As a big fan of horror and Stephen King, it's surprising that the original Pet Sematary wasn't a film I saw until a few years ago. Since the original feature was released in 1989, a disappointing sequel, Pet Sematary Two, followed in 1992. Just when I thought the franchise had been put to rest, the 2019 remake of Pet Sematary arrived, which I watched as part of a double feature with Pet Sematary: Bloodlines. After all, it's spooky season, and I wanted to give the modernized versions of the franchise a chance.

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The events of Pet Sematary: Bloodlines take place in 1969, and the film is a prequel to the 2019 film. We follow a young Jud Crandall (Jackson White), who is fixing to leave town with his girlfriend Norma (Natalie Alyn Lind) as they plan to start a new life elsewhere. However, when weird incidents start occurring, Jud attempts to uncover the mysterious history of Ludlow.

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One thing that instantly took me out of the Pet Sematary: Bloodlines' viewing experience is its inability to reflect the time period it's supposed to be set in. There isn't enough attention to detail with set pieces and wardrobe choices for the 60s to be captured effectively on-screen. That said, I was willing to look past it, and it is the least of the film's worries.

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Lindsey Anderson Beer brings her ideas and vision to Pet Sematary: Bloodlines, but the film provides answers to questions that were never asked. This is the challenge with most remakes and prequels that already have dedicated followers of the original work who are protective of the material and have so much nostalgia invested. Providing more context dilutes the mystery that made the original such a classic in the first place and rarely creates the same magic or expands on the story satisfyingly. In a nutshell, Pet Sematary: Bloodlines rehashes common ground, fails to build suspense, and lacks an inviting atmosphere, and none of the new details provided are particularly interesting.

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The film introduces new faces, but it's hard to become emotionally invested in each when we know they aren't likely to make it past the credits, as they don't appear in the sequel. There is, however, some impressive talent among the cast—enter David Duchovny and Pam Grier—but Pet Sematary: Bloodlines confines them to a dull script. Some of the cinematography is impressive, with some beautiful shots here and there, but the story accompanying them leaves more to be desired. Gore is effective, and some of the killing scenes are well executed, but attempts to liven up the story with an overabundance of jump scares which becomes tiresome very quickly.

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If you're a hardcore Pet Sematary fan and are intrigued by an expansion of the town's mythology, then you might want to tick this off the watch list, though I’d keep your expectations low.