Pet Sematary Two
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''Pet Sematary Two'' is a 1992 American
supernatural horror film Supernatural horror film is a film genre that combines aspects of supernatural film and horror film. Supernatural occurrences in such films often include ghosts and demons, and many supernatural horror films have elements of religion. Common them ...
directed by Mary Lambert and written by Richard Outten. It is the sequel to the film ''
Pet Sematary ''Pet Sematary'' is a 1983 horror novel by American writer Stephen King. The novel was nominated for a World Fantasy Award for Best Novel in 1984, and adapted into two films: one in 1989 and another in 2019. Background In 1979, King was wr ...
'' (1989), which was based on
Stephen King Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author. Dubbed the "King of Horror", he is widely known for his horror novels and has also explored other genres, among them Thriller (genre), suspense, crime fiction, crime, scienc ...
's 1983 novel of the same name and the second film in the ''Pet Sematary'' film series. The film stars Edward Furlong, Anthony Edwards, and
Clancy Brown Clarence James Brown III (born January 5, 1959) is an American actor. Prolific in film and television since the 1980s, Brown is often cast in villainous and authoritative roles. His film roles include Rawhide in ''The Adventures of Buckaroo Ban ...
. ''Pet Sematary Two'' was theatrically released in the United States on August 28, 1992, by
Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation, commonly known as Paramount Pictures or simply Paramount, is an American film production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the flagship namesake subsidiary of Paramount ...
and grossed $17.1 million worldwide. It received negative reviews from critics.


Plot

A few years after the events of the first film and following the accidental death of his mother Renee, 13-year-old Jeff Matthews and his veterinarian father, Chase, move to Ludlow, Maine, his mother's hometown. He's introduced to the belligerent town sheriff, Gus Gilbert, and his stepson, Drew, whom Gus abuses relentlessly. Jeff also draws the ire of local bully Clyde Parker, who tells him the story of the Creed family and the legend of the
Miꞌkmaq The Mi'kmaq (also ''Mi'gmaq'', ''Lnu'', ''Mi'kmaw'' or ''Mi'gmaw''; ; , and formerly Micmac) are an Indigenous group of people of the Northeastern Woodlands, native to the areas of Canada's Atlantic Provinces, primarily Nova Scotia, New Bru ...
burial ground. One night, Gus shoots and kills Drew's beloved dog Zowie after the dog disturbs him during sex. Drew asks Jeff to help him bury the dog in the Miꞌkmaq burial ground to see if the rumors are true that it can resurrect the dead. Zowie does indeed return from the dead but is uncharacteristically fierce. Chase treats Zowie for his gunshot wound, which refuses to heal; even more bizarre is the fact that Zowie has no heartbeat. Chase sends a sample of Zowie's blood to a lab. It turns out that Zowie's cells have completely deteriorated and are no different from those of a dead canine. Jeff and Drew go to the Pet Semetery on Halloween for a night of horror stories with local boys. When Gus finds out that Drew's mother allowed him to go despite being grounded, he rushes to the cemetery and breaks up the party. He attacks his stepson, but just as he is about to hit him with a grave marker, Zowie suddenly appears. The dog fatally mauls Gus, whom the boys subsequently bury at the Indian burial ground. Gus returns to life; he now moves stiffly and rarely speaks, but treats Drew better. Over time, Gus becomes increasingly crude and sadistic, sexually assaulting Drew's mother and brutally skinning the pet rabbits for supper. Zowie breaks out of the veterinary clinic and kills three kittens before entering Chase's home and attacking him. A day later, Jeff encounters Clyde, who is about to sever Jeff's nose using the wheel spokes of his own bicycle when Gus shows up. He sends Jeff home, then murders Clyde as Drew looks on. Gus then pursues Drew to their house, where the boy is trapped with the savage Zowie. He escapes through a window just as his mother arrives home in her car, and the two take off. Gus pursues them at high speed in his squad car, eventually killing them both by ramming their car into an oncoming potato truck. Gus then returns to Clyde's body and puts it in a body bag, intending to take it to the burial ground as well. After Drew's funeral, Jeff decides to reanimate his mother by using the Indian burial ground's power. Gus exhumes her corpse and brings it to Jeff at the burial ground. When Chase hears that his wife's grave has been robbed, he rushes to the Gilbert house. There, he is attacked by Zowie and Gus, and he shoots them both dead. Upon coming back to life, Renee stabs and kills Marjorie Hargrove, the Matthews' housekeeper. Jeff confronts his undead mother in the attic, and they embrace. Chase arrives home and urges Jeff to get away from Renee, who says she wants to spend quality time with her husband. An undead Clyde arrives and, after knocking Chase out, tries to kill Jeff — first with an axe and then with an ice skate. Renee locks Chase and both boys in the attic, which she then sets on fire. Jeff kills Clyde with a severed livewire and then breaks down the attic door to escape. Not letting both Jeff and Chase leave, Renee says that she wants the three of them to work things out. Renee wants Jeff to stay and join her in death, saying she loves him. But Jeff drags his father out of the house as Renee is destroyed by the flames while shrieking "Dead is better!" In the final scene, a recovering Chase locks up his veterinary clinic before he and his son leave Ludlow behind.


