"Pet Sematary: Bloodlines" warrants little reason to come back

Pet Sematary: Bloodlines (2023) 

Needless prequels always deserve a chance to prove us wrong, but “Pet Sematary: Bloodlines” warrants little reason to exist. Half of a century before the Creed family moved onto that busy Maine road in Kevin Kölsch and Dennis Widmyer’s solid 2019 adaptation of Stephen King’s novel, this film purports to show us why Jud Crandall, the Creeds’ neighbor, always knew dead was better in 1969. If you thought trying to demystify what made the well-spoken, cannibalistic Dr. Hannibal Lecter tick was pointless in 2017’s misbegotten “Hannibal Rising,” here we get more of the same dark forces that haunt the sour burial ground just beyond a cemetery. 

Jackson White is fine, a bland albeit good-looking conduit filling the Achilles tendons of both Fred Gwynne and John Lithgow as Jud. He’s about to put the town of Ludlow and his supportive parents (Henry Thomas, Samantha Mathis) in the rearview mirror by joining the Peace Corps with girlfriend Norma (Natalie Alyn Lind). Not even a few miles out, the Baterman dog gets in their way and changes their plans. It seems Bill Baterman (David Duchovny) made the mistake of bringing back his son, Timmy (Jack Mulhern), Jud’s old pal who was killed while serving in Vietnam. Timmy is back, but hmm, there’s something a little funny about him.

Debuting director Lindsey Anderson Beer, who co-wrote the script with Jeff Buhler (writer of the 2019 remake), traces over a lot that came before competently but with less tragic resonance and nastiness. The film doesn’t shy away from the gore, even laughably digital decaying flesh on a foot, and a slash-y set-piece in a hospital works up a little tension where there’s little escape. Everything that fails “Pet Sematary: Bloodlines” seems to be mostly on a script level, although the filmmakers can’t even seem to get a simple sense of time right; for example, scenes clearly set in the dead of night bookend an attack in a sunflower field that seems to be set around dusk. Read the full review at GuyAtTheMovies.com

Grade: C -

Paramount+ released "Pet Sematary: Bloodlines (87. min.) to stream on October 6, 2023.