Pet Sematary (1989) Analysis & Recap: Goodnight Gage

So last time I told you a story about my deeply

traumatic and life -altering experience at Six

Flags that my dad forced me to partake in. And

since it's Father's Day weekend, let me tell

you another story, one that's even more life

-altering. So about 10 years ago, my dad and

I, we met up for lunch. And, you know, we're

just catching up. It had been a while since we

had hung out. And he's like, hey, so how's your

girlfriend doing? And she and I had just broken

up relatively recently. So I was like, oh, you

know, that that shit's cooked, son. He's like,

I bet you talking to anybody new. And I was like,

no, not really. Why do you have someone for me?

And he's like, you know what? Maybe I do. And

he hopped on his phone, pulled up to Facebook

profiles. Yes, that's right. Facebook. And he

showed me two young women. And I was like, hmm,

okay. Of the two, I pointed out the one that

I thought was more attractive. What's up with

that one right there? And he's like, all right,

I'm going to hit her up. I'm going to send her

a message on Facebook. And then I'll tell her

that you're going to reach out. And I'm like,

okay, sure. Like, I don't think anything's going

to come from that. But he's like, nah, trust

me. Like, you two have so much in common. I'm

like, all right, bet. So the next morning at

like 6 a .m., he messaged me like, hey, you know,

I sent her a message and she says she's receptive

to your reach now. So go ahead and do that. So

I was like, all right. And dog, let me tell you,

the message that I crafted and sent to this woman

was so corny, so cringy. I am embarrassed and

ashamed to even tell you what it is. OK, like

it is not reflective of. what I think is a relatively

cool personality that I have, but she rolled

with it. So we talked for a couple of weeks.

Eventually we made plans to meet up for dinner

one day and that day rolls around and I sent

her a message like, hey, are we still good for

tonight? Blah, blah, blah. Silence. A couple

more hours go by. I'm like, hey, just checking

in. Haven't heard from you. Just want to make

sure we're still good. Silence. So I'm like,

damn, that's crazy. She straight up ghosted me,

bro. And I was like, dad, the fuck? You set me

up for failure, son. But I'm also like a normal

human being. So I didn't like blow her phone

up or anything like that. I was like, OK, she

wasn't feeling it for whatever reason. She doesn't

owe me an explanation. It would have been nice

to receive one. But hey, you know, you do your

thing. And three months. Later, I get a text

out of the blue from her just saying so about

that dinner dot dot dot. And I literally looked

at my phone and laughed, bro. I was like, ain't

no way that she's trying to spin the block on

me right now. Hell nah. I just said something

like, hey, you know, no worries. All good. But

I'm good on that kind of deal. And that was that.

And then like a week later, my dad and I, we

meet up to go play pool with my cousin as well.

And I was like, hey, you remember that girl that

you tried to hook me up with? She hit me up out

of the blue talking about that dinner. He's like,

well, what'd you say? I'm like, what did I say?

I said, hell no. Which mean what'd I say? He

was like, well, you know, it might be worth it

to give her a chance. I was like, why on earth

would I do that? She had her chance and she blew

it. He's like, okay, that's the choice you want

to make. But if it was me. I'd hear her out.

I was like, no. But then I thought about it a

little bit. I was like, maybe I should try to

be a mature person. I'm like 25 at this point

or almost 25. And I was like, all right, let

me not hold a grudge. People go through different

things, whatever. So I hit her back up and I

was like, hey, how about we start over? Let's

meet up for dinner at this place at this time.

She's like, all right, bet. Now, this time I

hit her up to confirm that we're still on and

she actually responds and says, yes, she'll be

there. But I still am feeling a little reticent.

So I didn't really try my hardest. Like I picked

like a very medium kind of restaurant. I showed

up wearing like chinos and converse, like a beanie,

like hella casual. And I considered going Dutch,

but I didn't go that far. But we get there. And

remember, my dad said we had so much in common.

And as we're eating dinner, it is so awkward,

bro. Like the conversation is not flowing at

all. We don't seem to have anything in common.

I was like, OK, this is a total fail. We wrap

up dinner and for whatever reason, I'm just like,

all right, let's just try one more thing. There

is a bar down the street. Let's go check it out.

And she's like, OK, again, I don't know why she

said yes either, because we. Had nothing in common.

This date was so bad. But for whatever reason,

at this bar, something changed. And maybe we

were both just like so tense because of the whole

way that we started this interaction with the

ghosting and shit. But at this bar, we were so

relaxed. We were chill. I mean, I guess alcohol

helps. We're like laughing. We're playing games.

And then we start to find like common ground.

She's like, hey, I bet you I can tell you the

exact number of steps it would take me to get

to that bathroom over there. And I was like,

no, you can't. She was like 42. And then she

proceeded to like walk over and it was like 42

steps. And I was like, oh, my God, is she a psychic?

What is this? This is crazy. And we stayed out

until like 2 a .m. when the bars closed and we

stayed in the parking lot talking until like

3 a .m. After that, just like having a good time.

like she dared me that i wouldn't be able to

like climb the ladder around the back part of

one of these restaurants to get on top of the

roof and i was like are you kidding me you don't

think i'm athletic watch this and i scaled that

shit son and she was like oh wow that's crazy

and then six months later i proposed and now

we have four kids so yeah thanks dad good work

on that um that assist I guess that makes up

for making me traumatized and fearful of heights

for the rest of my life. But it's OK, because

now I have the love of my life. So happy Father's

Day. And now we've got a fictional father to

talk about. I'm Brandon O. This is Terrorific,

and we're chopping up 1989's Pet Sematary. Welcome

back to the place where it's perpetually spooky

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.com. Once again, that's 469 -389 -0333. Let's

build something great together. But this season

is all about breaking down the horror film adaptations

of the works of my favorite author, Stephen King.

