Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.5
Overall		4.0

Pet Sematary 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 re-released 1989's terrifying Stephen King adaptation 'Pet Sematary' to Blu-ray with a newly restored 1080p transfer. 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 to the UHD format.

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.

Pet Sematary Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

It may have been a mistake to watch the movie first in 4K rather than start with the Blu-ray, which is terrific and a major step forward from the dated 2012 release. The UHD offers a superior viewing experience, essentially taking everything this disc does well and amplifying every quality, sometimes many times over. The Blu-ray looks somewhat dull in comparison, at least at first glance, but getting into the film again and focusing on the Blu-ray's own qualities quickly reveals a very nice image. Indeed, it's easy to see that this Blu-ray is a success on its own terms, and particularly against that older release, which is put to shame by Paramount's work here. This image boasts greatly stabilized and improved textures, more evenly distributed and filmic grain, and much more agreeable clarity and stability. While the image lags behind the UHD in terms of environmental and character details, there's an unmistakable firmness and definition to be found from the open to the close, particularly well-worn and weathered crosses and adornments and overgrown grasses inside the cemetery. Skin details and clothing textures are also rock-solid. Colors are improved over the older 2012 Blu-ray, too, enjoying an uptick in depth and contrast. The movie's dramatic tone is bleak, but the film proper offers plenty of opportunity for the transfer to reveal its strengths in giving rich, agreeable coloring to natural greens, for instance, in a number of bright, sunny exteriors. Clothes, bright yellow cat eyes, and gory blood are also beneficiaries. Skin tones appear true and black levels are deep and accurate. A few softer, slightly processed moments and a handful of extremely minor print blemishes are all that stand in the way between this image and 1080p perfection.

Pet Sematary Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

This new Blu-ray release of Pet Semetary contains a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack. It's the same channel count and encode as found on the previous 2012 Blu-ray release. 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.

Pet Sematary Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This new "30th Anniversary" Blu-ray release of Pet Sematary contains both new and carryover content The Blu-ray conveniently groups the old supplements under their own heading, minus the audio commentary track. Below is a list of what's included, with new content marked as such and reviewed. For coverage of carryover content, please click here. 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 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 Blu-ray has been sourced from a new restoration and looks great (and the UHD is even better). The disc also features a few new extras. No new audio track is included, but what's here supports the film well enough. Highly recommended.