Pet Sematary (1989)

Director:

Mary Lambert

Writers (WGA):

Stephen King (novel)
Stephen King (screenplay)

Release Date:

21 April 1989 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Fantasy | Horror | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

Sometimes dead is better.

Plot:

Behind a young family's home in Maine is a terrible secret that holds the power of life after death. When tragedy strikes, the threat of that power soon becomes undeniable.

Plot Keywords:

Cat | Pet | Cemetery | Death | Secret

Awards:

1 win & 5 nominations

Cast

Dale Midkiff	...	Louis Creed
Fred Gwynne	...	Jud Crandall
Denise Crosby	...	Rachel Creed
Brad Greenquist	...	Victor Pascow
Michael Lombard	...	Irwin Goldman
Miko Hughes	...	Gage Creed
Blaze Berdahl	...	Ellie Creed
Susan Blommaert	...	Missy Dandridge
Mara Clark	...	Marcy Charlton
Kavi Raz	...	Steve Masterton
Mary Louise Wilson	...	Dory Goldman
Andrew Hubatsek	...	Zelda
Liz Davies	...	Girl at Infirmary
Kara Dalke	...	Candystriper
Matthew August Ferrell	...	Jud as a Child
Lisa Stathoplos	...	Jud's Mother
Stephen King	...	Minister
Elizabeth Ureneck	...	Rachel as a Child
Chuck Courtney	...	Bill Baterman
Peter Stader	...	Timmy Baterman
Richard Collier	...	Young Jud
Chuck Shaw	...	Cop
Dorothy McCabe	...	Seatmate #1
Mary R. Hughes	...	Seatmate #2
Eleanor Grace Courtemanche	...	Logan Airport Gate Agent
Donnie Greene	...	Orinco Driver
Lila Duffy	...	Budget Clerk
John David Moore	...	Hitchhike Driver
Beau Berdahl	...	Ellie Creed II
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Kira Willoughby	...	Mother at Logan Airport (uncredited)

Directed by
Mary Lambert

Writing credits (WGA)
Stephen King		(novel)
Stephen King		(screenplay)

Produced by
Mitchell Galin	....	co-producer
Richard P. Rubinstein	....	producer
Ralph S. Singleton	....	associate producer
Tim Zinnemann	....	executive producer

Original Music by
Elliot Goldenthal

Cinematography by
Bill Pope
Peter Stein

Film Editing by
Daniel P. Hanley
Mike Hill

Casting by
Pamela Basker
Fern Champion

Production Design by
Michael Z. Hanan

Art Direction by
Dins W.W. Danielsen

Set Decoration by
Kathe Klopp

Costume Design by
Marlene Stewart

Makeup Department
David LeRoy Anderson	....	special makeup effects artist (as Dave Anderson)
Lance Anderson	....	special makeup designer
John Blake	....	makeup effects assistant

Production Management
Barbara Rosing Hoke	....	unit production manager (as Barbara A. Rosing)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Phillip Christon	....	first assistant director
Joan Cunningham	....	second second assistant director
Suzanne Haasis	....	second assistant director

Art Department
Michael Biggie	....	painter
Jo Brown	....	head scenic
Kelly Deco	....	scenic paint foreman
Richard Bryan Douglas	....	carpenter
Ellen Freund	....	property master
Steve A. Hagberg	....	construction coordinator
Carlene Hirsch	....	lead greensman
Jennifer Law-Stump	....	scenic artist: Cinnabar
Stephanie Pilk	....	assistant set decorator
Ron Woods	....	props
Mark Zuelzke	....	assistant art director

Sound Department
Blake R. Cornett	....	first assistant sound editor
Greg Curda	....	foley mixer
Ken Dufva	....	foley artist
Michael Herbick	....	sound re-recording mixer
Gregg Landaker	....	sound re-recording mixer
Steve Maslow	....	sound re-recording mixer
Patrushkha Mierzwa	....	boom operator
Hamilton Sterling	....	sound editor
Mark Ulano	....	production sound mixer
Donald C. Rogers	....	technical director of sound (uncredited)

Special Effects by
Tom Chesney	....	special effects foreman
Scott Coulter	....	animatronic effects
Scott Coulter	....	laboratory technician
Robin L. D'Arcy	....	special effects coordinator
Jeffrey S. Farley	....	laboratory technician
Adam Jones	....	laboratory technician
Dean W. Miller	....	special effects supervisor
Tanya Ridenour	....	special effects crew

Visual Effects by
Bruce A. Block	....	matte cameraman
David Emerson	....	optical camera
Bart Mixon	....	visual effects
Bret Mixon	....	rotoscoping

Stunts
Laura Dash	....	stunts
Donna Garrett	....	stunts
Bob Herron	....	stunts
John Robotham	....	stunts
Ben Scott	....	stunts

Camera and Electrical Department
Dustin Ault	....	grip
Allen Barnwell	....	electrician
Kurt Grossi	....	grip
Rick Lamb	....	assistant camera
Larry McCarron	....	grip
Michael A. McFadden	....	grip
Patrick Melly	....	gaffer

Casting Department
Lindsay Chag	....	casting associate
Kira Willoughby	....	extras casting assistant

Editorial Department
Barry Dresner	....	additional editor
Donald Freeman	....	final colorist (uncredited)

Music Department
Phil Bulla	....	score recordist
Charles Martin Inouye	....	music editor
Joel Iwataki	....	music scoring mixer
Marky Ramone	....	composer: song "Sheena Is A Punk Rocker"

Transportation Department
A. Welch Lambeth	....	transportation coordinator
William O'Brien	....	transportation coordinator

