Twigs - Pet Sematary: Bloodlines
Sometimes dead IS better.
[Note: This review will discuss elements of Pet Sematary: Bloodlines that were revealed in promotional material, such as trailers. If you’re someone who enjoys going into recent movies knowing as little as possible, you may want to skip reading this review.]
Sometimes dead is better, and sometimes stories are better left untold.
Pet Sematary: Bloodlines is a prequel to the most recent remake of Pet Sematary. Despite not enjoying said remake, I decided to go into this new prequel on Paramount+ with an open mind. Taking place in 1969, 50 years before the events of the previous film, Bloodlines follows a young Jud Crandall as he and his then-girlfriend Norma set off from their home town of Ludlow, Maine to join the Peace Corps. However, just before they can leave, they’re stopped by a mangy-looking dog belonging to Jud’s old friend Timmy Baterman. Following the dog back to the Baterman residence, Norma is attacked, having to stay in the hospital for a few days while healing from her wounds. Because of how strange the incident was, Jud and his old friend Manny begin investigating what could be going on, uncovering a secret legacy within the town involving its ancient Pet Sematary.
It’s difficult to discuss this movie without sounding apathetic, because that’s the only emotion I truly felt as I was watching. Apathy. The acting was fine for what it was and the story was also fine for what it was too. While Jud’s investigation is technically the major part of the film, it’s mostly a slasher film wherein Timmy begins to target a group of people in Ludlow. Timmy, of course, having been buried in the Pet Sematary by his father, now risen in order to bring more people back to become just like him. Spreading the evil of the Sematary’s sour land one risen corpse at a time. While this makes for an intriguing concept, the execution ends up feeling stale. There are many scenes where characters make logical leaps or ask strange questions in order to move the plot along. There are twists in the first and second acts attempting to subvert the slasher genre, only for the third act to fully embrace them as if under obligation. It doesn’t make the film stand out, nor does it result in much interest.
There’s also an attempt here to expand the history of the Sematary in unique ways, but which ultimately feel disconnected to the core story. There’s a rather long flashback scene about 45 minutes into the film that feels like it could have been much shorter. Like it was only there to push the movie past the “80 minutes without credits” mark. While it underscores the danger of the Sematary, it also feels tacked on for the sake of having something to accompany Jud’s investigation aside from scenes of him…well, investigating. While I do believe the developments from said investigation were generally interesting—albeit predictable—the presentation ended up making them feel less stellar than they could have been. It wasn’t anything that I couldn’t guess from the first Pet Sematary in this canon, instead becoming an excuse as to why Jud ends up staying in Ludlow, and why he’s there in the first film. I didn’t feel too much one way or the other about it—a shrug of the shoulders surrounding the universe’s lore.
The slasher story also didn’t hold my interest for very long. While Timmy acting like a creepy stalker villain held some interesting moments, since being undead also seemingly gave him omniscience, it wasn’t much different from any other villainous figure in horror. He says creepy things, slowly building up to a spree of murders. There’s not much more to it than that, other than the added bonus of being able to tell his victims things they know and using the Pet Sematary in one creative way. But even when trying to engage with the film, I felt very far-removed from all that was going on. The story feels by-the-numbers, something I’ve seen in some form a million times before. There’s nothing wrong with a story following the tropes of its genre. But there needs to at least be someone in the film with enough character development to make me care about what’s happening.
And unfortunately, Bloodlines stumbles in this regard too. While there’s some development for Manny as he evolves into a different role beyond comic relief, there aren’t really any engaging characters here, since all of them feel like they’re just filling roles. The acting is fine, the scary moments and their reactions are fine. But there’s nothing standout about any character, making it hard to care about the story of the movie. This apathy extends to many other parts of the film too, including things like the shot composition and music. While there are a few shots in the film I particularly liked, nothing truly stood out to me. And, in fact, seemed to diminish in quality as the film went on. This level of decreasing quality in particular is why I’m so hesitant to recommend Bloodlines in the first place.
While there’s nothing overtly bad about Bloodlines, as a Pet Sematary prequel, it just doesn’t stand out all that much. The story has some interesting elements to it, but they ultimately don’t play too much a role in the more slasher-focused storyline. A storyline, I might add, that is plagued with odd jumps from one revelation to the next, never flowing and always seemingly introduced just to make stuff happen. This results in a plot and cast of characters that just don’t feel very interesting when compared to other films in the genre. It’s a very take-it-or-leave-it horror tale that won’t truly enhance the story of Pet Sematary all that much. If you just want some time to kill this Halloween season, then Bloodlines won’t hurt. It’s only 80 minutes if you don’t count the credits. But honestly, you may be better off watching something with more development to the elements that make it a horror film.
Pet Sematary: Bloodlines proves that sometimes, dead is better.
***
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