This piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, the movie being covered here wouldn’t exist.
Pet Semetary: Bloodlines is a prequel to Stephen King’s Pet Semetary, following a young Jud Crandall as he discovers the evils of the burial ground. Now, Pet Semetary movies have never been the best, but Bloodlines was an actual chore to finish.
For starters, the story is quite bland, not helped by some pretty bad performances. Basically, we just get a retread of how the original story plays out: someone learns about the pet semetary from the locals and then has to deal with the consequences when someone uses the burial site.
At least in the original, our main character is the one who makes the mistake and has to deal with their own consequences. Here it’s just one of Jud’s friends. I haven’t read King’s novel so I’m sure it probably aligns with his vision, but it was not executed well.
The performances were just incredibly bad. I won’t single anyone out but there are certain performances that feel like they had just been told their lines minutes before the camera turned on and they just had to wing it.
Bloodlines could have been much more interesting if it had focused on the discovery of the burial ground and its curse. There is a flashback scene that does this a little, and with a better script, that would’ve been much more interesting to see.
With the original, the direct sequel, the 2019 remake, and now this prequel, no new interesting ground has been broken on what is a genuinely fascinating idea.
Final Thoughts
I really didn’t care for Pet Semetary: Bloodlines. The only good thing about it is it looked decent, and that didn’t make it any more interesting. Poor acting and a bland story really did this one in. It went straight to streaming, and I hate using that as an insult, but it made a ton of sense.
