History YMMV / PetSematary

* TheWoobie: Ellie Creed. [[TethercatPrinciple At the end of the story]] she's sedated in the hospital, perhaps driven half-mad from unheeded psychic warnings, her brother is dead, [[spoiler: as is her mother, and her cat, and in the movie her father (though it's a given that he'll also die soon in the book)]]. And all this at the age of six...

* {{Downer Ending}}: Like you didn't see this coming.

-->''Do you want to resurrect a zombie from a B-grade horror picture? Or even something so prosaic as a retarded little boy? A boy who eats with his fingers and stares blankly at images on the TV screen and will never learn to write his own name? What did Jud say about his dog?'' "It was like washing a piece of meat." ''Is that what you want? A piece of breathing meat?''...Did he believe it would be impossible for him to love Gage even if Gage had to go on wearing diapers until he was eight? If he did not master the first-grade primer until he was twelve? If he never mastered it at all?

* HighOctaneNightmareFuel

* HarsherInHindsight: Zelda was played by a man since they couldn't find an actress who was bony enough. That certainly wouldn't be a problem nowadays...

* TearJerker: Louis weeping and cradling Gage's deceased body, and when Louis weeps as he carries [[spoiler: Rachel's body to the burial ground, hoping she'll [[IGotBetter come back right]]]]

** YourMileageMayVary. Some were scared shitless by the psychotic attitude of the antagonists.

* AdaptationDecay: As usual for Stephen King works, the movie.

* {{Squick}}

** Your mileage may vary. Some were scared shitless by the psychotic attitude of the antagonists.

* TheWoobie: Ellie Creed. [[TethercatPrinciple At the end of the story]] she's sedated in the hospital, perhaps driven half-mad from unheeded psychic warnings, her brother is dead, [[spoiler: as is her mother, and in the movie her father (it's hinted that he'll also die soon in the book)]]. And all this at the age of six...

* TheWoobie: Louis, arguably.
** Do not forget Louis' daughter, Ellie Creed. [[TethercatPrinciple At the end of the story]] she's sedated in the hospital, perhaps driven half-mad from unheeded psychic warnings, her brother is dead, [[spoiler: as is her mother, and in the movie her father (it's hinted that he'll also die soon in the book)]]. And all this at the age of six...

** This paragraph in the book, near the end.
-->[[spoiler: And then the house stood empty in the May sunshine, as it had stood empty on that August day the year before, waiting for the new people to arrive...as it would wait for other new people to arrive at some future date. A young married couple perhaps, with no children (but with hopes and plans)....And perhaps they would have a dog.]]
*** YourMileageMayVary on that one; some consider that passage to be pure Nightmare Fuel.
*** Think about it. [[spoiler:In just a matter of days, a young family with a bright future has been basically wiped out. That scene hints not only how the Semetary's power will linger, but how the house will be empty again, and its former occupants just memories.]]

* AdaptationDecay (the movie)

* AdaptationDecay

* UnfortunateImplications most definitely into play here, as regardless of our supposed tolerance for the mentally disabled, the fear of having a disabled child is still an extremely potent source of HONF for most young parents.

UnfortunateImplications most definitely into play here, as regardless of our supposed tolerance for the mentally disabled, the fear of having a disabled child is still an extremely potent source of HONF for most young parents.

UnfortunateImplications must definitely into play here, as regardless of our supposed tolerance for the mentally disabled, the fear of having a disabled child is still an extremely potent source of HONF for most young parents.

{{YMMV}} as always, and UnfortunateImplications may come into play here, but regardless of our modern tolerance for the mentally disabled, the fear of having a disabled child is still an extremely potent source of HONF for most young parents.

*** YourMileageMayVary on that one; some consider that passage to be pure NightmareFuel.

* {{Squick}}

* AdaptationDecay: Though it's more loyal than many adaptations of King's work. And he wrote the screenplay himself, so what decay occurs is probably intentional. Might also be a case of PragmaticAdaptation.