Line #2 YMMV/PetSematary2019


1	* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: Music/ChristopherYoung’s moody and gothic score, which many agree was one of the best elements of the film.
2	* BrokenBase: Overall opinions on the film varies among horror fans. Those who enjoyed the novel and 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]].
3	* CriticalDissonance: Initially, it appeared this would be the case, as the film received a Website/RottenTomatoes score in the 90s off of its SXSW debut and was still highly rated heading into opening weekend. The film wasn't a hit with audiences, with a RT score of 46% and a C+ Cinemascore. As it turned out, however, mainstream critics proved to be as sour on the film as general audiences, and the RT critic score plunged to a much weaker 59%.
4	* 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). It's also painfully ironic that undead Church was SparedByTheAdaptation here.
5	* SpecialEffectsFailure:
6	** The tanker scene, the burial ground, and the fog all have some glaring green screens.
7	** 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. 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).
8	* 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 elemental high-octane tragedy that the original movie and book supplied so well.
9	* 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'''.
10	* TheUntwist: Ellie's death. Doesn't help that it's [[TrailersAlwaysSpoil spoiled right on the trailers]] and [[SpoilerCover the poster]].
11	* 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.

Context YMMV / PetSematary2019