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Late to the Party: Pet Sematary

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Scene from Pet Sematary

I’m a little embarrassed to admit how little exposure I have had to Stephen King. I wasn’t sheltered and my family even collected his books but for some reason his stories always escaped me. I haven’t seen Christine or Cujo and I didn’t even see The Shining until I had reached adulthood…I told you it was shameful. I truly am late to the party in so many ways especially when it comes to Pet Sematary.

I have never read a single Stephen King book. Before you sharpen your pitchforks, let me tell you, I’ve tried. For some reason I can never get past the first few chapters. I love all of the stories that pump out of his nightmare factory of a brain but the writing can be just dry enough to keep my mind from connecting.

But I’m doing it, I’m stepping out of my comfort zone and delving into Pet Sematary. My first thought…”Jesus how long is this intro?” My second thought…”Yeah let’s leave the diapered child ALONE near the road with the speeding semis.” Thank god for Fred Gwynne. I can already tell I’m not going to like this.

I have always had an aversion to movies where something happens to children and with the opening scene and the parents’ obvious “let the child parent himself” attitude, that kid won’t make it through the whole movie.

Who moves to a house where speeding semis are going by constantly? It happens day and night. Unless they didn’t go look at the house before they bought it, there’s no reason a family with a child that small and who let their kids just wander should be living that close to a major road, but I digress.

I immediately didn’t like the characters of Louis and Rachel. They seemed stubborn and irresponsible. They move to this big house in Maine with their two children, Ellie and Gage and their cat, Church. Their neighbor Jud (Fred Gwynne) is tall and intimidating but is the voice of reason. They live near a cemetery with the bad grammar for animals but behind it lies another cemetery that used to be an Indian burial ground (of course it was). Anything buried there comes back but not like they were before.

While his family is away, Louis finds Church dead in the yard after getting hit by one of the (surprise) speeding trucks that frequent the road. He buries Church in the “real cemetery” behind the pet sematary and behaves as surprised as his acting allows. If you can’t tell, I find the adult acting in this movie to be akin to a shot of botox in the face, Fred Gwynne being the exception. The kids on the other hand, especially Gage, outshines the adults.

While we all know a toddler isn’t going to be the most amazing actor in the world, Miko Hughes was a bad ass in Pet Sematary. That little voice simultaneously terrified me and made me sad. Having a child his age, this movie bothered me. The supernatural aspect of this movie did little to chill my bones, but the knowledge that something that devastating can happen in the blink of an eye ran a cold chill up my back.

As you’d expect, one of those damn trucks got little Gage and Louis couldn’t take it, even though he knew the consequences. In exhuming his son’s body and burying it in the OTHER cemetery, he insured the death of his neighbor and his wife. Gage comes back just as cute but considerably more murderous than he was before. Louis has to take out his zombie cat and zombie kid with shots of morphine.

Gage’s second death was worse than the first one. It was truly hard to watch. Louis then decides, like the goddamn idiot he is, that his mistake was waiting for too long to bury the dead in that special cemetery. Since Rachel just died, she’s sure to come back normal right? Dumbass.

Rachel comes back alright and the screen cuts to black as Louis screams. Serves him right. The best part of this movie is the end credits. The Ramones provided the song “Pet Sematary” for the credits and it was my favorite part. Let’s just loop that song for an hour and a half and I would have felt better about it.

Out of the few other Stephen King movies I’ve seen, I could have happily done without this one. Maybe if I was childless or less critical I would have enjoyed it more. But since neither is the case, I could honestly give or take this movie. One thing seems to be a noticeable trend with King movies though…Stephen King hates kids. I just saw the new IT this past weekend and that just solidified my suspicions. Okay, I’m pretty sure he doesn’t really hate kids but he has no problems effing them up in his books.

Maybe next time I’ll watch something that doesn’t focus on kids getting the fuzzy end of the lollipop, like Misery. Like “Late to the Party?” Check out some of our most recent ones like Alien or The Shining.

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Brad Dourif Says He’s Retiring Except For One Important Role

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Brad Dourif has been doing movies for nearly 50 years. Now it seems he is walking away from the industry at 74 to enjoy his golden years. Except, there is a caveat.

Recently, digital entertainment publication JoBlo’s Tyler Nichols talked to some of the Chucky television series cast members. During the interview, Dourif made an announcement.

