Pet Graveyard. Pet Sematary. There might be some confusion when both of these films are released in April, but the title is where the similarities between the two end. One is the highly anticipated remake of a Stephen King classic, the other one… isn’t.
Pet Graveyard is the directorial debut of Rebecca Matthews (producer of Mother Krampus, Mandy the Haunted Doll, and Curse of the Scarecrow) and written by Suzy Spade (The Viking War). Brought to life by Milman Productions and Proportion Productions, two companies known for ‘mockbusters’ like this one.
Lily (Jessica Otoole) and Jeff (David Cotter) lost their mom, and have both gone off the rails. Lily’s grades are suffering, while Jeff has given up on education altogether, literally living life on the edge, trying to become a successful vlogger. Jeff meets Zara (Rita Siddiqui) and Francis (Hindolo Koroma) online, they’ve also lost loved ones – Zara her little brother and Francis his girlfriend – and the three plan to attempt ‘brinking’, a ritual used to cross over into the afterlife. They ask for Lily’s help because she’s a nurse (a failing student nurse, who they treat like an oracle for all things medicine, but whatevs).
As it turns out, you can’t just enter the afterlife for a minute and come back to the real world like nothing happened. “You can’t cheat Death, Zara” says her dead little brother Isaac.
What follows is a bizarre cross between Flatliners and Final Destination, with Death and his weird stoney face entering the mortal realm to claim those who tried to dip into the afterlife, making their deaths look like suicides. Again. Yep, it’s happened before and there’s articles online to prove it, along with a how-to guide on stopping the Grim Reaper killing your friends.
But where’s the pet graveyard in all of this? Well, there’s an adorably creepy Sphynx cat who shows up when someone’s about to die – according to the synopsis, this is the Grim Reaper’s cat, but you never actually see them together. And the ill-fated group go to a cemetery a few times – a people one, but still.
It’s clear from the special effects/makeup that this is a low budget movie, and the random mix of American and British actors make it feel a little thrown together. The way the characters react to what’s going on around them just doesn’t feel right either.
The thing is, this isn’t a terrible movie. Its ideas are far from unique, but the misleading title creates a high bar it just can’t hit. Apparently, the film was called Reaper until recently, and that would’ve been a better title for it. There’s a lot that could be improved in Pet Graveyard, but if you fancy a cheesy, basic, supernatural horror movie, you could do worse than giving it a shot.
Related Article: The Very Best and Worst Pets in Cinema