So be sure you're following the show on IG. That

handle is at Terrific Podcast. Because every

Thursday leading up to a new episode, I post

a clue to what movie that episode will cover.

And if you guess correctly, I will shout you

out in that next episode. This week's clue was

a photo of Winston Churchill. Now, personally,

I must have been asleep in history class because

I had no idea what this dude looked like until

I googled him. And then at that point, I was

like, maybe I'm in the minority here. So I asked

some friends if they recognized him. And most

didn't. Only one person did. Someone even thought

it was Alfred Hitchcock. And he wasn't alone

because once I posted it on IG, several more

Hitchcocks rolled in. However, there were apparently

a decent number of people who were paying attention

in history class and have since retained recognition

of these historical figures. So let's kick off

our shout out list with Chelsea. She is the co

-host of the podcast It Came From The Maritimes,

along with her brother Evan, where they talk

about Atlantic Canada folklore, including stories

of supernatural specters and cryptid sightings.

Then we had Maggie, who's been in this shout

out list before, co -host of the horror movie

recap podcast Skipper Scream, along with her

sister Cassie, where they asked the question,

is the scream worth the stream? And after that,

we had a few first timers. So Jackie Quinn, she's

a dope creator of comic books and illustrated

fiction. Rick from The Whole Damn Enchilada,

which is a podcast slash YouTube channel that

covers everything related to horror movies. including

new releases, classics, unboxings, etc. And of

course, if you have been listening to this season,

I'm sure you can guess whose name I'm about to

say next. We have Missy, co -host of the podcast

Grimly, along with Meg, and they cover the creepy

and unexplained from true crime to urban legends

and haunted histories, all while cracking jokes

and throwing a middle finger to the patriarchy.

and the person currently occupying the White

House, which I support 100%. Them throwing the

middle finger, that is. Not the person in the

White House. Wow, let me definitely clarify that.

That would have been awkward. And I know I'm

only with you for about an hour every two weeks,

so if you're ever feeling lonely and these other

podcasts sound interesting to you, Be sure to

check out the show notes for this episode because

I'll include all their handles to their socials,

links to some of their recent projects, including

collaborations that they have done with me, like

an episode with Skipper Scream, we talked about

the movie Match, and an episode with Grimly where

we talked about Grave Encounters. And last but

not least, and I'm sorry, I know you're getting

antsy waiting for us to get into Pet Cemetery

after that long -ass cold open and now this long

-ass roll call, but... I got to shout this person

out because they have been trying to get an organic

earned shout out this entire time. OK, it's been

like 10 weeks now and they got one for Mother's

Day out of pity. But this time it was earned.

So shout out to my mother for correctly identifying

Winston Churchill. and making the connection

to pet cemetery i texted her on wednesday before

i made the post i was like you ready for your

guest tomorrow and she was like i'm just gonna

guess pet cemetery for the rest of the season

and i should have made this the season finale

movie just so she could guess for 10 more weeks

just to show how committed she really is but

i don't want to be that much of a of a troll

so Congratulations mom, you got your shout out,

you earned it, good work. And now, let's get

into it. Pet Sematary was directed by Mary Lambert,

who prior to this was known for directing some

of Madonna's top music videos including Like

a Prayer and Material Girl, but her other horror

directorial credits include 1992's Pet Sematary

2, 2005's Urban Legends, Bloody Mary, and 2007's

The Attic. Pet Sematary's screenplay was written

by Stephen King himself, adapted from the 1983

novel of the same name. The cast includes Dale

Midkiff as Louis Creed, Fred Gwynn as Judd Crandall,

Denise Crosby as Rachel Goldman Creed, Miko Hughes

as Gage Creed, Blaze Berdahl as Ellie Creed,

that's a badass name, Blaze, for a little girl

too, respect parents, and Brad Greenquist as

Victor Pascal. The film rights to Pet Sematary

were originally sold to George A. Romero in 1984

for $10K, but he had to pull out due to a conflict

with another project. At this time, appetite

for another Stephen King adaptation was pretty

low after the run of so many of his adaptations

in the late 70s to mid -80s, including Carrie,

Cujo, Firestarter, Cat's Eye, Christine, and

The Shining. But the 1988 Writers Guild of America

strike caused Paramount Studios to reconsider

because they were facing a possible shortage

of new productions for 1989 release dates. Pet

Sematary had a budget of approximately $11 .5

million and grossed about $57 .5 million worldwide,

but most of that worldwide box office haul came

domestically. The film holds an average rating

of 3 .2 on Letterboxd and I rated it a 3 .5 myself.

The acting is a little tough at times, maybe

a lot of times, but I really enjoyed how creepy

the third act was. The film opens with a moving

shot of a creepy ass cemetery with a bunch of

grave markers for deceased pets. Next, we see

a house without a fenced yard. Listed as being

recently sold, located right next to a road as

an 18 -wheeler comes flying by. A station wagon

pulls up to this house and that's when we are

introduced to our main family, the Creeds. They

consist of parents, Louis and Rachel, kids Ellie

and Gage, plus their cat, Winston Churchill.

