Pet Sematary appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 2.39:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. For the most part, this seemed like a positive presentation.
My only moderate complaint related to low-light shots, as those could seem a bit dense and murky – and we found a lot of them. However, these remained reasonably accurate, and blacks looked deep and resonant.
Sharpness worked fine overall. A smidgen of softness crept into the presentation at times – usually during those darker shots – but delineation was largely appealing.
Neither jagged edges nor moiré effects impacted the image, and I saw no edge haloes. Source flaws also failed to materialize.
Colors went with a subdued sense of teal much of the time, so don’t expect a lot of oomph from them. Nonetheless, the disc reproduced them as intended, and some gentle pinks/purples added to the mix as well. Don’t expect this image to blow you away, but it worked well in general.
As for the film’s Dolby Atmos soundtrack, it provided a pretty impactful affair. Downconverted to Dolby TrueHD 7.1, the movie usually dealt with spooky atmosphere, and it did so well in that regard.
This meant the soundscape filled the speakers with moody, ominous material, and louder scenes used the spectrum well. For instance, when the first truck rumbles by the Creed house, the sonic jolt made me leap from my seat, and other horror elements packed a nice punch.
Audio quality appeared solid, with speech that came across as accurate and concise. Music seemed smooth and full, too.
Effects offered fine reproduction, with clean highs and deep bass. Low-end response boasted a real kick when necessary. This became a well-above-average mix for a horror flick.
In addition to an Alternate Ending (9:16), we find seven Deleted/Extended Scenes. These occupy a total of 16 minutes, 13 seconds of footage.
With the “Alternate Ending”, the film ends up in the same as the theatrical version, but it takes a slightly different path to get there. This “Ending” neither works better nor worse than the existing finale.
As for the other scenes, they tend toward additional character exposition. Some of this seems creepy, some of it adds a little depth, but none of it comes across as particularly memorable or useful.
Under Night Terrors, we get three character-based shorts: “Louis” (1:40), “Rachel” (2:08) and “Ellie” (1:09). These resemble deleted scenes but as implied by the title, they represent scary dreams from the characters’ points of view. They’re moody but not especially interesting.
Another short, The Tale of Timmy Baterman runs three minutes, four seconds and focuses on the fate of the title character. It’s good to see more of Lithgow as Jud and he makes this an interesting tale.
Within Beyond the Deadfall, we locate a four-part documentary that occupies a total of one hour, one minute and 22 seconds. We get comments from directors Kevin Kölsch and Dennis Widmyer, screenwriters Matt Greenberg and Jeff Buhler, producers Matt Vahradian and Lorenzo di Bonaventura, director of photography Laurie Rose, production designer Todd Cherniawsky, costume designer Simonette Mariano, lead animal trainer Melissa Millett, animal coordinator Kirk Jarrett, stunt coordinator Jean Frenette, key makeup effects artist Kathy Tse, and actors Amy Seimetz, Jason Clarke, John Lithgow, and Jeté Laurence.
“Deadfall” looks at the source, its adaptation and comparisons with the 1989 film, story/characters, and the directors’ approach to the material. We also hear about cast and performances, sets and locations, costume and production design, photography, animal performances, stunts and various effects.
While I wish we got a commentary, “Deadfall” acts as a good substitute. It covers a nice variety of topics with reasonable depth, so it becomes a solid examination of the production.
A new adaptation of Stephen King’s novel, the 2019 Pet Sematary offers a much more satisfying tale than its 1989 predecessor. However, when viewed in isolation, the 2019 Sematary fares less well and succeeds on an inconsistent basis. The Blu-ray boasts generally good picture along with impressive audio and a few bonus materials. While much better than the original version, the 2019 Sematary remains only sporadically effective.