What is Pet Sematary about?
After the Creed family's cat is accidentally killed, a friendly neighbor advises its burial in a mysterious nearby cemetery.
Does it have a happy ending? (spoiler-safe)
No. Brace yourself.
Pet Sematary (1989)
A family's grief becomes a chilling nightmare when a mysterious burial ground promises a terrifying return.
Bleak and suspenseful. A full-attention watch at a measured pace. Emotionally it is devastating.
Streaming on Paramount+, AMC+, Kanopy (free), Hoopla (free), YouTube (free) and Tubi (free).
Pet Sematary parents guide
What we could confirm fits an R: real scares and several jump scares.
- Scare
- Properly scary
- Frightening, not just tense.
- Jump scares
- Several
- More than a couple of sudden jolts.
- Gore
- Graphic gore
- Blood and wounds shown clearly.
- Violence
- Strong violence
- Violence is frequent or intense.
- Sex and nudity
- None flagged
- It is rated R, so treat our zero as unconfirmed.
- Language
- Moderate
- Some strong profanity, a few f-words.
How we rate: an AI reads what is known about each title and tags it 0 to 3; we check the tags against a hand-rated set and correct them by hand when readers tell us. Estimates, not a scene-by-scene review. Spot a mistake? Tell us.
Three questions
- Is Pet Sematary scary?
- Yes, properly. Pet Sematary is the real thing without being an endurance test.
- How gory is Pet Sematary?
- Graphic gore and strong violence. If graphic gore is a dealbreaker, skip it.
- What is Pet Sematary rated, and is it OK for kids?
- Rated R, and it earns it: real scares, several jump scares and strong violence. Not one for kids.
Cast and crew
Directed byMary Lambert
StarringDale Midkiff, Fred Gwynne, Denise Crosby, Brad Greenquist, Michael Lombard, Miko Hughes
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Pet Sematary is on our Zombies, Ghosts and hauntings, Horror on Paramount+, AMC+ and Horror on AMC+ lists.
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Uses the TMDB API; not endorsed or certified by TMDB. Intensity, content, tone and pace tags are CouchRot's own.