You can read our review and summary of Pet Sematary by Stephen King and download Pet Sematary PDF ebook free at the end.
Read pdf Pet Sematary online absolutely free. Free online reading at Read-Any-Book.com. Pet Sematary En Espanol. A family moves to a rural home where they are welcomed and enlightened about the eerie 'Pet Sematary' located nearby.
Pet Sematary Review:
As there are a ton of horror and the fiction books in the market. But if we say that this one is far better than all the others then it will not be wrong. Pet Sematary is one of the most amazing books in the horror as well as in the fiction genre. Not just this but the book we are talking about has been selected for the many big awards as well. The main character of the book around which the story of the book revolves is Louis Creed. He is a new director of a University of Maine. Basically, he is a doctor from the Chicago city as well. As he gets the job, he moves to a new house near a town known as Ludlow. He is having a small and a very happy family. Having a wife and two kids as well.
The story takes a turn as they move to this new house. Suddenly some bad things start happening to the family. Not just this but there is a highway near their house which is a very high-speed route for the big vehicles as well. Their neighbor comes to their home in order to help them and ends warning them about the highway.
About Author Stephen King:
The writer of Pet Sematary is an American writer. Stephen Edwin King is known as one of the best writers in the American history. His work in the field of suspense, science fiction, fantasy and the supernatural fiction is the best wor without any doubt. Not just these but the horror books written by the same author are also the greatest books of all the time.
Features of Pet Sematary PDF:
English is the original language of the book.
The United States is the original publication place of the book.
There are 374 pages of this book.
The publication date of the book is 14th November 1983.
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A 1983 horror novel by Stephen King, Pet Sematary was nominated for a World Fantasy Award for Best Novel in 1984.
Louis Creed, a doctor from Chicago, moves to a house near the small town of Ludlow, Maine with his wife Rachel, their two young children, Ellie and Gage, and Ellie's cat, Winston Churchill ('Church'). Their neighbor, an elderly man named Jud Crandall, warns Louis and Rachel about the highway that runs past their house; it is used by trucks from a nearby chemical plant that often pass by at high speeds. A few weeks after the Creeds move in, Jud takes the family on a walk in the woods behind their home. A well-tended path leads to a pet cemetery (misspelled 'sematary') where the children of the town bury their deceased animals.
Louis has a traumatic experience as director of the University of Maine's campus health service when Victor Pascow, a student who is fatally injured after being struck by an automobile, addresses his dying words to Louis even though they have never met. On the night following Pascow's death, Louis is visited by the student's walking, conscious corpse, which leads him to the 'sematary' and refers specifically to the 'deadfall', a dangerous pile of tree and bush limbs that form a barrier at the back. Pascow warns Louis not to 'go beyond, no matter how much you feel you need to.'
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In the book, Louis is forced to confront death at Halloween, when Jud's wife, Norma, suffers a near-fatal heart attack. Thanks to Louis's immediate attention, Norma recovers. In the movie adaptation, Jud is single and the Creed's maid, Missy Dandridge, commits suicide in their basement and the Creeds help arrange her funeral. After Church is run over while the kids are visiting their grandparents with Rachel for Thanksgiving, Jud leads Louis beyond the deadfall to an ancient burial ground that was once used by the Micmacs, a Native American tribe. Following Jud's instructions, Louis buries the cat and constructs a cairn. The next afternoon, the cat returns home. However, while he used to be vibrant and lively, he now acts ornery and 'a little dead', in Louis's words.
Several months later Gage, who had just learned to walk, is run over by a speeding truck. Overcome with despair, Louis has Rachel and Ellie visit her parents again, not telling them his intentions. Louis exhumes his son's body and buries Gage at the burying ground. Gage returns as a demonic shadow of his former self, able to talk like an adult. Ellie has terrifying visions about that, which eventually convince Rachel to go back to Ludlow, where she meets Gage...
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After learning that Gage killed Jud and Rachel, Louis kills him with a morphine injection. After that, his mind is pushed into its final stage of insanity. Louis, now completely insane and having prematurely aged, burns down Jud Crandall's house, then carries Rachel's body to the burying ground, saying that he 'waited too long' with Gage but is confident that Rachel will come back the same as before...
