This newest adaptation proves that, when written and directed with care, there's still life in the world of horror created by Stephen King.

| Feb 20, 2020

It's just a little too pulpy for the potential power of the story.

| Sep 27, 2019

While there is an artificiality about the scenes in the woods, the performances, editing and sound design keep the fear factor simmering.

| Jun 5, 2019

King's simple and elegant premise has been transformed into secondhand claptrap.

| May 9, 2019

Pet Sematary [is a] fable fueled by a sense of culpability for things that aren't always explained.

| Apr 19, 2019

Clarke is fantastic as Louis, and Laurence is even better as the precocious, painfully sensitive Ellie. She steals the movie, with Kolsch and Widmyer's blessing.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Apr 7, 2019

It treats King's story with reverent affection and, unlike the cover version of the Ramones title song that plays over the end credits, it won't leave you nostalgically longing for the original.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Apr 7, 2019

[Pet Sematary] not so much horrifying as it is frustrating, and as such it doesn't do a darn thing for me.

| Original Score: 1.5/4 | Apr 7, 2019

Directors Kevin Kölsch and Dennis Widmyer make the tone just a little cheesy, as the premise deserves, but not overripe. The scares are easy -- sometimes literally a cat jumping from the shadows -- but cleanly done.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Apr 5, 2019

A mediocre first half leads to a much better second.

| Original Score: C+ | Apr 5, 2019

An experienced cast bring psychological depth and fun, and the animatronic cat is never dull, but it's newcomer Jeté Laurence who walks off with the movie.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Apr 5, 2019

If the hoots and giggles at my screening were what the filmmakers were going for, it strikes me as an unfortunate betrayal of a novel whose ironies don't come at the expense of empathy.

| Apr 5, 2019

The film is awfully smug about its wicked, unthoughtful new direction, which leads to a climax that is downright silly and, it must be said, kind of dull in all its blunt and hurried escalation.

| Apr 5, 2019

"Pet Sematary" addresses issues of death and our unwillingness to accept it in a fun, frank manner. The dead don't always have it this good.

| Original Score: B | Apr 5, 2019

Hidden within the deep recesses of Kevin Kolsch and Dennis Widmye's not-that-scary movie is a really compelling film about death, unfortunately they're tasked with a bland, way too literal script to be able to make it.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Apr 5, 2019

This may look like the same story, but the soul of it is missing-lost on the way out of the ground.

| Original Score: C+ | Apr 5, 2019

The initial scene-setting is strong, but the film quickly becomes a mess. The tortuous subplot about the dark childhood of mum Rachel...is a drain. The "spooky wood" effects are laughable...The final horror climax is wearisome and predictable.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Apr 5, 2019

Directors Kevin Kölsch and Dennis Widmyer spend waaaay too much time going for tension-building walks through creepy places and not nearly enough developing the stories that would have made this Stephen King adaption put the screws to the soul.

| Original Score: 1/5 | Apr 5, 2019

The film might be able to offer a few surprises... but it otherwise puts a dampener on what could have introduced a whole new generation to the chills of [Stephen] King's novel.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Apr 5, 2019

In its attempt to breathe new life into the iconic title while respectfully paying homage to its legacy, the new iteration of "Pet Sematary" overpromises and underdelivers.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Apr 5, 2019