Stephen King's work is famously tough to adapt, which is a constant frustration for fans who love reading his new books and wish that the same magic could be brought to the big screen. There have been a few hits along the way, like The Shining (1980) and Misery (1990), but for the most part, there are a lot more misses.
There's one horror movie from King's catalog that sticks out, though, and it could be argued that this movie is full of terriying scenes, chilling characters, and a smart story that doesn't let up for a single second.
Stephen King's 1983 novel Pet Sematary was adapted into a movie that was released in 1989. Rachel (Denise Crosby) and Louis Creed (Dale Midkiff) decide to relocate from Chicago to a small town in Maine with their little kids Gage (Miko Hughes) and Ellie (Blaze Berdahl). They also have a cat named Church who as fans know will become a huge part of the story. This sounds like the set-up of a horror movie about a haunted house as it seems like the Creeds will learn that there is an angry or upset ghost lurking in the shadows. But as fans know, that's not what happens at all.
It turns out that there is a pet sematary next to the house, and when pets die on this land, they can come back to life... and they're evil this time around. Just hearing that is scary enough, but the movie manages to be absolutely terrifying, especially when it comes to Church and also Gage. While Gage looks adorable, he dies in a tragic accident and comes back as a vengeful killer. Seeing little Gage grinning creepily while holding a scalpel is not an image that horror fans are ever going to forget. One of the movie's biggest twists is when Gage kills Jud Crandall (Fred Gwynne), a wise older man who tells the family about the evil that they have stumbled upon. It's one of the most frightening death scenes from a horror movie since a child is the one committing murder.
The most interesting character is Louis as he truly believes that he can save his family and bring them back from the dead. When he realizes that this didn't work with Gage, since Gage is now a stone-cold killer in an adorable child's body, he tries to bring his wife Rachel back to life, figuring that he will be successfully because she wasn't gone for that long. Louis's love for his wife and children and his desire to right these wrongs is compelling and emotional.
The 2019 movie is one of the worst horror movie remakes as it ruins all that is good about the original film. Jason Clarke and Amy Seimetz play Louis and Rachel, but the characters are flat, and Ellie (Jeté Laurence) comes back to life, not Gage (Hugo and Lucas Lavoie). The ending is just as bleak as the 1989 one as Rachel and Ellie are dead, evil killers. But the movie just doesn't feel the same or capture the same scary magic.
The Netflix adaptation Of In The Tall Grass fails as it's bogged down by confusing moments and is also pretty boring. Pet Sematary succeeds because it's a fairly straightforward, simple concept and execution. The main characters' motivations make sense as it's clear that Louis wants his family to be alive and well so they can continue their normally happy life. There isn't too much backstory or mythology here, which is good since that can get tricky. It has proven to be tough to adapt Stephen King's brilliant work, but this movie works on every level, and it also has a perfectly eerie house in the middle of nowhere where it does seem like evil could visit at any moment.
Pet Sematary also does a good job of not letting audiences know exactly who is evil and who is good. It's not always clear who has come from the dead and been changed and who is still exactly the same. When Louis learns that Rachel is going to kill him in the final scene, it's smart and effective.
Pet Sematary can be considered one of the best Stephen King movies thanks to its upsetting story, creepy rural setting, and a family who is desperately hanging onto normal life while dealing with unimaginable terror.