King has said his goal was to write a novel too scary to be read all the way through, and many critics said he came uncomfortably close to accomplishing it. It's still regarded by many — including King himself — as the scariest thing he's ever written.
The 1989 film adaptation starred Dale Midkiff as Louis, Fred Gwynne as Jud, Denise Crosby as Rachel and Miko Hughes as Gage and was popular enough to warrant the sequel, Pet Sematary Two, in 1992.
The book was adapted again as Pet Sematary (2019) with Jason Clarke as Louis, Amy Seimetz as Rachel and John Lithgow as Jud.
This book/movie provides examples of:
Adaptation Expansion: In the book, Victor Pascow (after dying) only appears to first warn Louis in a dream of what's to come, then does the same to Ellie towards the end of the book. In the movie, Victor joins Rachel through her journey back to Ludlow, and appears one last time to beg Louis not to bury her in the burying ground, too.
Adapted Out: Norma Crandall; Jud is single in the movie. Missy Dandridge, the Creeds' housekeeper in the book, serves a similar role to Norma in the film. That is, she's the first character to die and sets the film's themes of how each character deals with death.
Adult Fear: Outliving One's Offspring and all the attendant fallout that comes with it. Other parental fears are brought up as well, such as worrying about a child's first day at school, or having to explain the concept of mortality to them. The film provides the Trope Image.
Animalistic Abomination: Any animals buried in the tainted burial ground come back as an undead monster with Ax-Crazy tendencies and Glowing Eyes of Doom.
Ascended Extra: Pascow has a much bigger role in the movie. He wasn't exactly an extra in the book, but he only actually appears on-page twice: immediately after the accident that kills him, and once in Louis' dream. He later appears to Ellie in the same way, but the reader only learns about it from Ellie telling Rachel after the fact.
Arc Words:
'The soil of a man's heart is stonier, Louis.'
'Sometimes, dead is better.'
'Hey ho, let's go.'
'Oz the gweat and tewwible.'
Ax-Crazy: Some of the animals (namely Hanratty the bull) resurrected by the burying ground become this, while resurrected humans are this trope times ten.
Biblical Motifs: Biblical excerpts about Lazarus of Bethany and the story of his resurrection by Jesus are quoted/paraphrased at the start of each section of the novel. For obvious reasons.
Big 'NO!':
Louis does this after Gage gets hit by the truck.
Also, Pascow does it in the movie at the end when Louis ignores his warning.
Black Comedy:
Louis, when Rachel tells him that her father bought Ellie six new dresses when they visited for Thanksgiving, thinks angrily to himself: 'He bought her six dresses, and I brought her god-damned cat back from the dead, so who loves her more?!'
After Gage dies, Louis, near to losing his sanity from grief can't help but think of dark jokes. For instance, when he buys the coffin, in his mind 'an announcer suddenly spoke up cheerfully: I got my kid's coffin free, for Raleigh coupons!'
Bolivian Army Ending: Book only. The last scene has the resurrected Rachel laying her hand on Louis' shoulder and saying, 'Darling.' What happens afterwards is left to the reader's imagination. The movie is less ambiguous — the final scene has Rachel swinging a knife toward Louis' throat before it cuts to black.
Came Back Wrong: The main conflict and the real reason why dead is better in this case. Animals buried in the Micmac burying ground usually come back as dumb and slow, with people feeling innate disgust towards them. Some animals become uncontrollably aggressive. Humans buried there inevitably come back as hideous, demonic monsters.
Cats Are Mean: Louis didn't want to neuter Church, because he liked him 'lean and mean', and thought that cats are 'gangsters of the animal world, living outside the law'. After Church was resurrected, he became downright sadistic, often killing and mutilating animals for fun.
Cat Scare: All over the damn place after Church's resurrection. Even in the book, where at one point Louis wakes up to find Church sitting on his chest and staring at him.
Continuity Nod:
Jud mentions Cujo when discussing all the problems with animals in the area.
Rachel passes by Salem’s Lot on her way back to Ludlow.
Cool Old Guy: Jud Crandall. Louis starts to feel like Jud is the father he never had.
