Pet Sematary is the story of a doctor’s family that moves to Maine. Close to the property the family discovers a large pet cemetery, complete with makeshift headstones and eulogies to the deceased companions. The widower next door warns the family of the woods beyond the pet cemetery that in previous times contained an Indian burial ground.

The Indian burial ground has the power to bring back the dead, but only at a terrible cost. It is a new twist on an old idea, one present in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and other horror classics. It is the cautionary tale of playing God and reaping the consequences.

Pet Sematary is truly a modern tragedy. In classic King style, non-supernatural events are interwoven with supernatural events, drawing the reader into the story and enabling them to suspend their disbelief. For example, the family’s shy housekeeper hangs herself, a student at the local university is hit by a car and dies on the examination table in front of the doctor, and the audience is shown a flashback of what the Doctor’s wife endured growing up with a sister with spinal meningitis.

In my opinion, Pet Sematary is one of the most terrifying movies based on King’s work because of the multiple psychological pressure points it strikes and the large dose of human tragedy injected into the tale. When the viewer is shown the horrible physical appearance of the wife’s sister as she suffers with her disease, the viewer is reminded of “the shunned house” in their own neighborhood, that house that is avoided by the neighborhood kids due to whispered rumors that may or may not have been based upon true events. Although the motives behind the housekeeper’s suicide are not provided (indeed, she plays a very minor background role), the tough subject of suicide is touched upon in at least a peripheral way. The tragic tale also includes the loss of a pet, the loss of a child, and the loss of a spouse.

In addition, the dysfunctional relationship between the husband and his in-laws are also brought to bear. These realistic events weave a dark tapestry that holds the supernatural elements together.

Looking at Pet Sematary from the perspective of the horror movie, many common elements of the genre are represented as well. Th ere is the concept of the haunted woods, highlighted in such genre films as The Evil Dead and King’s own The Tommyknockers. There is the concept

of the possessed pet, manifested in the vicious black dog in The Omen or King’s own infamous canine Cujo.

There is the exhumation of graves, a concept that appears in too many horror movies to list, and the living dead, presented in George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead and every

zombie film ever since. Finally, there is the appearance of the cursed child, used so well in The Village of the Damned, The Omen, and King’s own The Children of the Corn.

Due to the elements above, and the chilling way that the camera describes them, Pet Sematary is the most complete film adaptation based on King’s body of work.

One final note for rock n’ roll fans: King’s favorite band, The Ramones, is featured on the Pet Sematary soundtrack.