Reboots — especially of the horror variety — are so common these days, that if you’re going to do one, you better make your mark.

Pet Semetary, remade from the 1989 Stephen King classic, is the same movie shot-for-shot as the original for the first two thirds.

There is nothing new, and it’s a glossed-over, over-produced version of a film that was fantastic to begin with. What the 2019 version represents is a Hollywood remake that never needed to be done.

Instead of creating a more intense, comprehensive look like was done with IT, Pet Semetary is a lazy retread with an inept handling of what made the original so scary.

Though performances from Jason Clarke and John Lithgow are predictably great, the film suffers from a final act that throws the original novella out the window for a new concept.

With twists that don’t work, plot-lines that betray viewers’ nostalgia for the original, and an ending that ruins the whole affair, Pet Semetary not only fails to improve on its predecessor, but sullies its name in the process.

1.5/5 Stars