Pet Sematary 4K Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.5
Overall		4.0

Pet Sematary 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman March 21, 2019

In preparation for the new 2019 'Pet Sematary' remake which, at time of writing, is just weeks away from its theatrical debut, Paramount has released 1989's terrifying Stephen King adaptation 'Pet Sematary' to the UHD format with a newly restored 2160p transfer and Dolby Vision color grading. The new presentation is gorgeous and a significant upgrade over the previous 2012 release. While this release does not appear to contain new audio -- the included DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack offers no perceptible changes compared to the older mix of the same channel configuration and encode -- it does add several new supplements, including a pair of featurettes and several image galleries. The studio has also released the film with remastered video and new extras to the Blu-ray format. That disc is included in this set.

The Creed family -- father Louis (Dale Midkiff), mother Rachel (Denise Crosby), daughter Ellie (Blaze Berdahl), and infant son Gage (Miko Hughes) -- have just moved into an old rural home situated alongside a road that sees a steady stream of heavy, speedy industrial truck traffic that takes the lives of so many local pets that a nearby piece of land has been set aside to bury the dead. Louis has just accepted a position to serve as the chief doctor at a local college. Soon after arriving, the family meets its new neighbor, an elderly gentleman named Jud Crandall (Fred Gwynne). On his first day at work, Louis finds himself fighting to save a young man (Brad Greenquist) struck by a truck. Before the bloody patient dies, he issues a warning to Louis and, somehow, knows the doctor's name. That night, Louis sees the victim in his dreams; he's warned not to travel beyond the pet cemetery. When the family cat, Church, is killed by a truck, Jud and Louis, on Jud's suggestion, take it beyond the pet cemetery to an old Indian burial ground with supernatural powers, powers that Louis cannot understand and that may be spell the beginning of the end for the Creed family as foretold by Louis' mystery patient.

For a full film review, please click here. Note that this link directs to the 2012 Blu-ray release.

Pet Sematary 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The included screenshots are sourced from a 1080p Blu-ray disc. Watch for 4K screenshots at a later date.

Pet Sematary has received a fairly substantial overhaul for this 4K release. Director Mary Lambert supervised the restoration, which yields a very agreeable and filmic 2160p/Dolby Vision presentation that is a significant upgrade from the 2012 Blu-ray and also a step up from the very impressive 2019 Blu-ray, which is also sourced from this same master. The image's textural qualities are of a very high yield, offering complex foundational elements with startling ease. From the first shots within the cemetery under the opening titles, there's a very clear sense of density, clarity, and high level definition at play, revealing old stones, wooden crosses, and well-worn terrain with a crispness befitting the environment. As the film moves forward, character models appear agreeably detailed and the Maine world in which they live fully defined. The houses -- Judd's and the Creed's -- reveal every battered texture and well-worn surface with remarkable clarity. Character skin and clothes are sharp as well, revealing pores and fabric details with screen-commanding ease. Grasses, the paved highway, and other critical elements are likewise the beneficiaries of the image's exacting clarity. There are a few softer shots and several moments where the image looks a little more processed than fully organic, but there's no mistaking the high end cinematic flavor. Grain is light but critical in building the presentation, and it's a mainstay for the duration. Highly critical viewers will spot the very rare speckle, but the image is generally meticulously clean. Image sharpness, elemental detail, overall clarity, and grain structure are all superior on the UHD when compared to the new Blu-ray, and it leaves the old 2012 disc appearing terribly dated and dead, buried and hopefully never to return again.

The Dolby Vision color grading maintains the picture's core tonal appearance but offers a deeper, more robust presentation that solidifies the palette, whether in brightly lit sunny daytime exteriors or dense and dark nighttime scenes at the burial grounds. The movie's dour tone and horrific visuals and narrative constructs don't necessarily result in a tonally bleak movie. On the contrary, there are many scenes that thrive in sunlight or in well-lit interiors, where colors shine and the Dolby Vision grading allows for often greatly improved contrast while maintaining a strict balance to not overpower the image with any one shade. Green grasses are deeper, fires are more brightly intense, and truck headlights at night enjoy greater luminance. Clothes and skin tones are strengthened and black levels enjoy superior depth and pronouncement in critical low light interiors and nighttime exteriors. Whites are brighter, evident from the outset when looking at the opening titles but also obvious on porches and crosses and other white objects seen throughout the film.

Pet Sematary 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

For this new UHD release of Pet Semetary, Paramount has opted not to include a newly remixed Dolby Atmos soundtrack. The studio has instead ported over the existing DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack that is also on the remastered Blu-ray disc. Though a bitrate comparison reveals slight numerical differences, there appears to be little, if any, change between this track and the older one. Dynamics, surround implementation, and clarity all appear to be essentially unchanged. For a full audio review, please click here. Note that this link directs to the 2012 Blu-ray release.

Pet Sematary 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Paramount's UHD release of Pet Sematary ports over the audio commentary track and the new extras found on the 30th Anniversary Blu-ray, but it does not include the trio of legacy featurettes. The featurettes are encoded at 1080p/SDR, just as they are on the bundled Blu-ray, but the image galleries (Storyboards, Behind the Scenes, Marketing) are presented in 2160p/Dolby Vision. See below for full coverage of the Blu-ray disc's supplements. A digital copy code is included with purchase. This release ships with an embossed slipcover.

• Audio Commentary: With Director Mary Lambert.
• NEW! Pet Sematary: Fear and Remembrance (1080p, 7:14): This piece opens and closes with clips from the 2019 remake and features that new film's cast and crew discussing the 1989 original: its place in the Horror genre in the 1980s and their response to it as younger viewers and as adults.
• NEW! Pet Sematary: Revisitation (1080p, 9:38): Mary Lambert discusses Stephen King's qualities as a writer, her initial attachment to the film, the picture's story and gore, cast and performances, shooting locations, her work in supervising the restoration (including minor changes to optical effects), and the picture's legacy.
• NEW! Galleries (1080p): In Storyboards Introduction by Mary Lambert (1:00), the director shares that Andrea Dietrich's original storyboards were recently unearthed during the film's restoration. In this supplement, there is a Storyboards gallery which includes 16 images. Behind the Scenes includes 44 still photographs from the set. Marketing includes 18 images ranging from LaserDisc covers to promos for the VHS release as well as various lobby cards.
• Stephen King Territory (480i, 13:10).
• The Characters (480i, 12:52):
• Filming the Horror (480i, 10:29):

Pet Sematary 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Pet Sematary is one of the more chilling of Stephen King's tales, a decidedly dark and uncomfortable glimpse into tragedy, the supernatural, and the lengths to which man will go to save that and those which he loves. The movie is eerie and foreboding. It's very well crafted, nicely acted, and quite gripping and uneasy even as the picture lacks much in the way of real dramatic surprise. Paramount's UHD features a terrific new 4K/Dolby Vision restoration as well as a few new extras. No new audio track is included, but what's here supports the film well enough. Highly recommended.