Pet Sematary II
Starring: Edward Furlong, Anthony Edwards, Clancy Brown
Writer: Richard Outten
Director: Mary Lambert
Synopsis:
After witnessing his mother's death on the set of a horror film, Jeff and his father relocate from Los Angeles to start a new life in Ludlow, Maine. Sadly, the place leaks with assholes, such as the local sheriff and a group of young town bullies fronted by a dick named Clyde. On top of that, the town has a dark secret; rumors of an ancient burial ground that can bring the dead back to life, but with not so good results. Things start to go terribly wrong when Jeff helps a friend bury his dead dog at the ancient burial grounds beyond Pet Sematary. The animal comes back and he's not the same lovable pooch he used to be. You know the story... the ground is sour!
Rant:
I gotta place this in either the “guilty pleasure” or “I don't even know why the fuck I like this” department, but I've always found it damn enjoyable. It's not great by any means; it's messy with the plot and it goes against some of the rules the first film set. But the grue is laid on fairly thick, the acting is pretty solid and it's visually better than I expected out of a half assed sequel.
Russell Carpenter's cinematography is sweet. Lots of overhead shots of the town's almost backwoods look, and the views captured to portray the freakishness of the Pet Sematary are excellent --there's a bad ass dolly zoom scene early on when Jeff steps into the Sematary. I really enjoy the gothic style title sequence that looks like blackened papier mache trees in front of a matte painted sky and moon. The after school scenes of Clyde and his chump friends bicycling off with Jeff's kitty remind me of a middle school version of The Lost Boys. I also dig the shit out of segue scenes, and there's one here that brilliantly transitions from a closeup view of undead Zowie's --Drew's dog-- head to a kid wearing a dog/wolf-like mask at the Pet Sematary Halloween party. We get pretty extensive use of crane cam sequences that go from being right in the middle of a scene to far up above it, and one that I think may be a helicopter shot that takes way off from the indian burial ground. ****spoilers→The scene of twin girls with their mother walking through the animal clinic hallway is an awesome buildup for the fucked up images that await them on the other side of the boarding room doors. Jeff's Dad, Chase, has a fantastic wet dream sequence --shown in all blue lighting-- that jumps from a pretty awesome set of boobies on his dead wife to a pretty awesome set of boobies on a human/dog hybrid monster. Yeesh. Set design for Gus' house after he's gone apeshit is crazy ghoulish eye candy; dead animals he once loved strung above, wall crosses hung upside down... awesome.←spoilers end**** I definitely got a lot of love for the look of Pet Sematary II.
Furthermore, even though Mary Lambert is the director of both Pet Sematary films, they appear so vastly different from one another. So, props for diversity.
I used to really like Edward Furlong in the 90s. I wouldn't say I ever found him to be a great actor, but I enjoyed the characters he portrayed. I'll say the role of Jeff in Pet Sematary II is probably my favorite of all, and I bet he wishes more than I did that he could still be even half this decent. His father, Chase, is played by Anthony Edwards, and I've dug this guy ever since the first Revenge of the Nerds and Miracle Mile. Chase is a veterinarian re-locating with his son to Maine after the death of his wife. It's hard to not feel bad for this man, as he was trying to patch a broken relationship with Jeff's Mom when she died. Edwards rules in the role; the performance is probably a little too good for the film, but whatever. Clancy Brown (Highlander, Shawshank Redemption) is a show stealer as Sheriff Gus, stepdad of Jeff's newfound friend, Drew (Jason McGuire). Dude is awesome in the first half as an asshole police officer stepdad ****spoilers→and gets even better in the second half, as a comedic fucking psychotic zombie.←spoilers end**** Jared Rushton (Big, Lady in White) plays Jeff's main rival, Clyde, and he's pretty on point in the school bully “bad ass” role. I wanted to knock the fucking kid's teeth out myself on several occasions, so kudos for pulling it off adequately!
****Spoilers****
- Steve Johnson SFX, baby! Roll call: The grossness of Jeff's Mom's face being pulled away from the fencing bars on the movie set where she died, a nasty as shit dog gunshot wound, dog headed human dreams, a ripped out throat, a pile of ripped apart kittens, rabbit skinning, implied death by dirt bike tire, drill bit reversed out of shoulder, brains leaking out the back of a head, broken mirror lodged into side of face, awesome burn makeup, head explosions, melting.... the flick gets fairly nasty, and it's certainly a bonus that Steve Johnson was the man that made it happen!
The Pet Sematary II soundtrack is a mix of 80's and 90's boner producing excellence! We get Dramarama, L7, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Traci Lords, Ramones, Miranda Sex Garden, and more! Not to mention Mark Governor's (Mindwarp, Uncle Sam) film score itself is pretty awesome, too.
WTF?
****spoilers****
- First day at school in a new town. Why would you fucking bring your pet kitty with you? This aint "Show 'n Tell"! Jeff is basically begging for bullies to beat the shit outta him!
- How in the shit is Gus able to bring Clyde back? How many times is "You bury your own" mentioned in this flick? I can tell you it's mentioned by Gus --right after he kills Clyde and drags him off to the Pet Sematary-- himself while explaining the rule to Jeff. Is there a deleted scene or something that explains that Clyde is Gus' son from a one night stand or some shit? I'd like to know, dammit!
I won't lie, the things I like most about Pet Sematary II are the little nods to the first film, as cheesy and tacky as some of them may be. I love the bicycling scene for showing a mailbox that reads “Creed” as the kids ride by. I love when Chase visits the ex veterinarian of the town and we get a brief back story from the rantings of someone whom sounds mad. I love an aftermath cemetery exhuming scene, where the groundskeeper says he hasn't seen anything as bad since Louis Creed dug his son Gage up. This isn't groundbreaking or amazing, but I can't say I don't have fun with it, and it's definitely easy on the eyes.