The family has just moved to Maine from Chicago

because Louis is a doctor and he's gotten a new

job as like the head doctor or whatever at the

local college. The family begins exploring the

property and Ellie notices a tire swing hanging

from one of the branches of the tall tree in

the yard and she promptly hops on it and as she

swings she notices that there's a path leading

into the woods behind the house. But the rope

snaps, causing Ellie to fall to the ground and

she's crying in pain. While her parents tend

to her, her little brother Gage, who's about

two years old and Ellie's about five, he wanders

off unattended and ends up pretty close to the

road as a truck is rapidly approaching. But luckily

he gets scooped up at the last second by Judd

Crandall, the Creed's new neighbor who lives

across the street. Later that night, after the

kids are asleep, Louis walks across the road

to Judd's house where he is sitting on his porch

and they crack open a couple of beers. Another

big rig comes speeding by and Judd tells Louis

that the road is hella dangerous and that it

and the trucks are the main reason the path into

the woods exists. That path leads to a pet cemetery.

Judd says dogs and cats are constantly getting

smacked and Lewis mentions Ellie's cat, Winston

Churchill aka Church for short, and Judd says

that he should get him fixed because fixed cats

tend to wander less and if he does wander, eventually

he's going to get hit by a truck. But in my opinion,

instead of the nut chopping suggestion or at

least in addition to it, Maybe Judge should have

thrown out the idea of putting a fence around

the yard as well. But the next day he takes the

family on a little hike to the cemetery which

gets Ellie thinking about death and how Church

will inevitably die. Which is pretty heavy shit

to think about for a five year old. And Judd

is the one talking to her about all this trying

to say that hey you know death isn't so bad and

blah blah blah. I'm like bro if that were my

kid and some random ass neighbor that we just

met 24 hours ago was trying to talk to my child

about something as serious as death. I'd be like

bro you gotta chill out a little bit. Let us

her parents handle this in the manner we see

fit but. Hey, you know, to each their own, I

guess. The following morning, Lewis gets ready

for his first day at his new gig, and he takes

Church with him to drop off to get neutered on

the way. And boy, oh boy, does this first day

start off with a bang. A group of people come

barreling in, carrying a man who was hit by a

truck while he was jogging. and lewis is like

oh shit like looking at this dude his skull is

fractured he is totally cooked lewis does what

he can while the rest of the staff preps to have

the man transported to a different hospital that

has like a better equipped trauma center or whatever

but the patient seemingly dies however the dude

then pops up and creepily says the soil of a

man's heart is stonier lewis One, what the fuck

does that even mean? And two, Lewis is like,

how the fuck do you know my name? And this dude

says, I'll come to you before dying for real.

And he does indeed come to Lewis as a ghost later

that night, telling him to follow him. He says

he wants to help because Lewis tried to save

him. He beats him down the path to the pet cemetery.

And I got to be honest, I would not do that shit,

whether this is like reality or a waking dream

or whatever. There's no way in hell I'm following

a ghost man whose head in his fractured skull

is like all exposed and flapping around and having

me follow him into the woods at night to a cemetery.

That's what they do in Maine. Big pass, my boy,

big pass. But Louis is made of stronger stuff

than me, I guess, because he does indeed journey

into the cemetery and the ghost dude warns him

that there is an area beyond the cemetery that

Louis should not venture into, no matter how

badly he feels like he must, because that's where

the dead walk and the ground is sour. dog this

is like the horror movie equivalent of being

born with a silver spoon this dude is getting

so many warnings to not do some fuck shit and

i'm sure you already know that he is going to

do some fuck shit but at this moment he's like

okay i'm kind of over this whole ghostly conversation

so he just lays down on the ground in the middle

of the cemetery and eventually awakens in his

bed And he thinks it was all a dream until he

pulls the covers back and reveals his dirty ass

muddy feet. But the muddy feet actually may not

be the dirtiest thing in his bed right now because

this fool went to sleep wearing his scrubs, dawg.

Like, you already were faced with like a crisis

earlier with this dude with his broken head coming

in. Who knows what other shit you came into contact

with. And then you come home. Lay down in your

bed next to your wife wearing these scrubs. That

is disgusting. And I would be pissed if I was

Rachel, bro. Like, what the fuck are you doing,

Louis? Thanksgiving rolls around and Rachel takes

the kids to fly back to Chicago to spend it with

her parents. And Louis stays behind. He gets

a phone call from Judd who tells him there's

a dead cat in his yard and he thinks it may be

church. lewis heads over and confirms that it

is indeed church and he's like all frozen and

frosted and stuck to the ground and shit lewis

wonders how or if he'll break the news to ellie

but judd tells him there's a better way and leads

him to the area behind the pet cemetery that

is one blocked off it's almost like a dam of

fallen trees and branches And it basically screams,

hey, don't go this way. And then two, this is

the exact area that the ghost dude warned Louis

not to venture into. But once Louis and Judd

climb over this dam, they go deeper into the

forest and they hear some creepy ass sounds that

sound like animals, like bird calls and stuff.