Creator Cameo: Stephen King makes a cameo appearance as a minister who officiates at the funeral of Missy Dandridge in the film.
Dark Is Not Evil: Pascow's undead appearance is unsettling, but in spite of it he's the closest thing there is to a Big Good, attempting to warn Louis and prevent the destruction of his family.
Dem Bones: During Louis' maybe-not-a-Dream Sequence, the deadfall turns into a huge heap of tangled, writhing skeletons.
Death of a Child: The entire plot hinges on it. Halfway through the story, Gage is hit and killed by a truck on the route. The rest of the story covers how the Creeds deal with his passing—and in Louis' case, how he doesn't.
Despair Event Horizon: Louis rapidly starts approaching this after Gage's death. Jud and Rachel's deaths and being forced to kill Gage all over again finally send him shooting right over it, destroying him and shattering whatever remained of his already broken mind.
Downer Ending: One of the few totally straight and unambiguous ones King has ever written. Jud and Rachel are murdered by the resurrected Gage, while Louis has been driven completely insane after being forced to kill his son a second time. He places Rachel's body in the burying ground, and while his ultimate fate at the hands of his newly-resurrected wife is not shown, we can be reasonably certain it won't be pleasant. The death of everyone who knows about the burial ground means there's probably no one left to 'put down' Rachel, potentially leaving her free to wreak havoc. Ellie is the only member of the Creed family to survive; King has gone on record saying she was raised in a loving home and turned out okay, but she still has nightmares about the Pet Sematary.
Dying as Yourself: Gage returns to his former self just seconds before he dies a second time. 'Daddy!' Makes it even worse.
Averted in the film, as he remains as a sadistic monster until the end: 'No fair!'
Eldritch Abomination: The Wendigo that Louis almost sees when bringing Gage's body to the burying ground. Louis doesn't linger on it, but from what the reader gets, it's impossibly huge, with yellow eyes and a long, peeling tongue.
Eldritch Location: The Micmac burying ground beyond the Pet Sematary. Only accessible via a path through a deadfall, the burying ground has the power to bring back whatever dead creature is buried there, at the expense that they return either sluggish and mean or just plain monstrous. This in and of itself is unsettling, but it also has a strange power to it that makes people want to go to it without reason, and makes them want to tell others about its secret. On top of that, it seems the burying ground just radiates bad energy all over Ludlow, as the truck driver that kills Gage says he didn't know why he was speeding, just that he felt like he was supposed to.
Emotion Eater: It's suggested that the burying ground (or whatever's in it) feeds on grief and despair. It can go dormant for decades, but it's always hungry when it wakes up.
Empathy Doll Shot: The film uses Gage's kite and shoe. The novel has Louis focusing on Gage's cap (a child-sized Red Sox cap that Gage often refused to leave the house without) just after he comes out of the Hope Spot dream mentioned below.
Evil Tainted the Place: The burying ground. And it wasn't always an unspeakably evil place, but the explanations provided on how it went bad are vague, ranging from the bones of those victimised by cannibalism from times of starvation buried there, to a Wendigo staking its claim on the land. Or both.
Enfante Terrible: Gage when he comes back.
Eye Scream: It's implied Gage stabs Rachel in the eye with a cane, and later on in the movie Louis finds her with one of her eyes missing. The corpse has the same look.
Filk Song: The Ramonesprovided one. Dee Dee Ramone wrote it in one hour after skimming through the novel in King's basement, and the chorus is a good retelling of the quote atop the page:
I don't wanna be buried in a pet semataryI don't want to live my life again.
Foreshadowing: Almost to the point where everything is spelled out to the audience.
It borders on spoiling its own plot, at times. See Oh, and X Dies below.
To the extent that it's obvious Gage's death is not meant to surprise the reader. From the moment the discrepancy between the two death dates of Jud's dog is revealed, it's clear that Gage is doomed.
From Bad to Worse: The entire second half of the novel, after Gage dies. Heck, it starts with this sentence: 'It's probably wrong to believe there can be any limit to the horror which the human mind can experience.'
