Unearthed & Untold: The Path to Pet Sematary

I need to get this out of the way first thing. I may be really, really biased on my enjoyment of this. Most of Pet Sematary was shot less than 50 miles from where I live and I know many of those locations well.

The directors did a wonderful job creating a very well put together documentary. Their interviews with cast members and people involved with the film, coupled with revisiting of the locations were a fantastic insight into the behind the scenes of the film. I learned a ton about the film I didn't know.

You can tell this was a labor of love project from the filmmakers. It definitely shows. A must watch for fans of the movie, Stephen King fans, or people from the area in Maine.

My rating: 9/10

This was a documentary that I watched while working. I treat these like a podcast where I'll follow what they're saying and if I don't have anything pop up, I'll watch the accompanying video. Pet Sematary is a movie that my sister and I would watch regularly. It always seemed to be on the movie channels. It is one that I've also gotten the chance to see at the theater, thanks to the Gateway Film Center.

What I like about this documentary is that tracked down both actors and people that worked behind the scenes to make this movie happen. We are getting things that happened during pre-production. Something that I never knew was that this had struggles being made. It was thought that Stephen King properties wouldn't sell. Due to a writer's strike, Paramount said they need scripts that were ready to go. The producer who was pushing this to get made saw her chance and it still took convincing.

Something else I didn't know was that Mary Lambert was selected to direct this because she was the 'it' person from her music video work. I'm glad she did as she brings a unique perspective. We hear from her about things that she decided as well as other behind the camera crew members. This includes people who selected locations, special effects people and the like. I also didn't know that King helped push to get this filmed in Maine. They also used local people for extras and other positions which was cool to learn.

Now a big thing here as well as the actors that were interviewed. Brad Greenquist, Susan Blommaert, Denise Crosby, Miko Hughes and Dale Midkiff, just to name the major people in the film. There is also Blaze Berdahl, who I didn't realize had a twin who helped out with taking on the role of Ellie Creed, Beau Berdahl Oliver. We even get interviews with Heather Langenkamp, whose now-husband, worked on this film. They also talked to Marky Ramone.

I'll say to end this out that it was well made. I love hearing stories about how they did certain things to help bring this world to life. Lambert was strategic and it seemed like had a good team. This is constructed well. The flow of pre, during and post-production makes sense. If you're a fan of Pet Sematary, I'd highly recommend giving this a watch. It gave me a deeper appreciation for sure.

My Rating: 8 out of 10.

It's not an amazing documentary, but it's okay. There's some things that I didn't know (and failed to ever look it up, if I'm honest) like that a boy played Zelda. Since I've been interested in filmmaking for quite some time, I found that aspect of it really interesting as well.. even though it seems that a lot of reviews here disagree. I just recently got into going to a local horror convention, so I've missed seeing various cast at those types of things, so it was neat seeing them today talking about the film. Especially the girls who played Ellie (also didn't realize twins played her). It also made me really how much I miss Fred. He was a good actor and such a presence in the film. Probably one of my most favorite characters in it, honestly. I loved hearing what the cast had to say about him and how close they got with him.

Someone complained about how Stephen King wasn't involved in this and well..he only was on set for the first day, rehearsals, and for his one small scene..what would he have to offer in regards to the movie? Although I would've WAY preferred to hear from the man himself where he got the inspiration for the book, not his friend. But it was still interesting information anyways since it's one of my top favorite books of his.

Decent movie overall but a little lackluster. Made me want to revisit the movie again, though and all the gross and creepy scenes in it.

The stage curtains open ...

The film starts out with Stephen King talking about his book, Pet Sematary, at a UMass event and his expression was that he didn't think anyone would want to read anything like it, so he put it in a drawer. That was the most interesting part of the documentary, at least to me, and it was gone far too quickly.

Unearthed & Untold: The Path to Pet Sematary isn't anything significant or noteworthy. This documentary could just as well have been in the Bonus Materials section of the DVD or BluRay to this movie. It was more of a sentimental journey as we remembered one of our favorite horror films brought to the screen. There were some interesting little factoids here and there, but certainly nothing that was "unearthed" or "untold". These are some common stories that we've already heard before surrounding the production of the movie.

It does have interviews will all the actors involved with the film, and it was fun to see what they look like today and some of the stories they had to share. But, in the long run, this was a bit of a yawner. If you are passionate about this film, then you would enjoy this. For the average movie goer, however, there is nothing special here.

Unearthed & Untold: The Path to Pet Sematary (2017)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

It seems like this documentary on the making of PET SEMATARY came out of nowhere with very little pre-release buzz and now that the film is available it seems no one is really talking about it. That's really too bad because not only do you get interviews with the director, Mary Lambert and most of the cast members, there's also a great section of extras and crew members from Maine.

In today's age where it seems every movie is getting a Blu-ray release with some nice extras, it's rare that something like this comes along where we not only hear about the director and cast but also the countless extras in it. This documentary covers a lot of ground from Stephen King's research on the subject, to his living in Maine and then the writing of the story. We also cover the trouble it took to get the film to the big screen including the two rules King had for the film.

One of those rules was that the film had to be shot in Maine and this is where the documentary gets really great. We get to hear from so many of the locals who share their stories of Hollywood invading their small town and making this picture. We get to hear from some of the locals who ended up with memorable parts in the film as well as people who loaned their home to the studio so that the film could be made. There's all sorts of great stuff on display here and getting to see and hear things from the small town's perspective was quite entertaining.

The director and cast all look back on the making of the film with a lot of joy and there are some great behind-the-scenes production photos and some video. You get to see many of the locations that were used and how they look today. Pretty much, if you're a fan of the film then you're going to want to check this out as there just so much wonderful information to learn.