But also something sounds wrong about them. And

this is a fucking trek, bro. It's low key impressive

that old ass Judd could navigate all this uneven

terrain. He's like climbing these trees, climbing

rocks, climbing steep hills. Bro has to be pushing

like 75. And he's just like, Lewis is the one

that's struggling. They eventually arrive in

a clearing that has some stones laid out in this

wide circular pattern with intersecting lines

and Judd says that it's an old Mi 'kmaq Native

American burial ground. Lewis asks him why he

brought him here to bury church and all he says

is that he has his reasons. Judd says Lewis must

dig the hole himself and bury church himself

because each buries their own. Lewis' first strike

with the pickaxe into the ground causes sparks

to fly. So there's a bunch of rocks or stones

in this soil apparently. And it takes hours to

get the job done. By the time he's finished,

night has fallen. And Judd and Lewis head back

home. As Lewis approaches his house, the phone

begins to ring and he rushes to catch it but

just misses it. And Judd warns him to keep what

they did tonight a secret. He says typically

women are the ones who are good at keeping secrets,

but any woman with any good sense would say that

she's never seen into a man's heart. And he says

to Lewis, the soil of a man's heart is stonier,

Lewis, like the soil up there in the old Micmac

burial ground. Lewis of course recognizes this

statement as being the same as the jogger told

him as he was dying which means that the jogger

has seen into the future. And I think at this

moment Lewis first begins to think hmm did I

just fuck up? Yes buddy you certainly did. I

think one of the recurring themes of this film

has to do with lying and how lying can exacerbate

a bad situation and the more you lie to try to

protect other people's feelings in your mind

or you know cover up things that you've done

the worse it makes things there are so many opportunities

in this film for lewis to just be honest and

just own up to what he's done or what he plans

to do that could prevent so much pain and suffering

But he really commits to the bit. Louis assumes

that the call he just missed was from Rachel,

so he calls her parents' house to get back in

touch with them. And when Ellie is put on the

phone, she asks about Church, like, right away.

And he says he's fine, but hasn't seen him this

evening. So this is him laying the groundwork

for his lie about Church running away or getting

lost. The next morning, Louis is raking leaves

in the yard and goes to return the rake to the

cellar or garage or whatever it is where he is

greeted by a screeching church now with glowing

yellow eyes and bro nearly shits himself which

honestly is understandable. But you know what's

not understandable? Seeing a zombie cat and not

immediately like torching it bro this motherfucker's

eyes are like neon yellow dude like that is so

unnatural and there has been no being or thing

in the history of thingdom that has been a kind

or benevolent being with glowing yellow eyes

that hisses and screeches at you bro But Louis

sets a bowl of food out for Church and picks

him up when he comes to eat it so he can examine

him, and he sees signs that Church has chewed

his way out of the bag Louis buried him in. Church

then proceeds to claw the fuck out of Louis'

face. As if the glowing yellow eyes weren't enough

of a red flag, now we have actual violence. Louis

then goes on to ask Judd, like, yo, what the

fuck is happening? He can't wrap his head around,

you know, a zombie cat. And he's trying to convince

himself that he just unintentionally buried Church

while he was still alive. And Judd mentions that,

you know, you sure about that, buddy? Because

Church's neck was broken. His body was all frozen

to the ground and had to be peeled off. Live

things, that doesn't happen to them. And Judd

then goes on to tell a story about how he encountered

a dude as a kid who was half Mic Mac. And he

told him about his beloved dog, Spot, how he

had died and got caught in some barbed wire that

led to an infection. And so this dude said, hey,

why don't you try burying him in this special

burial ground? And Judd did. And then Spot came

back when Judd's mom was hanging laundry one

day on the clothesline outside. and man's was

still all bloody with the barbed wire wounds

on him and he was aggressive growling out of

character and it scared judd's mom to the point

that she was like hey yo judd come get your dog

that is savage bro imagine telling like your

eight -year -old to come fend off this aggressive

ass dog but spot died again that night and i

was unclear if they like put him down or maybe

just succumb to whatever wounds maybe reopened

up or whatever. But regardless, Judd buried him

in the regular pet cemetery where he remained.

But Judd tells Lewis that he wanted him to bury

Church in the Micmac burial ground because he

felt like Ellie is too young to truly understand

death. bro the lack of boundaries is crazy like

you've known this dude for like a few weeks or

a month or whatever he's not your child's grandparents

he's not your parents why are you allowing him

to make these kind of decisions and impart these

responsibilities upon himself to teach your children

or make the decision for when it's time for your

children to learn what death is and shit like

lewis bro slacking but they've been having this

conversation over beers at the kitchen table

so when lewis asks if anyone has ever buried

a person up there judd gets startled and knocks

over his beer bottle as he says of course not

real convincing there bro but rachel and the

kids return home as lewis goes to the airport

to pick him up and ellie asks if church is okay

because she had a dream That he got hit by a

truck and that Lewis and Judd buried him in the

pet cemetery. You know Stephen King loves his

clairvoyant children. And of course Lewis lies

again saying that Trish is fine. We're then introduced

to a very minor character whose presence in this

film only seems to be so that her death can...