Genius Loci: The Micmac Burying Ground, in the sense that it is 'addictive' (people who have buried pets there keep making up excuses or finding reasons to use it again) and can project its will on people (it essentially drives Louis insane, and it makes Jud fall asleep so that he is too late to prevent Louis from going up there again to bury Gage). It's also heavily implied that it influenced the truck driver to hit Gage. At the end of the book, Louis' colleague sees the (quite obviously) insane Louis carrying Rachel's corpse, and almost ends up following him to help with the burial. It's implied that the only reason he doesn't is because whatever powers the burial ground is sated on Louis' grief and suffering, and so doesn't bother to push the other man too hard.
Good Parents: Rachel and Louis are genuinely good people who love their kids above all.
Gory Discretion Shot: Unusually for Stephen King, this is utilized when Gage kills Jud and Rachel. It is also used when Gage is hit by the truck, as no detail is given other than Gage was dragged a long distance after being struck, and this information is only given after the fact. Gage's death doesn't even really happen on-page, only in flashbacks.
Harmful to Minors: It is revealed that Rachel was traumatized by the early death of her sister, Zelda, from spinal meningitis. And it wasn't simply that she died, but that she died while Rachel (8 years old at the time) was watching her while their parents were out; what happened was that Zelda swallowed her tongue and Rachel was unable to keep her from choking to death. What made this even worse for Rachel was that, deep down, she resented the fact that she had to help take care of Zelda, and part of her wanted Zelda to die, because due to her suffering, Zelda became deranged and malicious.
Haunted House Historian: Jud Crandall, who relates the history of the Pet Sematary and the Burying Ground to Louis.
Heroic BSoD:
The family starts going through one after Gage dies. Louis drifts off and keeps replaying those last few seconds before Gage is hit by the truck in his mind, Rachel can barely dress herself and breaks down in tears multiple times, and Ellie stops talking almost completely for a while and constantly carries a photo of her and Gage everywhere she goes.
Louis gets even worse later in the book. After killing the resurrected Gage, Louis crouches down in a corner, and sucks on his thumb for two hours. Unlike other examples of this trope, he doesn't get better, he's just insane now.
Hope Spot: Not long after Gage's funeral, the narrative abruptly shifts gears with 'But none of those things happened', clarifies that Louis in fact did manage to save Gage from the oncoming truck, and spends a few pages powering through Gage's life until the point where he becomes a gold-medal Olympic swimmer... and then Louis awakens back into the reality where his son is dead.
Humanoid Abomination: Zelda is portrayed like this in the film. Also, anyone who was buried in the Micmac burying ground comes back as one.
Idiot Ball: Louis' poor thinking is understandable considering his deep trauma but Jud really has no excuse in the movie. He opens the door of a nefarious secret in the first place, even when he knows from experience that even if it's restricted to animals, it will go wrong. It may be justified somewhat in that the burying ground is able to influence people's decisions.
Ill Girl: Averted. The Goldmans knew exactly what was wrong with Zelda, and she doesn't endure her suffering gracefully, to say the least. Louis says that the idea of the Ill Girl, a 'the saintlike, long-suffering patient' is nothing but 'a big romantic fiction.' The constant suffering turns people mean, and they want to spread their misery.
I'm a Humanitarian:
Jud tells Louis that the Micmacs believed that the Wendigo incites cannibalistic cravings, though that might have been just an excuse: in particularly bad winters when food was scarce they had to eat human flesh to survive and blamed it on the Wendigo ('saying the devil made them do it', says Louis).
It's implied that Gage ate from Rachel's flesh after killing her.
Indian Burial Ground: The Micmac burial ground, naturally. Uncommonly for the trope, the land wasn't violated by settlers or construction; one day it simply went 'sour'. This was possibly caused by the burial of victims of cannibalism, which may have been incited by a Wendigo or may have just attracted one.
Intergenerational Friendship: Jud with the Creeds, especially Louis (and in the book, Norma also forms such relationships with the younger family).
'It' Is Dehumanizing: Louis begins mentally referring to Church as 'it' rather than 'he' immediately after its resurrection. While he justifies this to himself as taking the cat's neutering into account, Louis always called Church 'he' before he died. It's obvious that on some level Louis can't deny that it's not the same cat, if it even is a cat.
