***

A doctor dabbles in magical resurrection with horrific consequences in this supernatural thriller adapted from the novel... by Stephen King. When Dr. Louis Creed (Dale Midkiff) and his family move from Chicago to an old farmhouse in rural Maine, their only concern is the busy highway that flanks their new home. Louis' family -- wife Rachel (Denise Crosby), daughter Ellie (Blaze Berdahl), and toddler Gage (Miko Hughes) -- soon meet kindly old duffer Jud Crandall (Fred Gwynne), who introduces them all to the local attractions, including a pet cemetery built on the remains of a Native American burial ground. When Rachel and the kids head off to visit Louis' in-laws, Ellie's cat gets flattened by a truck. Jud counsels Louis to bury it in the old Indian portion of the cemetary; the next day, it returns from the dead, carrying with it the stink of the earth and a decidedly bad attitude. Shortly thereafter, Louis is tempted to use the cemetary's magical powers again when his son suffers a tragic accident. A snarling kitty, it turns out, is nothing compared to the horror of a little boy with no soul and a taste for scalpels. In addition to adapting his own novel for the screen, writer King appeared in a brief cameo as the minister presiding over Gage's funeral. Director Mary Lambert would return with Pet Sematary Two.

Paramount Pictures (Collector's Edition) - Region 1 - NTSC vs. Paramount Pictures - Region FREE - Blu-ray vs. Paramount Pictures (30th Anniversary) - Region FREE - 4K UHD

Paramount Pictures

Region 1 - NTSC

1.78:1 Original Aspect Ratio

16X9 enhanced
Average Bitrate: 7.31 mb/s
NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s

Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video

NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.

Paramount Pictures (Collector's Edition)

Paramount Pictures (blu)

DTS-HD Master Audio English 3923 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 3923 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 5.1 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit)
Dolby Digital Audio French 224 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 224 kbps / DN -4dB
Dolby Digital Audio Portuguese 224 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 224 kbps / DN -4dB
Dolby Digital Audio Spanish 224 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 224 kbps / DN -4dB

Commentary: Dolby Digital Audio English 224 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 224 kbps / DN -4dB

Aspect Ratio:
Widescreen anamorphic - 1.78:1

Edition Details:
• Audio Commentary by director Mary Lambert
• Stephen King's PET SEMATARY featurettes:
• - Stephen King Territory (4:3; 13:08)
• - The Characters (4:3; 12:50)
• - Filming the Horror (4:3; 10:25)
• Trailers for the STAR TREK universe (all series and films) and THE 4400 (Season 2)

DVD Release Date:
Amaray

Chapters 19

Edition Details:
• Audio Commentary by director Mary Lambert
• Stephen King's PET SEMATARY featurettes:
• - Stephen King Territory (4:3; 13:09)
• - The Characters (4:3; 12:51)
• - Filming the Horror (4:3; 10:26)

Blu-ray Release Date: October 2nd, 2012
Standard Blu-ray Case inside 3D slipcase

leaflet with Digital Download Code

4K Ultra HD Release Date: March 26th, 2019
Standard Case inside with slipcase

Chapters 19

Newly remastered in 4K for its 30th Anniversary, Paramount bring us Mary Lambert's 1989 "Pet Sematary" in a 2-disc set with both a 4K UHD disc as well as a separate Blu-ray. The disc is a dual-layered affair, with the 1.78:1 image given a high bitrate. The good news is that this new remastering improves some rather dull color-tones of the previous release. Blue-ish grays are now skewing a little more brown, which is certainly a step in the right direction. Both the 4K image and the Blu-ray benefit from a much darker and more detailed picture, on our system. The framing is ever-so-slightly different, signaling that this transfer is most likely from the original camera negative. Grain is wonderfully rich and consistent throughout the 4K UHD presentation, supporting a strong film-like texture. Though this new remastering is darker, there is no information lost, in fact the great contrast shows a wide range of detail amidst parts of the image that were once uniformly black.

There are so many audio options here, starting with either an English DTS-HD Master audio or descriptive English 5.1 track. Following this are many 2.0 options; German, Spanish (Espana), French, Italian, Japanese, as well as mono tracks for Spanish (latino-america) and Portuguese. There are a bunch of subtitle options here as well; English, English SDH, Danish, German, Spanish (Espana and Latino America), French, Italian, Japanese, Dutch, Norwegian, Portuguese, Finnish, and Swedish. This is a Region Free Blu-ray, and as always 4K UHD discs are also Region Free.

"Pet Sematary - Fear and Remembrance" is a 7-minute mix of footage from the 1989 film and its new 2019 remake, along with interviews with producer Mark Vahradian, screenwriter Jeff Buhler, actors Jason Clarke, John Lithgow and Amy Seimetz, production designer Todd Cherniawsky, and directors Kevin Kolsch and Dennis Widmyer. This group spends the rather brief time reminiscing about how the original film scared them. "Pet Sematary - Revisitation" is a 10-minute interview with director Mary Lambert. Lambert talks about her love for Stephen King, even going so far as to call him the Charles Dickens of the 21st Century. The director goes on to explain how she got the gig while working on music videos, and how the film came to fruition. The previously released commentary with Lambert is also here as an option. An image gallery is also included, as are the extras that were originally on the 2012 Blu-ray (included not on the 4K disc, but on the accompanying BD disc).

"Pet Sematary" is a devastating story dealing with grief and trauma. One can't help but think of the commonly accepted idea that moving to a new house can be more stressful than a death in the family. Well, this family moves to a new house within the first few minutes and things only get worse from there on. Mary Lambert's direction of King's script (and novel) is quite powerful, with moments of vivid, almost grotesque imagery. Peppered throughout the film are moments of both parents previous traumas, that haunt them as apparitions and seem to shape their current grief. The 4K UHD visuals show a somewhat significant upgrade in detail over the inferior previous releases, although perhaps the colors are not exactly as theatrically shown but this again can vary depending on your system. Recommended to Stephen King and horror fans.

 -Colin Zavitz
 

NOTE: DVDBeaver have over 5,000 Blu-ray reviews on this website and over 10,000 disc reviews in total. The problem with reviews that use screen captures are standardization of the methodology used to obtain them - and while we have recently made an adjustment to improve representation in this area - both un-standardized, un-calibrated, computer monitors and a variety of home theatre viewing systems become a factor. This makes comparisons all the more important since the images are all viewed on the same monitor and the differences are apparent.

Horror aficionados will appreciate the DTS-HD Master 5.1 at 3923 kbps which has some sharp separations and fills the soundstage with an eerie aura. Kudos to Elliot Goldenthal's score which benefits from the lossless transfer. There are optional subtitles on the region FREE Blu-ray disc.

Extras mimic the DVD with the audio commentary by director Mary Lambert and over 1/2 hour of Stephen King's related featurettes. There is no trailer for Star Trek and The 4400 as found on the 2006 SE DVD.

King fans will be quite pleased with this Blu-ray release that advances quite handily over its SD counterpart. The entire horror genre can be 'made' or 'broken' with the atmosphere and this 1080P audio and lossless video export shuddering chills in the HD presentation. Recommended!

 -Gary Tooze