“Dourif said that he’s retired from acting,” says Nichols. “The only reason he came back for the show was because of his daughter Fiona and he considers Chucky creator Don Mancini to be family. But for non-Chucky stuff, he considers himself retired.”

Dourif has voiced the possessed doll since 1988 (minus the 2019 reboot). The original movie “Child’s Play” has become such a cult classic it’s at the top of some people’s best chillers of all time. Chucky himself is ingrained in pop culture history much like Frankenstein or Jason Voorhees.

While Dourif may be known for his famous voiceover, he is also an Oscar-nominated actor for his part in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Another famous horror role is The Gemini Killer in William Peter Blatty’s Exorcist III. And who can forget Betazoid Lon Suder in Star Trek: Voyager?

The good news is that Don Mancini is already pitching a concept for season four of Chucky which might also include a feature-length movie with a series tie-in. So, Although Dourif says he is retiring from the industry, ironically he is Chucky’s friend till the end.

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Editorial

7 Great ‘Scream’ Fan Films & Shorts Worth a Watch

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The Scream franchise is such an iconic series, that many budding filmmakers take inspiration from it and make their own sequels or, at least, build upon the original universe created by screenwriter Kevin Williamson. YouTube is the perfect medium to showcase these talents (and budgets) with fan-made homages with their own personal twists.

The great thing about Ghostface is that he can appear anywhere, in any town, he just needs the signature mask, knife, and unhinged motive. Thanks to Fair Use laws it’s possible to expand upon Wes Craven’s creation by simply getting a group of young adults together and killing them off one by one. Oh, and don’t forget the twist. You’ll notice that Roger Jackson’s famous Ghostface voice is uncanny valley, but you get the gist.

We have gathered five fan films/shorts related to Scream that we thought were pretty good. Although they can’t possibly match the beats of a $33 million blockbuster, they get by on what they have. But who needs money? If you’re talented and motivated anything is possible as proven by these filmmakers who are well on their way to the big leagues.

Take a look at the below films and let us know what you think. And while you’re at it, leave these young filmmakers a thumbs up, or leave them a comment to encourage them to create more films. Besides, where else are you going to see Ghostface vs. a Katana all set to a hip-hop soundtrack?

Scream Live (2023)

Scream Live

Ghostface (2021)

Ghostface

Ghost Face (2023)

Ghost Face

Don’t Scream (2022)

Don’t Scream

Scream: A Fan Film (2023)

Scream: A Fan Film

The Scream (2023)

The Scream

A Scream Fan Film (2023)

A Scream Fan Film
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Movies

Another Creepy Spider Movie Hits Shudder This Month

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Good spider films are a theme this year. First, we had Sting and then there was Infested. The former is still in theaters and the latter is coming to Shudder starting April 26.

Infested has been getting some good reviews. People are saying that it’s not only a great creature feature but also a social commentary on racism in France.

According to IMDb: Writer/director Sébastien Vanicek was looking for ideas around the discrimination faced by black and Arab-looking people in France, and that led him to spiders, which are rarely welcome in homes; whenever they’re spotted, they’re swatted. As everyone in the story (people and spiders) is treated like vermin by society, the title came to him naturally.

Shudder has become the gold standard for streaming horror content. Since 2016, the service has been offering fans an expansive library of genre movies. in 2017, they began to stream exclusive content.

Since then Shudder has become a powerhouse in the film festival circuit, buying distribution rights to movies, or just producing some of their own. Just like Netflix, they give a film a short theatrical run before adding it to their library exclusively for subscribers.

Late Night With the Devil is a great example. It was released theatrically on March 22 and will begin streaming on the platform starting April 19.

While not getting the same buzz as Late Night, Infested is a festival favorite and many have said if you suffer from arachnophobia, you might want to take heed before watching it.

Infested

According to the synopsis, our main character, Kalib is turning 30 and dealing with some family issues. “He’s fighting with his sister over an inheritance and has cut ties with his best friend. Fascinated by exotic animals, he finds a venomous spider in a shop and brings it back to his apartment. It only takes a moment for the spider to escape and reproduce, turning the whole building into a dreadful web trap. The only option for Kaleb and his friends is to find a way out and survive.”

The film will be available to watch on Shudder starting April 26.

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