lead to a conversation between the other main

characters so the family nanny named missy had

been complaining about stomach pain in her like

two scenes and we then see her write a suicide

note saying she's sure that she has cancer and

cannot face the pain before she hangs herself

And as always, if you or anyone you know is struggling

with thoughts of self -harm or suicide, please

call or text 988 ASAP. You are not alone and

you do not have to suffer in silence. And actually,

I take it back. Missy's death seems to have two

purposes. One, to spark the conversations between

the main characters. But secondly, so that Stephen

King can make his own cameo because at her funeral,

he plays the role of the minister. presiding

over her burial. Later that night Ellie asks

Louis if he thinks Missy went to heaven and he

says yes while Rachel eavesdrops in tears from

the kitchen. Rachel was notably absent from Missy's

funeral because apparently she really struggles

with dealing with death. Rachel later comes to

talk to Louis about why death frightens her so

much. And she tells him the story about how her

sister Zelda died from spinal meningitis when

Rachel was about eight. But as she deteriorated,

she was hidden away in the back bedroom like

some shameful, dirty secret. And Rachel had to

go in there to spoon feed her sometimes. And

she absolutely hated it. She and her parents

secretly wished that Zelda would just die. Not

only because this would mean Zelda would no longer

have to suffer, but also that the rest of the

family would no longer have to suffer. One day

while their parents weren't home, Zelda started

convulsing and choking as a result, so Rachel

went in there and just watched as she died. She

then ran out screaming, Zelda's dead, Zelda's

dead, loud enough for the neighbors to hear,

and they thought she was crying. But in reality,

Rachel is pretty sure that she was laughing.

And Lewis's takeaway from this entire story is

that he now has another reason to dislike Rachel's

parents because she shouldn't have been left

in charge of Zelda who was also probably clinically

insane by that point. He's not wrong. The parents

definitely fucked up on that one. But also your

wife just told you that she indirectly killed

her sister or at least allowed her sister to

die. And your response is that, man, your parents

suck. I think there's a lot more that needs to

be unpacked here, Lewis. But Rachel sharing this

is important because it gives us more insight

into her psyche. and kind of contextualizes some

of her actions that occur later on in the film

this next scene is where shit really hits the

fan though the family and judd are sitting outside

having a nice little picnic it's a beautiful

day the sun is shining there's a nice little

breeze going lewis is flying a kite and judd

is like hey let gage have a turn And so he does.

And him and Lewis have this really nice father

-son bonding moment. It's super cute. Everything

is going great until Gage drops the spool. And

Ellie is like, it got away from him, that numb

shit. And the adults just laugh. But bro, if

my five -year -old said some shit like that,

bro, ain't no way. First of all, where are you

even learning this? Because you're not going

to hear it from us. your parents and secondly

we're definitely not going to be laughing and

encouraging that kind of language all right we

have to have a little conversation but these

fools think it's hilarious and lewis like turns

like look over at the table and they're all laughing

meanwhile gage has his eyes on the prize he drops

the spool to the kite he wants to get it back

but since the wind is so breezy the kite is blowing

away towards the road and therefore it is pulling

the spool along with it eventually judd sees

what's happening and alerts lewis like hey yo

your son's getting close to the road there pal

and rachel's like get the baby and lewis turns

around is like oh and he races off trying to

get to gage as a big rig comes barreling down

the road and lewis is hauling ass A little too

fast though because he trips and falls before

he can get to Gage. Gage grabs the spool but

unfortunately he's standing in the middle of

the road when he's able to grab it and the driver

is distracted. By the time he looks up he can't

stop in time and he runs Gage over. Yikes. After

this tragic accident, Louis is sitting at the

kitchen table looking at photos of Gage. He's

still wearing his clothes that have Gage's blood

splashed on him so this whole visual is very,

very sad. Judd walks in and says that Rachel's

sedative has finally kicked in so she's asleep.

Ellie then comes in shortly afterwards holding

a picture of her own. Where she's pulling Gage

in a wagon saying she's going to hold on to it

until God lets Gage come back. And as she says

this, a look of realization comes across Lewis's

face. And you can see those wheels turning. Bro

is definitely thinking about taking another trip

up to the Mic Mac burial ground. But let me tell

you about the biggest piece of shit in this entire

movie. Bar none. hands down rachel's fucking

dad okay at the funeral this motherfucker goes

up to lewis and is like hey i knew this would

happen i told rachel this would happen when y

'all first got married i told her she would have

all the grief she could stand and then some he's

telling him all this while lewis is standing

next to the casket that his two -year -old son

is lying in what a fucking piece of shit this

honestly pissed me off bro like this level of

disrespect this level of entitlement this level

of narcissism this level of just being uncouth

crazy unfathomable but wait there's more he tells

lewis to rot in hell and then proceeds to punch

him in the fucking face and kicks him while he's

on the ground dog dog and like the fact that

people are just sitting there like watching this

unfold and like not trying to check him is crazy

people don't step in until lewis pops up off

the ground mad trying to get some get back and

they're like hey man hey bro chill out this is

your son's funeral get a hold of yourself what

lewis needs to get a hold of himself okay and

To make matters even worse, Rachel's dad like

falls over during this whole kerfuffle and he

like falls into the casket and knocks it over

onto the ground and Gage's tiny little arm is

exposed and just fucks everybody up seeing this.

Like real talk, Lewis gotta drag old dude outside

and just immediately stomp him the fuck out.

