Stephen King’s 1983 novel Pet Sematary received its initial cinematic adaptation in 1989, and another version of the story came out in 2019. With 2023’s Pet Sematary: Bloodlines, we get an expansion of the property in the form of a prequel to King’s original story.

Set in 1969, Jud Crandall (Jackson White) longs to leave his small hometown of Ludlow Maine. However, departure seems easier dreamed than done.

Jud learns secrets from the past that haunt him and appear to bind him to Ludlow. Along with some childhood friends, Jud attempts to confront and deal with these evils.

I never read King’s book, so my only experiences with the Sematary property came from the aforementioned movies and 1992’s Pet Sematary Two. I thought the 1989 version seemed silly and uncompelling.

The 2019 edition managed to improve on its predecessor. However, it still didn’t really connect, so it ended up as a spotty horror tale.

All of this left me less than optimistic Bloodlines would provide an especially compelling effort. Granted, it seemed possible that a reinvention of the property without the need to explicitly adapt King’s novel might work fine – though that didn’t help Sematary Two become anything more than mediocre.

Unfortunately, this new exploration fizzles. While Bloodlines attempts to find a twist on the King property, it never turns into anything compelling.

I figured I might be in trouble given the film’s attempts to connect the story to the Vietnam War. Bloodlines fails to do so in an organic manner and that becomes the problem.

Instead, the fact some Ludlow residents came back from Vietnam traumatized – and Jud escaped the draft via potentially “rigged” means - just feels like windowdressing. The content connected to the war lacks any real reason to exist in Bloodlines beyond cheap stabs at contrived substance.

In theory, Bloodlines could offer an intriguing “origin story” to give us more background about the nature of the supernatural shenanigans in Ludlow. Indeed, the movie does detail the root of these evil domains.

Unfortunately, it fails to make any of these topics interesting. We learn how the “pet sematary” came to be, but we don’t find anything especially involving along the way.

Bloodlines barely bothers to invest in its characters. We meet Jud and his girlfriend Norma (Natalie Alan Lynd) as eager to get out of their small town but the tale never expands much beyond that.

Granted, horror films don’t often deliver especially fleshed-out roles, so perhaps I shouldn’t fault Bloodlines too much for its sketchy roles. Still, this one seems more focused on characters than many, so the absence of real delineation becomes a more notable weakness.

Probably the biggest issue with Bloodlines stems from its basic lack of purpose. Perhaps an audience of King fans craved a prequel to Pet Sematary, but this feels like a movie created based on brand awareness more than a story with an organic need to exist.

Perhaps if Bloodlines delivered something involving, I wouldn’t mind the vibe that we get “cinematic product” here. Unfortunately, the movie just flounders and never does much beyond the basics.

This means a vaguely ominous – but not scary – tone and the usual allotment of jump scares. Nothing here ever threatens to deliver genuine frights or set the viewer on edge.

We get a decent cast here, as we find “names” like Henry Thomas, Samantha Mathis, David Duchovny and Pam Grier. All provide professional performances, even if it occasionally feels like they took the gig mainly as a paycheck.

They can’t elevate this tepid project, though. Essentially spooky music and jump scares in search of a story, Bloodlines becomes an ineffective horror prequel.

Pet Sematary: Bloodlines appears in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. The movie came with a positive presentation.

Overall sharpness appeared strong. Virtually no softness materialized, so the flick seemed accurate and precise.

I noticed no shimmering or jagged edges. Edge haloes and print flaws remained absent.

Despite the movie’s period setting, it opted for an orange and teal orientation that felt typical for modern movies. The disc reproduced them as intended.

Blacks appeared dark and deep, and shadows showed good delineation. Low-light shots offered nice clarity. In the end, I felt pleased with this appealing presentation.

As for the movie’s Dolby Atmos soundtrack, it added a bit of zip to the proceedings. A fairly atmospheric affair, the mix lacked a ton of zing, but it blasted music from all the channels and let the effects fill the spectrum.

Downconverted to Dolby TrueHD 7.1, a few violent scenes used the soundscape to the most impactful degree. These moments created a satisfying sense of place and setting.

Audio quality worked well. Speech was concise and natural, while music boasted fine range and vivacity.

Effects gave us accurate, dynamic elements without distortion. Though not a tremendously ambitious track, the movie’s mix seemed pretty solid.

Five featurettes appear, and Origins goes for 10 minutes, 16 seconds. It brings notes from producers Mark Vahradian and Lorenzo di Bonaventura, co-writer/director Lindsey Anderson Beer, and actors Henry Thomas, Chrisian Jadah, Samantha Mathis, Pam Grier, Isabella Star LaBlanc, Natalie Alyn Lind, David Duchovny, Jackson White, Forrest Goodluck, and Glen Gould.

“Origins” looks at the original novel and its update, story/characters and themes. Expect a mix of insights and fluff.

Fresh Blood lasts 12 minutes, two seconds. It involves Beer, di Bonaventura, Vahradian, White, Lind, Goodluck, LaBlanc, Thomas, Mathis, Duchovny, Grier, and actor Jack Mulhern.

Here we cover characters, cast and performances. Like the prior piece, it offers some useful content and some praise.

We learn how Beer came to the project as well as cast and performances.

Next comes Death’s Design. It spans nine minutes, 16 seconds and provides remarks from Beer, Vahradian, LaBlanc, White, Lind, Thomas, Goodluck, director of photography Benjamin Kirk, and production designer Adam Scher.

With this one, we get info about photography, sets, locations and production design. This turns into a pretty effective view of those topics.

Method to the Madness goes for 11 minutes, seven seconds. It offers info from Beer, di Bonaventura, Duchovny, Vahradian, LaBlanc, Mulhern, Grier, White, Kirk, Lind, stunt coordinator Jean Frenette, lead animal wrangler Melissa Millett, and special effects lead makeup artist Bree-Anna Lehto.

“Method” looks at the movie’s “evil” characters as well as stunts/action, visual composition and effects. We find a reasonable take on the domains.

Finally, War Comes Home fills 12 minutes, 25 seconds. This one gives us material from Beer, Thomas, Vahradian, Grier, Jadah, Kirk, Scher, di Bonaventura, Lind, White, Mulhern, Duchovny, Frenette, Goodluck, and lead on-set armorer Brent Radford.

The featurette digs into aspects of the movie’s climactic scene and ending. It works fairly well.

As a prequel, Pet Sematary: Bloodlines gives fans a form of origin story. Unfortunately, it finds nothing creative or impactful to do with the property. The Blu-ray delivers strong picture and audio along with a mix of featurettes. Bloodlines does nothing to invigorate the Pet Sematary franchise.