Pet Sematary

If you want a drama that takes its characters as seriously as its plot, Pet Sematary is available in Australia on Paramount Plus, and in the US on Hoopla right now. The length is exactly right for the story it is telling — nothing rushed, nothing dragged out. 3,450 people have weighed in on TMDB, and the verdict leans heavily positive. Jason Clarke anchors it with a performance that rewards close attention. There is no real reason to keep putting it off — it is right there on Paramount Plus.

Pet Sematary is not trying to be everything to everyone, and that focus is exactly what makes it work. Pet Sematary trusts its audience to sit with discomfort instead of resolving it too quickly. Dr. Louis Creed and his wife, Rachel, move from Boston to Ludlow, in rural Maine, with their two young children. Hidden in the woods near the new family home, Ellie, their eldest daughter, discovers a mysterious cemetery where the pets of community members are buried. Jason Clarke and Amy Seimetz lead a cast doing genuinely serious work here. It was released in 2019. The performances in Pet Sematary do a lot of work in the silences between the dialogue. It knows exactly what it is, and does not try to be anything else.

Viewers drawn to character-driven storytelling will find plenty to sit with in Pet Sematary. It does not lean on comparisons to make its case. The complete film is available and best experienced without too much prior knowledge of where it goes. Jason Clarke carries the material with a performance that rewards close attention. Worth starting sooner rather than later.