Movie Review: ‘Pet Sematary: Bloodlines’

Writer Lindsey Anderson Beer makes her directorial debut with this plodding, labored horror that only occasionally shows signs of invention.

On the set of 'Pet Sematary: Bloodlines,' streaming on Paramount+, 2023. Photo Cr: Philippe Bosse/Paramount Players.

On Paramount+ October 6th, ‘Pet Sematary: Bloodlines' aims to fill in details from Stephen King’s 1983 horror classic tome.

Unfortunately for first-time director (and co-writer) Lindsey Anderson Beer, it cannot capture the same level of tension and terror shown by the book, the 2019 movie for which this serves as prequel or the much-maligned 1989 original.

What’s the story of ‘Pet Sematary: Bloodlines’?

Jackson White as Jud Crandall appearing in 'Pet Sematary: Bloodlines,' streaming on Paramount+, 2023. Photo Cr: Philippe Bosse/Paramount Players.

Based on the never before told chapter from Pet Sematary, Stephen King’s original novel, ‘Bloodlines’ is set in 1969.

A young Jud Crandall (Jackson White) has dreams of leaving his hometown of Ludlow, Maine behind, but soon discovers sinister secrets buried within and is forced to confront a dark family history that will forever keep him connected to the town.

Banding together, Jud and his childhood friends must fight an ancient evil that has gripped Ludlow since its founding, and once unearthed has the power to destroy everything in its path. Sometimes, dead is better.

Who else is in ‘Pet Sematary: Bloodlines’?

Pam Grier as Majorie appearing in 'Pet Sematary: Bloodlines,' streaming on Paramount+, 2023. Photo Cr: Philippe Bosse/Paramount Players.

The cast for this movie also includes Forrest Goodluck, Jack Mulhern, Henry Thomas, Natalie Alyn Lind, Isabella Star LaBlanc, Samantha Mathis, Pam Grier, and David Duchovny.

What works about ‘Pet Sematary: Bloodlines’?

(L to R) David Duchovny as Bill and Jack Mulhern as Timmy appearing in 'Pet Sematary: Bloodlines,' streaming on Paramount+, 2023. Photo Cr: Philippe Bosse/Paramount Players.

We’ll give director Lindsey Beer this: there are certainly moments that work in this new horror movie.

Beer, who co-wrote the movie with Jeff Buhler, has had something of a roller coaster ride in the entertainment industry.

A rising star writer, she’s had highs (Netflix’s fun ‘Sierra Burgess is a Loser’), lows (the mangled final product that was the adaptation of ‘Chaos Walking’) and plenty in between, including stints in writing rooms to help figure out future ‘Transformers’ and ‘Pacific Rim’ movies. Plus, several big name projects that have sat in development including a ‘Star Trek’ movie franchise entry and a script based on cult ‘80s toy/cartoon series ‘M.A.S.K.: Mobile Armored Strike Kommand’.

So, to be handed a movie to direct is quite an achievement, but one that feels earned after all that time in the development trenches.

Envisioned as a prequel to the 2019 re-imagining of King’s tome, the new movie is full of some well-used King themes. The town of Ludlow, for example is a nexus for evil, boasting the hellish titular location, which we’re informed (more than once), demands to be fed by the living, whispering terrible things to those disturbed enough to hear it.

On the set of 'Pet Sematary: Bloodlines,' streaming on Paramount+, 2023. Photo Cr: Philippe Bosse/Paramount Players.

The town’s history is briefly explored in King’s book via a story told by the older Jud, something that the two main movie adaptations tend to gloss over. Putting it on film as a fleshed out story, makes some sense, though you do run the typical prequel risk of explaining things that never needed explaining.

Beer and Buhler walk the line mostly carefully and do manage to conjure a few decent scares along the way, even if there’s the creeping realization that they are using a lot of familiar tricks in simplistic ways.

And while the cast is interesting on paper (it’s fun to see ‘X-Files’ veteran David Duchovny back on the spooky side of things, even if here he’s a haunted father dealing with a war-ravaged son rather than an FBI agent), it doesn’t always translate into entertainment on screen.

Some intriguing themes, such as the impact of Vietnam, personal responsibility and generational trauma are explored to a certain degree, but the whole is very much less than the sum of its (body) parts.

What doesn’t work about ‘Pet Sematary: Bloodlines’?

(L to R) Isabella Star LaBlanc as Donna and Forrest Goodluck as Manny appearing in 'Pet Sematary: Bloodlines,' streaming on Paramount+, 2023. Photo Cr: Philippe Bosse/Paramount Players.

Where to begin? There is a lot that is wrong about this prequel, which seems to believe that the tale of how the town of Ludlow came to have its reputation was worth digging up.

The cast are mostly wasted, and the younger actors run the gamut from bringing something interesting to the story (Forrest Goodluck, Isabella LaBlanc) to feeling less alive than the bedraggled pooch that Jud and his girlfriend meet on their ill-fated way out of town.

As for the veterans, they mostly sleepwalk through a story that offers them little to engage with beyond proclamations about the town’s dangers and raging about what has happened to their children. The likes of Duchovny and Henry Thomas (who has so much more to do in anything by Mike Flanagan) are stranded in something that is less a Paramount Plus movie, more a D+ movie.

Talking of the history, we’re treated to not one but two exposition dumps, one set during Colonial times as English settlers happen upon the land and decide it might be a great place to stay, before realizing that they’re all at the mercy of the hellish influence. This chapter actually has something interesting to say, and it’s a shame that the movie doesn’t do more with it.

Henry Thomas as Dan appearing in 'Pet Sematary: Bloodlines,' streaming on Paramount+, 2023. Photo Cr: Philippe Bosse/Paramount Players.

And all the more frustrating that there’s further exposition as to what is going on that repeats certain points. We get: it the town was founded on malevolent land, some of the original families and their descendants try and keep people from being lured by its resurrective charms. (They do a terrible job).

A few solid scares and one memorable historical sequence really cannot save this one from itself. Beer makes a few directorial flourishes that annoy more than they help tell the story and the whole thing is just a chore to make it through. By the end, you might actually be rooting for the malicious hell site over the wearisome humans entrusted to guard it.

For all the gore on display, ‘Bloodlines’ might be better off titled ‘Pet Sematary: Bloodless’ as it becomes mired in tired tropes and boring subplots that do tie-in, but never lead anywhere revelatory. Part history lesson, part melodrama, it’s an idea that probably should have stayed buried in the minds of the people behind it. Sometimes, as the movie is at pains to tell us, dead really is better.

‘Pet Sematary: Bloodlines’ receives 5 out of 10 stars.