I went and saw this new one yesterday. I also watched the old one the night before.
I never liked this original movie at all. I thought the acting was wooden and passionless. I wanted them all dead in the first 20 minutes.
This new one looked good. The modern visuals were much better. I liked this family of actors much better. I liked the cat better. The long hair really emphasized the horrific death. Instead of just looking like red Karo syrup was poured on the cat like in the first movie, this cat looked matted and torn up, clotted.
I preferred the first Victor Pascow to the new one. I preferred Jud Crandall in the first one for sentimental reasons, but I felt the new Jud was more fleshed out and his reasons for showing Louis the Sematary beyond the Pet Sematary were more believable. I never quite got why a man would take someone to such a horrific place knowing full well they don't come back the same. That dead is better. His experience with his own pet, John Lithgow's Jud explained that his dog had a mean streak to begin with and he thought that was why he came back so evil. He thought that Church being a good and sweet cat, would come back good and sweet. So that made the reason he did it more convincing. A little more honorable.
The added sister scenes and information made Rachel more acceptable in her frailty. Glad they added that.
This new family, while I did like them better, did have the same sort of flat affect as the first family, and as I watched the movie, I thought, okay, this is a perfectly fine movie. I accepted it because they were staying close to the lines of the first movie.
And then the last 20 or so minutes unfolded.
Brilliant. F'ing brilliant. I LOVED that Ellie was the dead child. She was so good. They were able to use visuals with her that they could never do with a baby. The evil rot she brought to the story was so much better!
I loved the fake-out with Jud and his achilles heel. That visual was the most powerful to me from the first movie, and I was curious what they would do. And they did a great job with it. I was there with Jud, my breath catching with every step he took, and then the unexpected twist. When they gave us the moment and focused on it and then didn't do it, I physically sagged and breathed. My guard for that particular visual went down. I said to myself, they aren't going to do it. And then a couple seconds later, they got me!
So, the first movie was a C-, D for me. This second movie was moseying along at about a B- because I was loving the updated look of it and the additional story information. I was just meh-ing along -- until the last 20 minutes. Then it ratcheted up to an A+.
And the ending. I loved that ending. Sweet baby Gage! THat visual was brutal and chilling. My heart is racing just thinking about it.