun to act strange. As Jud begins to uncover what happened to his friend, he learns the terrible secret of Ludlow and the infamous Pet Sematary. The film was written and directed by Lindsey Anderson Beer in her directorial debut, but it falls short of what it could have been.
The original story is beyond terrifying — seeing the Creed’s dead child killing their family and friends still haunts me, especially the from the 1989 version. But in Bloodlines, nothing new is added. We already knew about the ancient, evil Native American burial site that can bring people back from the dead, and we knew how everything that comes back is evil. Typically, when telling a prequel story, you add new information that fills in any questionable gaps, but even those who haven’t read the books knew the whole story for the most part, thanks to the previous films. The only real new information is that the whole town seems to know about the curse.
This barely 90-minute slasher-esque movie barely held my attention, and I was wishing it to be over. There is no build to when the evil person starts killing. You see someone getting buried in the opening, then strange stuff starts happening, then murders. I literally walked away from it saying I would finish it later because I thought I was just barely into it, but nope, I was already halfway through the movie. There never was a moment I began to care about the characters, and the acting is terrible. Thomas and Duchovny are excellent actors who have delivered powerful performances in other works — they were the big draws here, but were clearly just looking for a paycheck. They both play the disinterested dad character trying to do right by their son. White and Lind aren’t even remotely interesting as a couple, and they also seem to be there to get paid.
Having already seen Jud Crandall played well by Fred Gwynn and John Lithgow, White’s performance is just flat and lifeless. If Paramount wanted to franchise this story with the previous works of Beer, she was probably not the best choice. Pet Sematary should be an absolutely terrifying story about being hunted by a returned loved one, but Bloodlines wouldn’t have scared anyone.
If you are looking for a scary movie for Halloween, the bar is set pretty low with this entry. Pet Sematary: Bloodlines is definitely a swing and a miss. Hell, it’s a “swing and I threw my bat into the stands” kind of a movie.
Rating: Hated It
Pet Sematary: Bloodlines is currently Streaming on Paramount+
You can read more from Austen Terry, or follow them on Twitter, Instagram, and Letterboxd