Pet Sematary Review: 4 Ups & 4 Downs
7. DOWN: The Struggle To Justify Its Existence
In short, this is not a movie that needs to exist. It's a great interpretation of the novel that updates an older movie for modern audiences, but nothing is markedly special or different from what we've seen before. Yes, there's some key moments where fans of the original movie will have their expectations toyed with and the ending deviates from expectation, but we never get to see that real, hot fresh take on this treasure trove of a concept.
The film plays out in almost exactly the same fashion as its original, and skips across plenty of interesting side steps it could have taken from other threads of the novel. Obssa Ahmed feels wasted as the spooky Victor Pascow, for example, and the spiritual nature of the movie is all but lost in the classic zombie showdown it presents instead.
Digging this movie up in this very straight-laced remake style doesn't feel at all rewarding.