It's Quiet... Too Quiet: During Louis' second trip through Little God Swamp, the approach of the Wendigo is signaled not only by the vibrations of its footsteps and the sound of cracking underbrush, but the fact that the constant chorus of peepers and frogs suddenly goes silent.
I Was Quite a Looker: Norma Crandall, apparently. After her death, Jud wistfully tells Louis, 'You should've seen her when she was sixteen, coming back from church with her jacket unbuttoned...your eyes would have popped.' In context, it's a sweet, sad reminiscence.
Jerkass: Rachel's father, Irwin Goldman. Though, to be fair to him, he is genuinely upset about his toddler grandson's death when it happens. He also calls Louis later to apologize for his behavior and is a very loving grandfather towards Ellie, so he's not all bad.
The main reason Louis considers Irwin a Jerkass is because he tried to bribe Louis into not marrying Rachel, by offering to pay his way through medical school if he agreed to break off the engagement. The massive verbal throwdown this ignites is why Louis and Irwin loathe each other.
Just a Kid / Not Now, Kiddo: Ellie begins to have premonitions early on in the movie, but her parents shrug them off as simple nightmares.
Eventually, her mother believes her, but that just makes things worse: she goes back to Maine, and gets killed by Gage.
Last Disrespects: Rather than quietly grieving, IrwinGoldman uses Gage's funeral as an excuse to blame and then start a fight with his hated son-in-law for Gage's death and out of long time spite.
Lies to Children: This trope is brought up when Louis is thinking about his cousin Ruthie, who died when Louis was very young. His mother lied to him about where babies come from, but she told the cold harsh truth when Ruthie died after being hit by a kid who had stolen the keys to a payloader and went joyriding. Louis resolves never to lie to his children in that way, and tells Ellie where do babies come from, and that her cat will die one day. But ironically he can't bring himself to tell the truth to Ellie when Church is killed in the road, and he soon finds that the burying ground ensures that he doesn't have to.
Life Will Kill You: Brought up in the narration, in the form of 'Oz the Gweat and Tewwible':
He was around all the time, he monitored all the checkpoints between the mortal and the eternal. Dirty needles, poison beetles, downed live wires, forest fires. Whirling roller skates that shot nerdy little kids into busy intersections. When you got into the bathtub to take a shower, Oz got right in there too- Shower With A Friend. When you got on an airplane, Oz took your boarding pass. He was in the water you drank, the food you ate. Who's out there? you howled in the dark when you were all frightened and all alone, and it was his answer that came back: Don't be afraid, it's just me.
Like Father, Like Son: When Louis convinces Rachel to take Ellie and go to Chicago to stay with her parents for a while (in order to get them out of the house so he can re-bury Gage in the Micmac burying ground), Irwin Goldman calls Louis and apologizes for fighting with him at Gage's funeral. Louis realizes that he's acting exactly like Rachel: whenever she complains about something and finally gets her way, she would come back and say, 'I'm sorry I was such a bitch.' Irwin's apology is genuine but he is also calling to say 'I'm sorry I was such a bastard' after getting what he wanted, which was more time with his daughter and grandchild.
Locked into Strangeness: When Louis goes insane after killing Gage, his hair turns white.
Love Makes You Crazy: Louis' decision to try and resurrect Gage despite the fact that Gage would almost assuredly come back wrong is a combination of this and More Than Mind Control on the part of the burying ground itself. He would do anything to have his son back and the burying ground offers that opportunity, and encourages Louis to take it.
Love-Obstructing Parents: Irwin Goldman does not approve of his daughter's relationship with Louis and even tried to bribe the latter to leave Rachel alone.
Manly Tears: In the 1989 film, Irwin begins crying during Gage's funeral. His lines, therefore, become more greif-stricken demands for closure than the nasty accusations they are in the book and radio play. Louis also starts to cry after their brawl knocks over Gage's casket.
Monster from Beyond the Veil: This is what happens to almost anything the burying ground resurrects.
Mood Whiplash: The scary Smash to Black coda leads to end credits scored by the funny Ramones song.
In the novel, Pascow's death scene is followed by Rachel calling Louis and asking him to come home, whereupon she greets him at the door in sexy lingerie, which leads to an erotic encounter in the bathtub (with all the graphic detail King is known for), and this is followed by Louis' dream of Pascow's shade leading him up to the Pet Sematary and warning him not to cross the deadfall.
