So I was excited when I saw Octavia Spencer was in this. But the climax which reveals Ma's motivation fell flat. With an almost naive

Parts of the storyline just hang a bit loose. It's the story of the evil Black woman in a nice white town, and I don't even think this is too spoilery. There are truly bizarre torture scenes which are nonsensical rather than terrifying.

#spooktober #movie #horror

The same human urges: abhorring death and clinging to life, exceptionalism (“it won't happen to me”, “it'll be different this time”)

Pet Semetary treads very well-established ground for King stories. The conduit of evil is the American, white, middle-class man with repressed emotions and a Troubled Past; horror is tied up with disability*; an overwrought ending.

I enjoyed reading the book, but seeing it in movie format makes it lose a little of its shine.

SPOILERS BELOW THIS CUT

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• In particular, one of the characters' driving source of fear centers around her disabled, bedbound relative. But it's not so much about her guilt for wanting that relative dead – although that was explicitly stated – it focused more on the physical aspect. A scene leading to the climax has that character seeing herself become that relative. The creators of this film used physical disability as shorthand for horror and “unlife” – as with “undead” – and that is unacceptable.

#movie #horror #spooktober