That is unacceptable. Unacceptable. There is

a time and a place for everything and engaging

in fisticuffs with your son -in -law, I would

say doing so at your grandson's funeral is probably

the worst time and place imaginable. And I understand

that everybody grieves differently. That's fine

and dandy, but come on, bro. This is some crazy

shit. When I saw that, I was like, wow. At first

I was thinking, you know once i saw being mad

i was like you know it's probably unrealistic

right like no real person would ever behave like

this and then i'm like you know what i don't

know there are some wild ass people out there

who like to make themselves the main character

a lot of the time so this is definitely plausible

i think and yeah that's insane i can't get over

that But that segues into another recurring theme

in this film, that parents or adults who think

they're protecting their children when they're

actually doing the opposite. So, of course, this

all started with Lewis not wanting to tell Ellie

that her cat died, following Judd to bury it

in the Mic Mac burial ground. And, of course,

this accompanies Judd. Not wanting Ellie to be

sad or not thinking she's ready to hear about

death, even though he has absolutely no business

making that kind of determination. And then we

have Rachel's dad thinking that he's sticking

up for her and blaming Louis for causing his

daughter this unimaginable heartbreak and grief.

And he makes a complete ass of himself and fucks

up everything. At a time when everybody is already

fucked up to begin with. They're not protecting

their children at all. They're protecting themselves.

They're protecting their own comfort. They're

protecting their own peace of mind. Later that

night, Lewis tucks Ellie into bed and she asks

him if she can have faith in the fact that God

could take it all back. Meaning Gage's death

if he really, really wanted to. And Louis looks

at her stone face and says, yes, ah, shit. This

dude has definitely made up his mind at this

point. He is going to put Gage in to the ground

at the Mic Mac burial site. Judd walks into the

house while Louis is downstairs in the kitchen,

which is an absolutely insane concept to me.

Like someone could just walk into your house

randomly and unannounced and just be like, hey,

what's up? Nah, where they do that at? Judd is

like, hey man, I know what you're thinking right

now. Get that shit out of your head. Don't even

deny that you're thinking about it. And here's

a cautionary tale for you just in case you need

some further convincing that it's a bad idea

to put your son in a Mic Mac burial ground to

have him return as a zombie. I gotta come clean,

bro. Earlier when you asked me if anyone had

ever tried to put a person up there, I lied when

I said no. there was one dude a father named

bill baderman whose son timmy was killed on his

way home from world war ii bill was so beset

by grief that he buried timmy before considering

what the fallout could be and judd drops the

line that has become iconic now that sometimes

dead is better because timmy didn't come back

as timmy Whatever lives in the ground up there

is not human at all. There is some malevolent

entity that has infested the Micmac burial ground.

And bro came back as a zombie with like a hunger

and taste for raw meat. After a few days of witnessing

this dude kind of like terrorize people and freak

them the fuck out, Judd and some other local

men pulled up to the Baterman house to burn Timmy's

body. But they ended up setting the entire house

on fire and killed Bill in the process as well.

Judd tells Lewis that he feels responsible for

Gage's death, not only because he was the one

that suggested that Lewis give Gage a turn to

fly the kite, but also he thinks that the ground

orchestrated Gage's death because he introduced

Lewis to its power. After the intense events

of the last few days the family needs a change

of scenery so Ellie and Rachel are preparing

to fly back to Chicago with her parents while

Louis stays behind for a few days. He tells her

that he has a few matters to tie up and then

he'll join them thereafter. But before they depart

Ellie says that she had a bad dream about Louis,

Gage and someone named Pax Cow. What she means

to say is Pascal, meaning Victor Pascal, who

is the ghost jogger who got hit by the car earlier

in the film. Pascal is like, all right, bro,

like I tried, Louis, to tell you to not do some

stupid shit. You're clearly not listening. So

I guess now I need to tell your daughter to tell

you not to do some stupid shit. And you're still

not listening. So big yikes. As soon as the plane

takes off, Lewis immediately heads to the cemetery

to exhume Gage's corpse. And it's broad daylight,

so he needs to wait until night falls. But he's

still pulled up with all of his tools. I mean,

you could have left them in the car, bro. Like,

not be so conspicuous. Regardless, this moment

serves as the point of no return. Lewis has already

dismissed multiple warnings from multiple people.

Pascal. Judd. Ellie about doing this shit. And

it seems like his conscience is telling him as

well not to do this shit. But just for good measure,

Pascal shows up again to warn this man. But Louis

has finally made up his mind. He's convinced

himself that he can just put Gage back to sleep

if he starts wiling out. Meanwhile, over in Chicago.

Ellie wakes up at the same time telling Rachel

that Pascal came to her in a dream to warn her

that Louis is about to do some dumbass shit.

And this time Ellie elaborates a little bit more.

She says that Pascal is here to help. He's a

nice ghost because daddy was there whenever his

soul left his body. And so Rachel's starting

to think that, okay, this sounds a little bit

weird. Maybe I should give it a little bit more.

consideration to its validity. And as she walks

out of the room, Pascal materializes behind her,

but she can't see him. However, he's able to

interact with her. He like whispers something

in her ear that makes her call Lewis. And he

doesn't answer because he's busy grave digging.

She then calls Judd next to check for Lewis.

And since Judd says he hasn't seen him, she says,

you know what? I'm just going to come home. And

he's like, no, you don't want to do that. But

she hangs up and starts making her preparations.