More Than Mind Control: In the book, the influence of the whatever-it-is in the burying ground is implied to be responsible for Gage's death, Rachel not making it back in time to stop her husband, Jud's telling Louis about the burying ground in the first place, and Louis's behavior in the last part is in fact a combination of its influence and the emotional wringer it's been putting him through.
Named After Somebody Famous: The cat, Winston Churchill, 'Church' for short.
Non-Indicative Name: The titular Pet Sematary is perfectly ordinary, if misspelled, and has no real plot significance. The real horror happens in the Micmac burial ground located just past it.
Nothing Is Scarier:
Used with the Wendigo in the book. Louis sees the glimmer of its eyes, and finds evidence of its passage, but never actually sees the creature itself.
In the book, all we get of the freshly resurrected (and likely murderous) Rachel is a hand on Louis' shoulder and one rasping word: 'Darling.'
Number of the Beast: In the film, the chemical truck Rachel rides back to the house is numbered 666 (the bottom half of the number is out of frame).
Obnoxious In-Laws: Rachel's father disliked Louis from the beginning, and even tried to bribe him (offering to pay his tuition through med school) if he broke up with Rachel. Louis told him to take his checkbook and plug up his ass with it. Not exactly a promising first step toward good relations with the future in-laws.
Overprotective Dad: Irwin Goldman, due to his dislike of Louis with his daughter Rachel.
Oh, and X Dies: Two examples.
'[Norma Crandall] had recovered nicely from her heart attack, and on that evening less than ten weeks before a cerebral accident would kill her, [Louis] thought that she looked less haggard and actually younger.' This is a fairly tame example, of course — since even before she was introduced, the shroud of natural death has hung over Norma, and she and those around her are quite comfortable with it. We know as readers that she'll die in the course of the story, probably peacefully before the horror begins, so Foreshadowing her death this baldly isn't a huge deal. It's nothing like the Wham Line toward the end of Part One, during the kite flying scene...
'And Gage, who now had less than two months to live, laughed shrilly and joyously.' Later on in the very same page, King even explains that 'marbles were really not the problem [i.e. the hazard that would soon take Gage's life], and chills were really not the problem, that a large Orinco truck was going to be the problem, that the road was going to be the problem...' A few pages and two months later, and Gage is dead.
Oh, Crap!: On Louis' second trip through Little God Swamp, he hears the sound of some creature approaching, something massive enough to cause the boggy ground to shake under his feet. He notices that the constant noise of frogs and insects has suddenly gone silent and he freezes in complete terror:
(oh my God oh my dear God what is that what is coming through this fog?)
Older Than They Look: When Louis first meets Jud, he thinks that Jud is around 70. He's actually 83.
Orphaned Punchline: A joke is mentioned about a Jewish tailor who bought a parrot whose only line was 'Ariel Sharon jerks off.'
Outliving One's Offspring: The main theme of the book is how people deal with the deaths of loved ones; Louis Creed being unable to cope with Gage's death leads to the destruction of everyone close to him.
Parental Favoritism: Downplayed; Louis does genuinely and deeply love Ellie, and is a perfectly good father to her, but he seems to enjoys spending time with Gage just a tiny bit more than he does with her. After the accident, however, all he can think about is how he failed to save Gage and how he might be able to bring him back. In his Heroic BSoD state he starts to neglect both Ellie and Rachel, despite Steve and Jud telling him that they need his support now more than they ever have.
Parental Substitute: Jud is a father figure for Louis who lost his own father at a young age. When Louis was a boy the most prominent male presence in his life was his uncle Carl, who was an undertaker and father of his beloved cousin Ruthie.
Parents as People: Louis loves both of his children as dearly as a father could, but as a human being, he doesn't really have infinite patience for their temper tantrums and crying spells. In the horrific drive to their new home in the first chapter, having Gage, Ellie, and Rachel all complaining and crying at once makes him wish he could just leave them all, if only for a moment. This applies to Rachel, too, who also loves both her children dearly but can sometimes project her problems onto them. This is especially clear when she rages at Louis for explaining death to Ellie, and it doesn't take him very long at all to figure out she's thinking about her deceased sister more than her daughter.
