Stephen King’s 1983 novel Pet Sematary has two movies from 1989 to 2019, and how do the endings stack up against one another?
Stephen King’s 1983 novel Pet Sematary is one of his most popular works and for good reason, as it tells the scary and sad story of the Creed family who moves to a country home and discover a nearby burial ground. The 1989 film adaptation and the 2019 remake follow the source material closely, from the same characters to the same main storyline, which is just as emotional as it is unnerving.
Do the two Pet Sematary movies share the same ending, and how do they compare to Stephen King’s original novel? Although movie and TV adaptations of King’s works don’t always fare well with fans or critics, it’s fair to say that Pet Sematary is a solid example of a time when his words translated well to the big screen.
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At the end of the 1989 Pet Sematary movie, Louis Creed (Dale Midkiff) kills his son Gage with morphine and burns Jud Crandall’s (Fred Gwynne) house down. Louis thinks that his wife Rachel (Denise Crosby) will be okay because he buries her in the ancient burial ground only a few hours after her passing. Unfortunately for Louis, the evil, dead version of Rachel hugs him and then pulls out a knife.
While the end of The Mist is devastating, the same thing could be said of Pet Sematary. Louis has lost his family and when he realizes that Rachel won’t ever come back to him, he has to grieve her for a second time.