History YMMV / PetSematary2019

* SpecialEffectsFailure: The tanker scene, the burial ground, and the fog have some glaring green screens.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: After going to all the trouble of switching the resurrected child to the older Ellie, and hinting at some interesting twists with her better understanding of her undead nature, the movie simply goes right back to the original's story as she becomes a psychotic murderer for no apparent reason.
** Probably worth noting is that we do get this kind of plot in [[Film/PetSemataryTwo the sequel]] to the original film, where the ''de facto'' antagonist is an adult who was brought back and has more knowledge of how the Sematary works and his undead nature. And even then he's mostly reduced to a psychotic murderer when all is said and done. Of course, given ''Pet Sematary Two'' is generally not well-regarded, one could argue that simply means the perfectly good plot was wasted '''twice'''.

* TheWoobie: Gage. [[spoiler:He loses his older sister Ellie and, as a result, ends up having nightmares of losing his family. And later he has to witness his older sister [[CameBackWrong come back wrong]] and terrorize his family. He ends up losing both his mom and dad at the end of the film and is doomed to live with his undead family for the rest of his life with implications he is likely next to be killed then [[CameBackWrong come back wrong]] too.]] And it's much worse for him in the alternate ending.
** Bittersweet though. His parents, sister, and pet cat do not kill him in the attempt of ridding of him, but so they all could be together even in death, or rather, an undead death. It is natural to feel so sorry for him, but once he would be undead he would understand why, and once you figure out why his family chooses to do this, you actually realize how overly touching yet incredibly twisted it is.

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: Christopher Young’s moody and gothic score, which many agree was one of the best elements of the film.

* FridgeHorror: [[spoiler: You have four [[OurZombiesAreDifferent intelligent, homicidal zombies]] who may or may not be in fact [[EldritchAbomination monstrosities]] from god-knows-where, not to mention an undead pet cat, [[WhenAnimalsAttack which has much more comprehension and possibly strength than a living cat]]. And they have a means to slowly and subtly convert an entire army of fellow intelligent, and again, ''[[AxeCrazy homicidal]]'' zombies. And no one knows they exist, which means that little family of zombies is now ground zero for the ZombieApocalypse.]]
* FridgeLogic: [[spoiler:Even if Gage is killed and brought back by the Sematary...what ''[[AndThenWhat are the family's motives afterwards?]]'' Are they just to live as an undead family? Will they lure other people to be killed and brought back? Considering the ColdOpen showing the door to the Creed house is closed as Jud's house burns down, it might as well imply the family will live in their home as an undead family.]]

* TheUnTwist: Ellie's death. Doesn't help that it's [[TrailersAlwaysSpoil spoiled right on the trailers]] and [[SpoilerCover the poster]].

* TheyChangedItNowItSucks: Many film critics and casual fans alike were not appreciative of the fact that this movie killed Ellie off instead of the much younger Gage, consequently losing out on much of the [[AdultFear elemental high-octane tragedy]] that the original movie and book supplied so well.

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** Bittersweet though. His parents, sister, and pet cat do not kill him in the attempt of ridding of him, but so they all could be together even in death, or rather, an undead death. It is natural to feel so sorry for him, but once he would be undead he would understand why, and once you figure out why his family chooses to do this, you actually realize how overly touching yet incredibly twisted it is.

* FridgeHorror: [[spoiler: You have four [[OurZombiesAreDifferent intelligent, homicidal zombies]] who may or may not be in fact [[EldritchAbomination monstrosities]] from god-knows-where. And they have a means to slowly and subtly convert an entire army of fellow intelligent, and again, ''[[AxeCrazy homicidal]]'' zombies. And no one knows they exist, which means that little family of zombies is now ground zero for the ZombieApocalypse.]]

** Bittersweet though. His parents, sister, and pet cat do not kill him in the attempt of ridding of him, but so they all could be together even in death, or rather, an undead death. It is natural to feel so sorry for him, but once he would be undead he would understand why, and once you figure out why his family chooses to do this, you actually how touching yet incredibly twisted it is.

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** There are some exceptionally awful shots involving a CGI rendition of Church (particularly during the scene where Ellie is trying to clean his matted fur and he swipes at her before giving a long hiss), which seems odd considering they had a number of actual Maine Coons on set to play the feline. [[JustifiedTrope This is justified]], however, as the filmmakers didn't plan on using a CG cat at all — the "stunt cats" playing Church simply ''could not'' be made to look vicious or evil no matter what the wranglers tried, instead trying to cuddle and nuzzle the actors in every scene. This is particularly notable in scenes involving Creator/JasonClarke... all of Church's "actors" apparently ''loved'' Clarke, forcing many of the shots involving the real cats to end with them cropped out entirely (and there are several instances [[ThrowItIn left in the film]] where it looks like Clarke is trying his damndest not to [[{{Corpsing}} laugh out loud]] during scenes with the cat).

** Probably worth noting is that we do get this kind of plot in [[Film/PetSemataryTwo the sequel]] to the original film, where the ''de facto'' antagonist is an adult who was brought back and has more knowledge of how the Sematary works and his undead nature. And even then he's mostly reduced to a psychotic murderer when all is said and done.

* BrokenBase: Overall opinions on the film varies among horror fans. Those who enjoyed the original film criticized this take for making unnecessary changes to the story, poorer special effects and a more "generic" form of scares. Alternatively, those who didn’t have prior nostalgia to the original saw this as a scarier film in comparison with more believable acting, creepier atmosphere, and appreciate the more psychological, dreamlike imagery. There’s also a smaller [[TakeAThirdOption third party]] who enjoy both films and judge them on their own merits. About the only thing that is agreed on is that either one is a better film than [[Film/PetSemataryTwo the original’s sequel]].

* HarsherInHindsight: Leo, one of the cat actors who played Church and was prominent in most of the film's advertising, died about a month after the film's debut. Harsh, considering the fact that the film's plot is in part kicked off with Church's death (and subsequent resurrection).