[Book] Pet Sematary - Stephen King

mTk

mTk

FGM Lieutenant General
FGM MEMBER
Joined
Nov 5, 2009
Messages
12,472
Reaction score
9,350
Location
Montara, CA near San Francisco
I was recently watching the movie adaptation of Stephen King's novel "It".
Back in the day I was a huge King fan. I read them as fast as he could write them. Not an easy task.
I think that "It" is/was my all-time favorite scary book. Times have changed and things that scared us a long time ago get sort of a "meh" reaction now. Just natural.
But back then this very large novel was a page turner and as scary as Pennywise is in the movie(s) he was twice as scary in my head! If you haven't watched the most
recent release of the movie (do not watch the first version as it was just dreadful, as were all the initial Hollywood efforts to bring his books to the big screen) and enjoy
(good) scary books you really should give this one a go. Not recommended for reading at night. Binge watch the movies Chapter 1 & 2 later if you must. They are actually
decent. Chapter 2 has Jessica Chastain perfectly cast as Beverly so there's that.
"Uh, mTk? This the Pet Sematary review, right?"
"Alright. I'm getting there."
There are some movies in particular that I've seen that I thought were terrific. That said, they had some scenes in them that creeped me out so much in some ways that I
just never want to see that movie again. I'm sure you have a few of those too. Reservoir Dogs, Goodfellas (Joe Pecci!), Taxi Driver just as samples.
Then there is Pet Sematary . While It still remains my favorite scary book, Pet Sematary is my all-time scary book with a highest degree of Eww! Father loses his son to
an accident and by using some bad ju-ju believes he can bring him back to life. It starts out being emotionally wrenching and then...eewww. Wonderfully scary and creepy
and I will never read that one again. However, if the genre appeals to you then you should read it...once.
Sometimes, dead is better.
p.s. Also, under no circumstances take a short cut and watch the 1989 or 2019 movie versions! They just do not do the creep factor justice. Your imagination will take care of
that for you quite nicely.
---
 
I'm in the same boat.
I guess I was a voracious King fan but as you say I got a older and his the books didn't much scare me anymore.
Pet Cemetery freaked me out a bit alright. When the cat showed up...yikes.
Kind does a great job of describing not only visuals or the senses but of smells. The way he described the way the cat smelled you knew good things were not going to happen. ;)
My favorite was always The Shining. Scared the bejesus out of me. I read the book before seeing the movie and was a little disappointed that the movie didn't have the topiary and instead used a maze.
Also the ending was very different.
 
  • Like
Reactions: mTk
I agree. King is a master at description that can send your imagination in to overdrive.
Unfortunately, it's hard for a movie to stimulate your imagination having only visuals. The music does help.

One of the better book to movies of his, I think, was Salem's Lot.
That was more of a series though.
Still, James Mason was great and the Nosferatu looking vampire was pretty cool. :cool:
 
So true! "Salem's Lot" may have been his first and I was hooked thereafter.
There had been very little (if any) in the way of books that described vampires in modern times. Usually they slept in coffins in Eastern Europe. :sneaky:
That setting was unique at the time.
When I read the book it took me quite a while to figure out what was going on. The suspense was terrific.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom