{Fantastic Fest 2023} Pet Sematary: Bloodlines

David Duchovny is back baby! Duchovny is the big name that will bring folks to the newest Pet Sematary prequel but the movie’s look and feel will keep us peeing our collective pants. Pet Sematary: Bloodlines is scary. Full stop. It manages to capture the look and feel of small town Ludlow, Maine while bringing some new blood (cough cough) to the franchise. The movie starts with all the familiar beats. Trucks, Cats, and ‘sometimes dead is better’. As the film progresses we get some additions to the Pet Sematary canon. Some good. Some bad.

The year is 1969 and this iteration is clearly a prequel as we meet young Judd and his bombshell fiance (Natalie Alyn Lind) who are desperately trying to get out of the small town and all of the baggage the town brings with it. As the movie unfolds and we meet Bill (David Duchovny) and his wounded veteran son Timmy (Jack Mulhern) the film starts to hit many of the familiar beats we have come to expect. Timmy looks absolutely incredible as the pale soldier with a scarf around his neck. The audience well steeped in the urban legend that uses the same motif knows what’s coming and it ain’t great for Judd. The rest of the film unspools the origin story of the haunted burial grounds and in that explanation, the film sputters a bit.

Folk Horror or Problematic Tropes

There are some vague conversations in the source material and in the first few films about an “Indian burial ground’ or perhaps a wendigo that reanimates whatever is buried in the hallowed ground but Bloodlines creates an entire backstory involving a massacre of Native Americans and the culpability of the town in that massacre. Frankly, it leans into a trope that is not great and reifies some horror concepts that are problematic at best. On top of that, it’s not necessary. I would have been perfectly content learning about Judd’s history with the town and cemetery. That is not to say allusions to this trope don’t exist in the source material. They definitely do. It feels like past iterations are more concerned with the folk horror elements of the story which seem less politically fraught. I don’t need to know ALL of the information and writer-director Lindsey Anderson Beer clarifies all of that ambiguity and ultimately limits the film as a result.

All of that being said the film is gorgeous especially when it leans into that folk horror imagery. The first scene with blood and gore is an Uzumaki-like spiral in a sunflower and it absolutely works by emphasizing the Weird elements of Pet Sematary that have lingered just beneath the surface. In some ways, I wish the movie allowed us to simmer in those weird juices a little more than it did. Gore hounds will absolutely love some of the aesthetic changes that allow ample room for buckets of blood and viscera.

Pet Sematary is infinitely Watchable

The Soundtrack is full of needle drops which help us travel into the appropriate time period of the prequel but also give us some familiar pop culture touchpoints. Coupled with the haunting score, the sound design makes Pet Sematary: Bloodlines infinitely watchable.

The movie does not shy away from slightly larger issues. Particularly interesting is the introduction of the trauma of war into the core story. Not only does Timmy show up as a victim of the war in Vietnam but the ever-present threat of the draft adds nuance to the dynamic of the town. The movie is not afraid to ask what happens when our soldiers who are KIA come back to their small towns. In that way, the movie becomes more than just the dead coming back. Rather the entire community must deal with the violence and loss of war.

Speaking of the dead coming back there is plenty of blood and guts in Bloodlines. Our reanimated corpses retain some of the meanness of their earlier iterations. Beer seems to connect them to the larger zombie canon in that they have a craving for raw meat. While I love me some zombies I don’t need that addition. It is enough for them just to be evil.

The end of the film turns into another sad dad movie. That is not a knock. Rather a reflection of a growing trend this year but doesn’t bring anything new to the equation. Ultimately I loved spending time with Judd again and Timmy as the original baddy is almost perfect. Bloodlines is an excellent piece of Halloween candy for spooky season. Just don’t expect it to be anything more than that.

I caught Pet Sematary: Bloodlines as part of Fantastic Fest 2023. You can catch it on Paramount+ today!