Judd then goes out onto his porch with a six

pack waiting for Louis. He thinks that he can

intercept him before he can bury Gage. But his

old ass falls asleep. So he misses Louis when

he returns and walks down the path. But bro,

Pascal is the real MVP. This dude is accompanying

Rachel the entire way. As she's on her plane

flying back. They show him sitting in a seat

just all jolly like yeah finally someone's gonna

stop this dumb motherfucker from doing dumbass

shit. And when Rachel nearly misses her connecting

flight in Boston Pascal influences the gate attendant

to not shut the door to the tarmac so Rachel

is able to run through and get on. Then after

landing she needs to rent a car in order to drive

the rest of the way back to Maine and the desk

clerk says they don't have anything. And so Pascal

suggests one that's a little damaged, but still

drivable. So the desk clerk is like, hey, I have

this one that has a big ass scratch in it. But

if you want it, it's yours. And Rachel's like,

yep, I'll take it. And as she's hauling ass back

home, the car blows a tire and ends up in the

ditch on the side of the road. And Pascal pops

up again to say that the burial ground entity

is trying to stop her. Rachel then ironically

is able to hitch a ride the rest of the way with

the same driver that ran Gage over to begin with.

But thankfully, she doesn't recognize him. It's

absolutely insane though that this dude was back

driving his regular route like, what, a week?

Two weeks after running a kid down on the road?

Yikes. Louis successfully buries Gage and returns

home and passes out in bed, still wearing his

clothes and his dirty, muddy ass shoes. Gross.

And while he's asleep, little zombie Gage comes

home as well. He finds Louis's medical bag and

takes his scalpel out and heads on over to Judd's

house. Sleepy ass Judd is awoken by a crack of

thunder. And then he notices small, childlike,

muddy footprints leading into his house. He walks

in and hears a child's giggling and asks, Who's

there? Bitch, who do you think is there? You

know damn well what Louis did. What other fucking

kid is going to be giggling in your home in the

middle of the night? And also, holy shit, that

is a terrifying thought. If I woke up after...

passing out from drinking some beers and i'm

probably hung over and i'm old as shit on top

of that i don't know how he didn't have a heart

attack bro because my shit i would have been

shook dog seeing these little tiny footprints

leading to my house i'm also not going in there

i'm sorry i'm calling somebody whether that's

lewis or the cops i don't know how you explain

that to the cops like hey i'm pretty sure there's

a zombie kid in my house please assist But, you

know, maybe the main police are more amenable

to that kind of thing. Gage is giggling. It's

coming from somewhere upstairs. I think he says

something about wanting to play hide and seek

with Judd. And Judd's like, is that you, Gage?

What are you doing up there? And at this point,

he does get at least partially smart because

he pulls out a folding knife. But then he gets

dumb again because as he enters his bedroom,

He hears the giggling coming from underneath

his bed and he kneels down to look under there.

And that's when Church pops up in his window

as a distraction. So when Judd looks over at

Church again with his glowing yellow eyes, super

creepy ass cat that never should have been allowed

to roam around to begin with. This allows Gage

to emerge and saw. into this man's achilles bro

then sits there watching stupidly as gage strolls

up on him with his open mouth and slices the

scalpel across that open mouth splitting that

shit and as he falls backwards on the ground

gage pounces on him and rips his throat out with

his teeth r .i .p Judd. But I'm sorry, bro. Sliced

Achilles or not, you got to punt this kid out

of there, dog. Like, he's a little two -year

-old. He's tiny. You still got one good leg.

You still have both of your hands. Like, piece

this kid up, bro. What are we doing? Why are

we just letting them slice your face up and shit?

I get that there's probably an element of shock

there, like seeing this deceased child or formerly

deceased child. Instilling his little funeral

suit and shit. And he was remarkably intact for

a small human that got plastered by an 18 -wheeler.

But still, Judd, man, put your hands up. At least

block the slice. Something. You just sat there

and watched it. Waited for it. And while he munched

on your throat, just took it. Madness. Rachel

arrives and gets dropped off in front of the

house and Pascal materializes in the front seat

of the big rig says that hey this is as far as

I can go you got it from here good luck but I

think he knows that she's fucked and Louis is

fucked and everyone's fucked but Rachel starts

off towards her house before she hears Zelda

call her name from Judd's house along with some

giggling from Gage so she heads that way. Before

she walks in, Church hops out with bloody paws

and she sees this and just kind of dismisses

it. I don't know if she thought that Church like

grabbed a bird or something, but I would have

done a little bit of a closer examination. Anyway,

she hears groaning from upstairs as she enters

the house and she slowly ascends the stairs before

entering the bedroom. And while in there, she

hallucinates Zelda in the corner, tormenting

her before closing her eyes and reopening them

to see it's actually Gage. And this kid is wearing

a fucking top hat, bro. And he has a cane, too.

Looking like he's about to drop a fire show tune.

Like, where did he find this costume, this outfit?

I'm not gonna lie, boy had some drip, but still.

A zombie two -year -old wearing a top hat is

fucking absurd. But she sees him and she's like,

oh my God, gay. She's like, her heart is melting.

