All right...I think that many commentators hate this film for what seems like good reasons, to them at least. And I agree that PS II is definitely not for everyone, maybe even not for fans of the original film - or even for fans of Stephen King.But there are things I enjoy about this film.
I enjoy watching Clancy Brown chew up the scenery in the 2nd half of the movie after his character 'comes back'. Brown has a real gift for physical comedy and black humor, and he does a great job portraying a shambling revenant...he just radiates savage, hateful glee, and very effectively comes across as a...THING masquerading as a man, an agent of chaos and misery just barely keeping it together long enough to extract his revenge. PS II is worth watching just for his performance.
I enjoy the way the plot spirals out of control after the opening events, as the two boys try to "fix" things early on by using the Pet Semetary to cover up their, um, "mistakes", only to find themselves completely over their heads.
There are individual moments of mean-spirited gallows humor that are a lot of fun, and even a few good one liners - "No brain, No Pain; Think About It, Won't You?" was a screamingly funny line in the context it was delivered in. And the bit where Anthony Edwards staggers back into the Gilbert house and you hear 3 more shots was perfectly timed, and worth a chuckle.
In fact, I feel that the entire movie seems to somehow embody the spirit and malice of whatever it is that brings the dead back from the Sematary. The director and screenwriter manage to make every scene, almost every shot, feel as if the "wrongness" of the Sematary has infected the very air and light of the town from the very opening shots.
And in this, they may have been too successful. The glumness, the sense of oppression and airlessness and dread, the rot and gore and malice from beyond the grave are simply too much for the average film goer; if the director had backed off a little, and allowed a little more light into the mood and not rubbed our noses in the gore and blood and maggots quite so much, I think the results would have been more accessible for a lot more people. There a moments where I wish that we didn't have to see quite so many spurting wounds and decaying flesh and that not quite so many characters had gotten killed in the last 20 minutes.
So...I think the movie was what the creators intended to make, but they may have misjudged the reaction most people would have to their creation. I can still watch this on occasion and admire the energy and effort put into bringing this "feeling" to, er, life.
I enjoy watching Clancy Brown chew up the scenery in the 2nd half of the movie after his character 'comes back'. Brown has a real gift for physical comedy and black humor, and he does a great job portraying a shambling revenant...he just radiates savage, hateful glee, and very effectively comes across as a...THING masquerading as a man, an agent of chaos and misery just barely keeping it together long enough to extract his revenge. PS II is worth watching just for his performance.
I enjoy the way the plot spirals out of control after the opening events, as the two boys try to "fix" things early on by using the Pet Semetary to cover up their, um, "mistakes", only to find themselves completely over their heads.
There are individual moments of mean-spirited gallows humor that are a lot of fun, and even a few good one liners - "No brain, No Pain; Think About It, Won't You?" was a screamingly funny line in the context it was delivered in. And the bit where Anthony Edwards staggers back into the Gilbert house and you hear 3 more shots was perfectly timed, and worth a chuckle.
In fact, I feel that the entire movie seems to somehow embody the spirit and malice of whatever it is that brings the dead back from the Sematary. The director and screenwriter manage to make every scene, almost every shot, feel as if the "wrongness" of the Sematary has infected the very air and light of the town from the very opening shots.
And in this, they may have been too successful. The glumness, the sense of oppression and airlessness and dread, the rot and gore and malice from beyond the grave are simply too much for the average film goer; if the director had backed off a little, and allowed a little more light into the mood and not rubbed our noses in the gore and blood and maggots quite so much, I think the results would have been more accessible for a lot more people. There a moments where I wish that we didn't have to see quite so many spurting wounds and decaying flesh and that not quite so many characters had gotten killed in the last 20 minutes.
So...I think the movie was what the creators intended to make, but they may have misjudged the reaction most people would have to their creation. I can still watch this on occasion and admire the energy and effort put into bringing this "feeling" to, er, life.