Other crew
Jonathan Brandis	....	adr loop group
David J. Greenberg	....	runner: set department (as David Greenberg)
David Blake Hartley	....	location manager
Jesse Long	....	script supervisor
Brian McMillan	....	head animal trainer
Nurit Prag	....	production assistant
Neal Thompson	....	title designer
Susan Towner	....	production accountant
Jeanine Wilson	....	accountant
Lynnanne Zager	....	adr loop group (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Laurel Productions
• Paramount Pictures

Distributors

• Paramount Pictures (1989) (USA) (theatrical)
• United Pictures Finland (1989) (Finland) (theatrical)
• Esselte Video (1990) (Finland) (video)
• Paramount Pictures (1989) (USA) (VHS) (pan and scan)
• Paramount Home Video (1993) (USA) (DVD)
• Paramount Home Video (1993) (USA) (VHS) (pan and scan)
• Paramount Pictures (1996) (USA) (VHS) (pan and scan)
• United International Pictures (UIP) (1990) (France) (theatrical)
• CIC Vídeo (Brazil) (VHS)
• Esselte CIC Video (19??) (Netherlands) (VHS)
• Paramount Filmes do Brasil (Brazil) (DVD)
• Paramount Home Video (USA) (laserdisc)

Other Companies

• Varèse Sarabande  soundtrack

Also Known As:

"Pet Cemetery" - USA (orthographically correct title)
"Stephen King's Pet Sematary" - Philippines (English title) (poster title)
"Jurtjyrkogården" - Finland (Swedish title), Sweden
"Cementerio de Animales" - Argentina (imdb display title)
"Cementerio de mascotas" - Mexico
"Cementerio maldito" - Mexico (DVD box title)
"Cementerio viviente" - Spain
"Cemitério Maldito" - Brazil
"Cemitério Vivo" - Portugal
"Cimetère vivant" - Canada (French title)
"Cimitero vivente" - Italy
"De levende døde" - Norway
"Friedhof der Kuscheltiere" - West Germany
"Groblje kucnih ljubimaca" - Croatia (DVD title)
"Hayvan mezarligi" - Turkey (Turkish title)
"Kedvencek temetője" - Hungary
"Nekrotafeio zontanon" - Greece (transliterated ISO-LATIN-1 title)
"O Cemitério Maldito" - Brazil
"Ondskabens kirkegård" - Denmark
"Simetierre" - France (imdb display title)
"Smetarz zwierzaków" - Poland
"Stephen King's Pet Sematary" - Sweden
"Stephen King's Pet Sematary" - Norway
"Uinu, uinu lemmikkini" - Finland

Runtime:

103 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo (Dolby Stereo)

Certification:

Netherlands:16 | Iceland:16 | Germany:(Banned) (original rating) | Canada:18A | Finland:K-16 (1993) (video version) (uncut) | Italy:VM18 | Spain:18 | Ireland:18 | Portugal:M/16 | Argentina:18 | Chile:18 | Australia:M | Finland:K-18 (1989) (cut) | France:-12 | Norway:18 | South Korea:18 | Sweden:15 | UK:18 | USA:R | West Germany:18 | Malaysia:(Banned)

Filming Locations:

Acadia National Park, Bar Harbor, Maine, USA

Company:

Laurel Productions

Trivia:

This was the first filmed screenplay that Stephen King adapted from one of his own novels.

Goofs:

Continuity: Distance between Ellie and Louis as they talk about Missy changes between shots. In the close-up, they are side by side, as we see them from the kitchen, there is distance between them.

Quotes:

Gage:No Fair! No Fair, No Fair!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Darkhunters (2004)

Soundtrack:

Pet Sematary

one of King's creepiest, bone-curdling stories amid decent film-making

In the trivia section for Pet Sematary, it mentions that George Romero (director of two Stephen King stories, Creepshow and The Dark Half) was set to direct and then pulled out. One wonders what he would've brought to the film, as the director Mary Lambert, while not really a bad director, doesn't really bring that much imagination to this adaptation of King's novel, of which he wrote the screenplay. There are of course some very effective, grotesquely surreal scenes (mainly involving the sister Zelda, likely more of a creep-out for kids if they see the film), and the casting in some of the roles is dead-perfect. But something feels missing at times, some sort of style that could correspond with the unmistakably King-like atmosphere, which is in this case about as morbid as you're going to get without incestuous cannibals rising from the graves being thrown in (who knows if he'll save that for his final novel...)

As mentioned though, some of the casting is terrific, notably Miko Hughes as Gage Creed, the little boy who goes from being one of the cutest little kids this side of an 80's horror movie, to being a little monster (I say that as a compliment, of course, especially in scenes brandishing a certain scalpel). And there is also a juicy supporting role for Fred Gwynne of the Munsters, who plays this old, secretive man with the right notes of under-playing and doom in tone. And applause goes to whomever did the make-up on Andrew Hubatsek. But there are some other flaws though in the other casting; Dale Midkiff is good, not great, as the conflicted, disturbed father figure Creed, and his daughter Ellie is played by an actress that just didn't work for me at all.

In terms of setting up some chilling set-pieces, only a couple really stand-out: a certain plot-thickening moment (not to spoil, it does involve a cool Ramones song), and the first visit to the pet sematary (the bigger one), including the sort of mystical overtones King had in the Shining. For the most part it's a very polished directing job, though it could've been made even darker to correspond with the script. If thought out in logical terms (albeit in King terms) it is really one of his more effective works of the period. But it doesn't add up like it could, or should. Still, it makes for a nifty little midnight movie.