There's like a look of relief that washes upon

her face, ignoring the fact that he is clearly

undead. And he's like, I brought you something,

mommy. And he pulls out his trusty scalpel, shows

it to her. And she's still like, oh, my God,

Gage. And she goes to hug him while I reiterate

he's holding a fucking scalpel. Then we hear

squelching and screaming as he slices her ass

up. But Rachel's demise, I understand. That makes

sense to me. She has likely been operating in

this. fog this haze of just like oh my goodness

I'm burying my youngest child he's lost to me

forever now here he is in front of me again like

how do I marry these two very different feelings

together and of course I can't expect her to

punt him out of the way like that's her baby

I get it very tragic though very tragic that

this is the way Rachel met her demise. And this

may be a little bit of a stretch, but I do wonder

if this entire scene between Gage and Rachel

was kind of emblematic of the feeling that some

parents have that parenthood isn't what they

thought it was going to be or they don't really

enjoy it or whatever it may be like. I think

some people may see children as the thing that

killed their fun in life, their enjoyment in

life. They can't travel and do shit like they

want to anymore. They have this restriction and

this ball and chain and shit. So yeah, it may

be a stretch and that may not be what Stephen

King intended to convey. But I think there probably

is someone out there who could watch that scene

and be like, damn. Yeah, that's how I feel. But

Dr. Dumbass wakes up the next morning and sees

Gage's muddy footprints are in his room along

with his open medical bag and the missing scalpel.

Rachel's dad then calls the house saying to put

Rachel on the phone because Ellie is absolutely

hysterical and convinced that her mother is dead.

And Louis has this look on his face like, oh

shit, I fucked up. Yeah, buddy. You did. So he

hangs up the phone saying he can't talk right

now and he starts heading down into the cellar

where he sees Gage's footprints lead and the

phone rings again. He answers annoyed thinking

it's Rachel's dad but it's actually Gage saying

he's at Judd's house and wants Louis to come

over and play with him. He says first he played

with Judd then mommy came over and he played

with her and now he wants to play with Louis

too. And hearing these lines in this childlike

voice, bro, was so chilling. Lewis grabs three

syringes and fills them with morphine and heads

over to Judd's. And he finds Church standing

watch on the porch. He tosses him a raw steak.

And while Church gobbles it up, he grabs him

and shoots him up with the morphine. And it kills

Church again. For good this time. He then walks

into the house and it's overgrown with like some

sort of dark green rot. But it turns out to be

an illusion created by Gage. He then discovers

Judd's fucked up body upstairs. And as he stumbles

out of the bedroom, Rachel's body then comes

crashing down from the attic hanging from a noose

as Gage laughs from up there looking evil as

fuck. This little minion then dives at Lewis

and tackles him to the ground and honestly is

whooping this man's ass, bro. He knocks Lewis's

second syringe out of his hand and bites a big

chunk out of his chest. He then stabs him a few

times with the scalpel, slices him a few times.

Eventually, Lewis is able to kind of like shove

him off and create a little bit of space, but

then he beckons to him to come close. And as

Gage does, he... takes his third syringe, plunges

it into his neck, and this time Gage dies. For

real. Lewis douses the place in gasoline and

burns the house down. He then carries Rachel's

body out of there and starts heading down the

path back to the burial ground because clearly

he has not learned shit throughout this entire

process. Also, he's definitely gone insane at

this point. So, you know, he's way too far gone.

But Pascal tries one last time to talk some sense

into Dr. Dumbass. He's like, bro, come on, don't

do this. You're going to make things even worse

than you already have. But Lewis tells him that

it will work this time because he knows he waited

too long to bury Gage. rachel just died so she'll

be fine and after burying rachel lewis returns

home he sits down on his kitchen floor starts

playing a game of solitaire as he waits for rachel

to come back and she does walk in with a missing

eye and the wound is leaking blood and pus she

looks immensely fucked up But apparently this

gets bro immensely bricked up because they start

making out as she slowly reaches for a steak

knife that's sitting on the kitchen table. The

screen goes black as we hear a squelch and Lewis's

screams echoing. End of movie. Man, that third

act, what a ride. I mean, when they were making

out, like... That blood and shit was like leaking

into dude's mouth and he was just like lapping

it up. Like, yeah, girl, there was like tongue

involved and shit. I'm like, oh my goodness,

this is some nasty ass shit. Like, dude has lost

his entire mind. Wow. So yeah, I think the overarching

theme of Pet Sematary is grief and our ability

or inability to deal with it. And our ability

or inability to accept fate and the cards that

have been dealt to us. Trying to save one thing

led to losing everything. That is some bleak

ass shit. And this ties into the theme of parenting

that we kind of touched on earlier. How do you

find that balance between wanting to protect

your children with allowing them to learn about

the inevitabilities of the real world? And I

don't know, man, like, honestly, I think about

this from time to time when it comes to my own

kids. Like, I know we're going to have tough

conversations in our future and it's going to

be hard to like walk that line between, you know,

being honest with them without, you know, being

too honest. You know, you want to give them the

tools and the information they need to develop

into functioning members of society and adults.

But at the same time, like. How do you determine

when is the proper time to have those conversations?

I don't know, man. It's tough. Lewis was dumb.

He did some super dumb stuff, but he was understandably

dumb and tragically dumb. But that's all for

me. I'm out of here. Don't forget to follow and

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I'll see you in two weeks for the next Stephen

King adaptation breakdown. But in the meantime,

remember, always keep it spooky.

Pet Sematary (1989) Analysis & Recap: Goodnight Gage

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