DTHOmnibusThursday, April 27, 19899
Pet Sematary:' a g
By GUSSVEZE BOSS
Staff Writer
I love Stephen King.
As an avid reader of Stephen
King thrilters, I seized the oppor
tunity to review Pet Scstttary,
the latest movie based on one of
his novels, a spooky story about
pets who come back to Ufa What
l didnt know was that t was about
to witness the true King style on
the screen
l am also one of the few King
fans who have not read this novel
But that's OK. I wanted to see It
because I knew l had a certain
immunity to horror movies, in the
past, l have discovered that real
life Is the only thing that keeps
me from sleeping at night so, l
decided I couSd objectively judge
the merits of this movie as a pure
horror flick.
But be warned. I am very biased
when It comes to King.
Like a lot of King horror stories,
this taie features an all-Amerlcan
family, in this case. It Is the Creeds,
who have recently moved into
their dream house in the country.
No, the house is not haunted, but
it might as well be. Not only do
they Eve near ex-Munster Fred
Cwynne, but a path in their back
yard leads right to - you guessed
it a burial ground for pets.
And l;ke an those other gory King
novels, although the family is
constantly warned about their
fates, almost ail of them end up
mutilated. They should have got
ten the hint when Cwynne told
the family that the cemetery
spel'sd "sematary" on the sign
Is the place "where the dead
That would have been enough
for ma l dont want to hear any
dead thing tanc to me, be it Spot,
Fluffy or any one of the numerous
goldfish that I have unsuccessfully
kept
But Dr. Creed and his family
receive other warnings. One of the
dead actually does speak to the
doctor a patient who has been
crushed by a giant truck. He tells
Creed not to go over the barrier
behind the cemetery. No problem,
I'd tell him. The place gives me the
creeps anyway.
. Obviously, these warnings do no
good. I wont tell you much more
tM W. franklin SI, Chapd HM
Call740Sl
Thurs,427
Mary on the Dash
& ulllon Fence
Fri,428
Eddy Clearwater
Sat, 429
Bob Margolin
Sun, 430
Thin White Rope
Mon, 51
Fugazi .
Fri, 55
New Potato Caboose
- Sat 56--' . -
'-' Fetchin Bones
about this thriller, except that
Creed ends up going over the
barrier into a place "where the
dead walk." Of course, it would
have been a boring movie if the
family had been smart and Just
-kept to Itself.
If they had stayed to them
selves, they would have saved the
family a whole lot of strife,
though. Like I said, it takes a really
curious, stupid kind of folk to make
really good and scary things
happen.
King's characters, especially in
"Pet," make the story work
because they can seem like your
next door neighbor. Slowly, you
get to know them and eventually
bsn to share their desperation
and terror. Even though you know,
its "just a movie," you find your
self pleading with them to heed
those warnings, and you scream
when they scream.
The movie has an almost perfect
balance of suspense and gore.
During the last show Sunday night,
the audience was simultaneously
spooked several times. I might add
this is the same audience i thought
would never settle down during
the previews. But an especilly
intense part of the film finally
grabbed their attention. I felt the
floor vibrate as ail my neighbors
jolted at the same time.
For those of you who Eve for
horror movies that emphasize
blood spewing out of bodies, living
and dead, you wont be too dis
appointed. I can promise you at
least two really violent parts,
where the dead are seeking
revenge among the living, its not
Wf If T W "f T Y ,5? " f T W '
A
new
place
for lunch
with an
old friend
7. 't:
F . i a .
Northern Italian Cuisine
Carr Mill Mall. Carrboro
942-2400
ft&ft bating Mobile Travel Guide
ji' .V. .
AUKM
:r-r-f"
houlish
as gross as, say, the "Friday the
1 3th" saga, but It has Its moments.
For example, the dead guy who
warns Creed about the deadly
barrier walks around with a huge
gash in his head, and I think you
can even see brains. Besides this
one attractive trait, this waging
corpse is a beautiful shads of blue,
has milky-white eyes and keeps an
insane grin on his face
Another part that even turned
wmM
X
GARYOLDMAN KEVIN BACON
. NORTHWOOD
IESS HARPER KAREN YOUNG J0E
,.KEN GORD SJOHN
R
KISTRICTKD
ftl UHHI (UMWIM
OPENS FRIDAY, APRIL 28th EVERYWHERE.
Buy, sell or announce in The Daily Tar Heel Classifieds
for King fans
treat
my stomach was another of the
walking dead who was having a
hard time keeping fluid from
coming out of its eye. Good
enough for you?
If you saw "firestarter," another
novel written by King and made
into a movie, you might be led to
believe my loyalty to King has
hindered my ability to give this
review or maybe blinded me.
Once again, I havent read the book
mmmM
mm
4
A killer is back on the streets.
The only one who can stop him
is the lawyer who set him free.
jDuilMoDtM!.
JOHN DALYs) DEREK GIBSON HDALE FILM CORPORATION
PRODUCTION GMf OLDMAN KEVIN BACON CRIMINAL IAW
DON BAKER "JERRY GOLDSMITH SPHILIP MEHBIX, B.S.C. mCHRIS WIMBLE
DALY JEREK GIBSON "SMARK KASDAN "ROBERT MEAN
- ""MARTIN CAMPBELL
OIC)NAlSOUNDIIIAaALIUMAVAIlA8lEONAESCSAIlAMN0EltECODS.CASStTTESAN0COMWaD!SC$. AHnghtirmd. A MAJOR INDKPKNDUNT
Coovtiahl
about the kid who could bum
down buildings in a single thought,
but I did see the movie, in many
opinions, "Firestarter" the novel
failed as a movie. One would be
better off reading the book.
But if the written version of
"Pet sematary" Is better than the
visual, I highly suggest you read
it in a well-lit, crowded room. And
you might want to keep an eye
on Spot ;
v
nnioL"ysTPoi
A FILM FROM
14FMTWT 17
1989H.mda4eFilmCsrDoraKn. A. - " "-TJU