Where I Watched It: MAX

English Audio Description?: Yes

Guess who’s back? Back again. Mary Lambert is back. Kill your pets.

Granted, in 1989, Rotten Tomatoes, Letterboxed, and IMDB didn’t exist. There was no real way for you to find out what your critics thought about a movie except what film studios used in their ads, or to read a newspaper or magazine. Aggregating would be next to impossible to do, but still, the studio kept Lambert on for the sequel. They did jettison Stephen King, because he never wrote a book called Pet Sematary 2. So, the same people who likely have been asked to figure out how to extend the lives of other franchises, figured out how to murder another family and bring them back from the dead.

For this journey, they nabbed some actual stars, with Edward Furlong doing his moody John Connor thing, and Anthony Edward’s prepping for ER by playing a vet. The movie starts out hardcore, with the most intense sequence featured in either of the movies so far, having someone electrocuted for that uncomfortable length of time where you’re sure they are incinerated or on fire. And this horrifying sequence sets forth the story of a boy (Furlong) sent to live with his father (Edward’s) in this zombie town where they still haven’t built a parking garage over this plot of land, and you can still resurrect the dead.

Throw in an aggressively masculine local Sheriff, a best friend character, a bully, and of course an animal to kill off and resurrect, and you have a Pet Sematary movie. For good measure, Mary keeps up the Stephen King tradition of having things in this film that make no sense and have no relevance.

However, what I like about this film, is that instead of resurrecting a child that was unable to speak in full sentences, but post-resurrection has greater ability over their linguistics as well as the ability to phone hoe, the people resurrected here really do come back mostly where they left off…just a little changed. Even the pets come back functional, and not immediately batshit crazy. That allows the tension to build, the suspense to attempt to carry, and characters to develop.

However, it still has people living in this town who seem utterly oblivious to things. Edward’s, as a vet, isn’t the least bit useful or intelligent, and the portrayal of his understanding of his son’s grief is bizarre. Not only does he not understand what his son is going through, but his wife (the stepmother) also has the emotional range of a radish. Not to mention, on the other side, with the cop and best friend, you have a mother that is far too complacent with abusive and dangerous tendencies with her husband, and takes far too long to react to potential danger.

So almost like the first film, it is a mixed bag of tricks, with some things being an improvement, and others not. The audio description does have a lot of gore to work with here, just like the first film, and many characters don’t survive. And, yeah, they try for a few jump scares.

It’s a rare sequel that doesn’t really tank the franchise, nor does it build on the lore. It just kinda exists. That’s what it does. Thank God, there isn’t a third film.

Final Grade: C+