10 Dumbest Ways Movie Characters Got Themselves Killed

What happens when you take a novel famous for its slow, thoughtful, and challenging meditation on parenting, grief, loss, and mortality, and condense it down into a hundred minutes of (possibly unintentional) dark comedy? Well, character motivation can tend to fall out the window along with believability. This issue, however, obviously wasn’t too big a concern for horror director Mary Lambert when she signed on to adapt Stephen King’s Pet Sematary.

Make no mistake, the recent remake also has its own struggles with believability. But by the time that the original film’s ending comes around, it’s difficult not to stare at the screen in disbelief.

Small town physician and all-round clown Louis is father to a pair of adorable tykes and husband to a loving wife. When he discovers the titular animal graveyard can return anything dead to life, he decides - despite the advice of both real people and imagined ghosts - to give it a whirl.

First, it’s a cat which turns feral and vicious (solid start), then a son who comes back as a murderous toddler. Said toddler proceeds to kill his mother, Louis’ beloved wife. Which prompts Louis to revive her with the same sematary.

Two guesses how the gambit works out for him.