I rate Pet Sematary three stars. Stephen King is a literary genius and the movie represents it well alongside being different from the original. The writing was very good, the character development had some stumbles, and the acting was very good.
With Jason Clarke as Louis and Amy Seimetz as Rachel, the cast was already set to shine. With John Lithgow as Jud and Jeté Laurence as Ellie, they stole the show. My favorite actor throughout the movie was Jeté Laurence by far, she did an excellent job in each scene and I think she was the heart of the movie. That said, I was impressed with Jason Clarke. After the fiasco that was Terminator: Genisys, he had a long road ahead of him to rebuild the title of serious actor, and he did that in Pet Sematary.
The characters were treated decently by the writers and actors, and they were developed well. The best developed character was Ellie and the worst was Rachel. Ellie visibly changed through every stage of her character, while Rachel was the same scared, morally questionable, haunted person almost until the end.
Despite non-starters such as Rachel’s backstory, the writing was impressive. The kids that were seen in masks in the trailer were almost completely useless to the narrative, but the movie featured a scattering of “Chekhov’s guns,” as well as a few clever plays on that particular writing element. One thing that I noticed throughout the movie was that it kept viewers tense for the most part, though the editors did a very good job at adjusting the levels of tension and other emotions.
Overall, Pet Sematary was pretty good. It had some issues with character development, but it was well written and well acted. My main disappointment with it is that it lacked a “wow” factor. Jeté Laurence stole the show, and it was a good time that I rate three stars.