Cast

* Edward Furlong as Jeff Matthews * Jason McGuire as Drew Gilbert * Anthony Edwards as Dr. Chase Matthews * Darlanne Fluegel as Renee Hallow-Matthews * Jared Rushton as Clyde Parker * Sarah Trigger as Marjorie Hargrove *
Lisa Waltz Lisa Waltz is an American actress who has had roles in many television shows and who played Nora in the film adaptation of '' Brighton Beach Memoirs''. Personal life Waltz was born and raised in Limerick, Pennsylvania, the daughter of Bobby an ...
as Amanda Gilbert *
Clancy Brown Clarence James Brown III (born January 5, 1959) is an American actor. Prolific in film and television since the 1980s, Brown is often cast in villainous and authoritative roles. His film roles include Rawhide in ''The Adventures of Buckaroo Ban ...
as Gus Gilbert * Jim Peck as Quentin Yolander


Production

Paramount was anxious to follow up on the success of ''Pet Sematary'' with a sequel and invited Mary Lambert to return and direct. She has stated that her original concept for the film would have involved Ellie Creed as the central character, the only survivor from the first film. However, Paramount was not confident in making the film's lead a teenage girl, so the story was written with completely new characters and a male protagonist. Thirteen-year-old Furlong was cast in the lead role, capitalizing on his rise to fame in the previous year's blockbuster '' Terminator 2: Judgment Day''. Shooting took place in
Coweta County, Georgia Coweta County is a County (United States), county in the West Central Georgia, West Central region of the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is part of Metro Atlanta. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the populatio ...
.


Release

Stephen King Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author. Dubbed the "King of Horror", he is widely known for his horror novels and has also explored other genres, among them Thriller (genre), suspense, crime fiction, crime, scienc ...
, who wrote the novel upon which the first film was based, had his name removed from the film prior to its release. The film debuted at #3.


Home media

Paramount Home Video Paramount Home Entertainment (formerly Paramount Home Media Distribution, originally Paramount Home Video, and operating as the namesake film studio since 2022) is the home video distribution arm of Paramount Pictures. The division oversees Para ...
released ''Pet Sematary Two'' on VHS in April 1993, and on DVD in September 2001.
Shout Factory Shout! Factory, LLC, doing business as Shout! Studios (formerly doing business as Shout! Factory, its current legal name), is an American home video and music distributor founded in 2002 as Retropolis Entertainment. Its video releases, issued i ...
released it on Blu-ray on February 25, 2020. The original score / soundtrack album was released on CD as a limited edition from La-La Land Records on August 29, 2019, and on limited-edition vinyl (October 11, 2019) and audio cassette (September 3, 2019) from Terror Vision Records.


Reception

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...
, a
review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...
, reports that 21% of 24 critics gave the film a positive review and the average rating is 3.70/10. The site's consensus reads: "Not realizing that it had no unfinished business, ''Pet Sematary'' rises from the grave once more to beat an undead corpse." On
Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...
, the film has a weighted average score of 35 out of 100 based on 11 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".
Stephen Holden Stephen Holden (born July 18, 1941) is an American writer, poet, and music and film critic. Biography Holden earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Yale University in 1963. He worked as a photo editor, staff writer, and eventually be ...
of ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' wrote that the film "is much better at special effects than at creating characters or telling a coherent story". Kevin Thomas of the ''
Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...
'' wrote, "Not nearly as scary as the 1989 original, it nonetheless expresses and attempts to resolve in bold mythological terms the anxieties of being 13." '' Variety'' wrote, ''"Pet Sematary Two'' is about 50% better than its predecessor, which is to say it's not very good at all." Richard Harrington of ''
The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...
'' likened it to "an elongated '' Tales from the Crypt''" episode and criticized the script as a rehash of the original. Jay Carr of ''
The Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe,'' also known locally as ''the Globe'', is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes. ''The Boston Globe'' is the oldest and largest daily new ...
'' called it "better entertainment than the first ''Pet Sematary''" but more of a remake than a sequel. Patrick Naugle of
DVD Verdict DVD Verdict was a judicial-themed website for DVD reviews. The site was founded in 1999. The editor-in-chief was Michael Stailey, who owned the website between 2004 and 2016, and the site employed a large editorial staff of critics, whose revie ...
wrote, "Everything about ''Pet Sematary Two'' stinks like the dead."


Accolade

Clancy Brown was nominated for Best Supporting Actor at the 1993 Fangoria Chainsaw Awards for his portrayal of Gus Gilbert, but lost to
Anthony Hopkins Sir Philip Anthony Hopkins (born 31 December 1937) is a Welsh actor. Considered one of Britain's most recognisable and prolific actors, he is known for List of Anthony Hopkins performances, his performances on the screen and stage. Hopkins ha ...
for his performance in '' Bram Stoker's Dracula''.


See also

*
List of films set around Halloween This is a list of films set on or around Halloween. Children's and family * '' A-Haunting We Will Go'' (1966) * '' The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad'' (1949) * '' The Addams Family'' (1991) * '' The Addams Family'' (2019) * '' Alpha and Ome ...


References


External links

* * * {{Pet Sematary 1992 films 1992 horror films American supernatural horror films American sequel films American zombie films Films set in Maine Films shot in Georgia (U.S. state) Paramount Pictures films Films directed by Mary Lambert Films set in cemeteries Resurrection in film American teen horror films Pet Sematary 1990s English-language films 1990s American films Films about Native American cemeteries English-language horror films