- Directed by Lindsey Anderson Beer
- Written by Lindsey Anderson Beer, Jeff Buhler, Stephen King
- Stars Jackson White, Natalie Alyn Lind, Forrest Goodluck, Isabella LaBlanc
- Run Time: 1 Hour, 27 Minutes
- Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYQdBXrAUqg
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
It’s a years-ago prequel of young Jud and his misadventure, showing us the story that he told as an old man. It wasn’t bad. In fact, it was more than okay. Everything was fine as far as cast and production values. It just felt unnecessary with few surprises, especially if you have seen or read the original Pet Sematary.
Synopsis
We hear about growing up in Ludlow, Maine and the Pet Sematary. Beyond that place was an evil place that was said to bring back the dead. “Sometimes, dead is better.” Credits roll.
In 1969, Bill Bateman drags a dead body through the woods. If you’ve seen the other films in the series, he digs a grave in a place that looks oddly familiar. We soon see a hand reach up out of the grave and grab the dog standing there.
We meet Judson Crandall, his parents, Kathy and Dan, and his girlfriend, Norma. Jud runs into Bill at the store, and they all look at a photograph of Timmy, Bill’s son. Bill says Timmy just came back from Vietnam. Everyone is glad to hear that Timmy came home in one piece.
Judson and Norma plan to join the Peace Corps, and his parents are skeptical. Dan suggests that maybe Jud shouldn’t come back; this town seems to suck people in and never let them go.
Mayor Benson talks to Marjorie about finding an open grave big enough for a person and then some. He says they’re on watch tonight.
Jud and Norma get in the car to leave town, but they encounter Bateman’s dog, and it’s filthy and sickly looking. They walk the dog home and encounter Timmy, who doesn’t appreciate that Jud didn’t go to the war.
We cut to Manny and Donna Rivers, two Native Americans who talk about modern music and her art projects. They go outside and talk about Jud leaving town. She’s been invited to do an art show in Buffalo, so she’ll be leaving, too. Timmy’s dog attacks Norma, and she goes into shock. He takes her to the hospital, and she’ll be fine in a day or two.
Jud runs into Manny, who’s been avoiding him, so as not to have to say goodbye. Jud goes back to see Timmy, but Bill says, “Timmy isn’t taking any visitors right now. He needs time to adjust.” Bill isn’t friendly about Jud avoiding going to war. We cut to Timmy, who’s making a list of names and fingerpainting in blood.
Jud confronts his father about paying off officials to get him out of the war, which he does not deny.
Marjorie runs into Timmy and his dog on the road, and he’s weird. He talks to her about her father, who hung himself decades ago, quoting his suicide note. She calls the mayor and fills him in about Timmy. He asks, “You really think Bill buried Timmy?” Not long after, the dog sneaks inside and attacks Marjorie.
Manny and Donna have a weird 60s party with people wearing creepy masks. Timmy shows up and wants to dance with Donna. He asks her about her dreams, and Manny tackles him. “You’ll die here,” he says. Donna says, “That’s not Timmy. Something’s talking through him.”
The mayor meets with Dan, the sheriff, and Marjorie, who’s not looking too good anymore after killing the dog that attacked her. They all know about the town’s secret. But they still fart around for a while, not actually doing anything about it.
Jud sees someone peeking into his window and calls Manny to help. They both know it’s Timmy, but they don’t know why. They go to the church, which has all the old town records.
Timmy comes to see Donna late at night at her place, and he stabs her. He drags her to the old burial ground and buries her.
Jud and Manny go to see the priest at the church, and we get a flashback to hundreds of years ago when the white explorers moved into the area formerly controlled by the Native Americans. They walk through an old animal cemetery and then to the weird Indian burial ground beyond that. The Indian shaman is wearing the same kind of mask that Donna has been making. He tells that one of their guys, Ludlow, had been buried in “the sour earth.” Ludlow turned into a cannibal, so they shot him in the eyes.
We cut to Dan reading from an old diary given to him by his father with entries by many ancestors. Apparently, trouble has been coming back to town over and over. “You must aim for the eyes; it’s the only way to kill them.” In the morning, Dan takes Jud to the burial ground and tells him everything. “It’s like a sickness that we have to stop from spreading.”
Now-undead-Donna goes to the hospital to visit Norma. Donna kills the doctor and the nurse and then chases Norma up the stairs.
Dan talks to Bill, who regrets burying Timmy in the first place. Manny, Jud, the sheriff, and most of the other characters converge on Bill’s farm. Dan is supposed to go inside for the girls while Bill distracts Timmy. The sheriff will set the place on fire.
Donna stabs Manny. Timmy kills the sheriff and the mayor. Donna then stabs Dan with a rifle. The house is on fire, so Bill tells Jud and Manny to wait it out with him in the cellar, which makes no sense at all. But it allows them to find a long tunnel that Timmy must have dug down there, and they crawl in with guns.
Norma’s in those tunnels somewhere, and they look for her. Timmy finds and kills Bill. Manny shoots Timmy with the flare gun, and it appears to kill him. Norma gets out of her muddy prison without help and runs to Jud.
Manny leaves town with a big smile on his face. Jud, however, moves in with his mother and never gets out.
Commentary
It seems like everyone of importance in town knows that Timmy’s a monster, so why didn’t they do anything about it for so long?
Overall, it’s a feature-length retelling of what Jud told Creed in the original “Pet Sematary” (1989). It’s fine, but there aren’t any surprises at all. It’s pretty generic and wasn’t a necessary story that needed to be told.