Is Pet Sematary Scary? The Verdict and the Whole Plot
Yes, 6 out of 10. It is a slow, grim story about grief with a few nasty scenes along the way.
🐱THE SCARE SIGNAL
SCARE SCORE
6 /10
🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱
DREAD LEVEL
Medium
You may look twice at busy roads and helpful neighbors for a night or two.
DOG
Dog: not fine
not fine, and the dog's death is part of the backstory.
Ruling: Skip it if you have recently lost a pet, because this is a grim story about grief and a cemetery.
Pet Sematary runs 103 minutes and begins with the Creed family moving to a small town in rural Maine. Their friendly neighbor Jud takes them to a pet cemetery in the woods behind the house, and the sign spells it "sematary", which should have been the first clue.
The premise, briefly
A family moves to rural Maine and learns that the woods behind their house hold a burial ground that brings the dead back, with consequences.
How much do you want to know?
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The verdict above is spoiler-free. Everything below, including the ending, stays hidden until you pick a depth.
🐱CUT TO THE CHASE
How it ends
The revived Gage kills Jud and Rachel. Louis injects Gage with morphine and kills the cat, then buries Rachel in the burial ground anyway. She returns, hugs him, picks up a large knife, and the screen goes black before Louis screams.
The scene you're dreading
Near the end, the revived Gage kills Jud, then kills Rachel after she is lured into Jud's house by what looks like her dead sister. She bends down to hug him, and he is holding a scalpel.
The dog
Jud's childhood dog dies, is buried in the burial ground and comes back as a zombie, all as backstory. The family cat dies twice.
Pet Sematary is a slow story about grief where the worst scenes are in the last stretch, and the fear is mostly knowing exactly where Louis is headed.
THE SHORT VERSION IS HIDDEN
How it ends, the scene you're dreading, what happens to the dog, and the bottom line. About twenty seconds to read.
What actually happens
A cemetery that cannot spell
Louis Creed takes a job as a doctor and moves his wife Rachel, their children Ellie and Gage and the family cat, Church, from Chicago to Ludlow, Maine. Their neighbor Jud Crandall takes them into the woods to see a pet cemetery, which has misspelled its own name as "sematary". Soon after, Louis meets Victor Pascow, a jogger hit by a truck. Pascow warns him about the pet cemetery before he dies, and addresses Louis by name even though they are strangers. Later that night Pascow's ghost walks Louis to the cemetery and tells him to stay on the near side of the barrier. Louis wakes up thinking it was a dream, with dirt on his feet.
At Thanksgiving, while the family is away, a truck hits Church and kills him. Jud knows Ellie will be devastated, so he takes Louis past the pet cemetery to an ancient burial ground deeper in the woods. He tells Louis to bury the cat there and to keep it a secret. The next day Church comes home. He smells terrible, moves slowly, has glowing gold eyes, and is hostile to Louis. Jud explains that he once did the same for his own dog when he was a boy, and says the cat might turn out different but it spares Ellie the grief of losing her pet.
Sometimes dead is better, according to Jud
Later, Gage is killed by a truck on the same highway. Jud suspects Louis is thinking of burying the boy in the burial ground, though Louis denies it. Jud believes that showing Louis the ground woke up the evil in it and caused Gage's death. He tells him about Bill Baterman, whose young son Timmy died near the end of World War II and was buried there by his father. Timmy came back as something evil and terrorized the town, and a group of men including Jud burned the Baterman house, and Bill died along with Timmy. Jud insists the ground is evil and says "sometimes, dead is better". Once the funeral is over, Rachel and Ellie head to Chicago while Louis stays behind to wrap up loose ends. Despite warnings from Pascow and Jud, Louis digs up Gage and buries him in the burial ground. In Chicago, Pascow turns up in a dream of Ellie's and tells her that her father is about to do something terrible. Rachel calls and reaches only Jud, who says Louis is not home, and she decides to return to Maine.
Gage borrows a scalpel
This is the part people dread, and it comes near the end: the revived Gage kills Jud and Rachel, so here is how it goes. That night Gage returns home and takes a scalpel from Louis's bag. He taunts Jud and then kills him. Rachel gets home and follows what looks like her dead sister Zelda into Jud's house, but it is really Gage holding the scalpel. Overcome with shock, she bends down to hug him and he kills her. Louis wakes up, sees muddy footprints and finds the scalpel missing. Gage phones to say he has "played" with Jud and Rachel. Louis fills three syringes with morphine and goes to Jud's house, where he kills Church with an injection. He finds Jud's body under the bed, gets a fright from Rachel's body hanging in the attic, and then Gage attacks him.
The ending, explained
Louis wins the fight with Gage and injects him with morphine. He burns Jud's house down and takes Rachel's body to the burial ground. Pascow shows up again and tells him not to make it worse, but Louis, out of his mind with grief, is sure he waited too long before burying Gage and that Rachel's burial will work. That night Rachel comes back and they hug. She takes a large knife off the counter and the screen goes black before Louis screams.
The post-credits ruling
There is no post-credits scene. You can leave when the credits start.
✓ Spoiled safelyDog status: not fine, and the dog's death is part of the backstory.
Questions people ask at 1am
Is Pet Sematary scary?
Yes. Pet Sematary is a 6 out of 10 with medium dread: a slow story about grief with some nasty scenes near the end.
How does Pet Sematary end?
Gage kills Jud and Rachel, Louis injects Gage with morphine, and then Louis buries Rachel in the burial ground anyway. She comes back, hugs him and picks up a knife, and the screen goes black.
Does the dog die in Pet Sematary?
Yes. Jud's childhood dog dies, is buried in the burial ground and comes back as a zombie, all as backstory. The Creeds' cat Church also dies and comes back, then dies again.
Is there a post-credits scene in Pet Sematary?
No. Pet Sematary has no post-credits scene, so you can leave when the credits start.
Who is Victor Pascow in Pet Sematary?
A jogger who is hit by a truck. Before he dies he warns Louis about the pet cemetery, and afterward his ghost keeps appearing to warn Louis and Ellie about what Louis is about to do.
BLURRED FOR YOUR PROTECTION
The whole plot of Pet Sematary is hidden, ending included. It stays that way until you ask.
You can learn how Pet Sematary ends without going near the woods behind the house. Install Scaredy Cat and it blurs horror before you see it.
