Directed by Kevin Kölsch, Dennis Widmyer. Starring Jason Clarke, Amy Seimetz, Jete Laurence, Hugo Lavoie, Lucas Lavoie, Obssa Ahmed, Alyssa Brooke Levine, John Lithgow

Running time: 1 hour 45 minutes

As a fan of the 1989 Pet Sematary I was eager to see whether the new one would create the same level of creepiness that one did. Unfortunately, apart from changing the story for the sake of it, there’s not much here to fear.

The good old days of filmmaking are gone. Very few ‘remakes’ and new films today manage to capture the nostalgia of the 80s and 90s. With high-tech equipment and CGI, that raw energy and look of the old movies we watched on VHS is hard to imitate.

I’m not going to get into the whole story (or give spoilers) of the film here. It’s about the Creed family that moves to a developing small town to get away from the chaos of the city. But their house and the adjacent pet burial ground as well as a very busy road in front of their property manage to make life hell for them. Jason Clarke already looks a bit scary so they’ve saved on make-up here. Apart from John Lithgow as the helpful neighbour, none of the actors manage to make you feel anything.

The script (based on the novel by Stephen King) follows a lot of the original film but it also veers of course in an attempt to differentiate itself and seem more contemporary. Like making a black actor play a white role and toying with the ‘who dies’ of the original. And of course the ending isn’t the same either, but it’s totally squandered and a bit of an anti-climax.

The worse thing about Pet Sematary is that it doesn’t really scare you or creep you out. Sure there are a few cliché jump in your seat moments, but everything else seems forced and stale.

Why don’t they just re-release those old films for us? I’d pay to watch those and I’m sure most people would enjoy them more than these rehashed buckets of vomit.