Psychic Dreams for Everyone: The shade of Pascow appears to various people, usually as they sleep, to warn them against using the power of the burial ground.
Rant-Inducing Slight: When Missy Dandridge tries to console Louis (and probably herself as well) at Gage's receiving and says 'Thank God he didn't suffer', Louis nearly explodes with rage, going through a long rant in his head, but he manages to control himself.
Real Place Background: All the towns mentioned in the book actually exist although Ludlow is a little over 100 miles north of Bangor, whereas in the book it's described as a short drive away. The Howard Johnson's where Louis stays before digging up Gage from Pleasant View Cemetery, and the cemetery itself also exist (though the real Pleasant View is a fair bit smaller than the fictional one), and in close proximity to Bangor International Airport as mentioned in the book. The Howard Johnson's restaurant that Louis eats at also existed at the time the book was published, but is now closed.
Revenant Zombie: The Burying Ground's resurrectees. They look and act alive enough, but it's fairly easy to tell that they're functionally dead. At best, they're just not themselves (most animals turn out like this) and are occasionally a fair bit nastier. Humans, however, return as sadistic, homicidal (and most likely cannibalistic) monsters with a fondness for Hannibal Lectures that contain knowledge that the resurrected could not have possibly had, making it obvious that it's not them but rather something using their body as a vessel. They can be killed by fairly mundane methods however. Louis re-kills Gage with an overdose of morphine.
Rouge Angles of Satin: Yes, the 'sematary' instead of 'cemetery' is intentional.
Sanity Slippage: Rachel and (especially) Louis go through this.
He [Louis] could now feel his sanity beginning to give way. This was an actual sensation, a true thing. It was interesting. He imagined a tree overloaded with ice in a terrible storm would feel this way— if trees could feel anything—shortly before toppling. It was interesting... and it was sort of amusing.
The Scapegoat: Louis, for his father-in-law Irwin Goldman. He blames him for 'stealing' his daughter, as well as Gage's death. However when Louis decides to send Rachel and Ellie to stay with Irwin and Dory after the funeral (so he can dig up Gage without their knowledge and place him in the burying ground), it makes Irwin realize that he's been an utter asshole and he takes it all back. His tearful apology almost convinces Louis to abandon his plan to resurrect Gage, but not quite, to the detriment of everyone involved.
Scare Chord: Used a few times in the movie, usually when a reanimated Gage appears.
Schmuck Bait: Conversed. Everyone who has used the Micmac Burying Ground knows that no good can ever come from using it, but they always rationalize it away and keep finding reasons to, because the power there influences their minds. Louis has an internal debate with himself about what would happen if he used it to resurrect Gage, bringing up what any rational person would about the ramifications of such a thing, but in the end he goes through with it anyway:
What happens the first time Missy Dandridge pulls into the driveway and sees Gage riding his trike in the yard? Can't you hear her screams, Louis?
Screw the Rules, I Have Money!: In the early days, while they are dating, Irwin Goldman tries to bribe Louis to leave his daughter alone. He offers to pay his medical school. Louis doesn't accept.
Screw This, I'm Outta Here!: Steve Masterton, literally seconds away from Louis when he's carrying Rachel's body to be buried, decides that whatever is going on in the Pet Sematary filled up his weirdness levels for the rest of his life and bolts away. By the time he gets to his apartment, he doesn't even remember going to the town in the first place.
Shout-Out:
Louis is a fan of The Ramones.
Steve Masterton tells Louis, 'All work and no play make Jack a dull boy.'
Rachel sees an exit sign for Jerusalem's Lot on her drive back to Ludlow, and thinks that it doesn't seem like a pleasant name for a town.
At one point, Jud mentions a St. Bernard that went rabid a couple of years earlier.
The kids watch an episode of The Muppet Show on their last day of summer vacation.
Smash to Black: The movie ends this way, just as it appears undead Rachel will stab her husband. His scream is even heard as it all darkens.
Spirit Advisor: In a way, Pascow, as he tries to warn Louis and later Ellie from beyond the grave. He formed a connection with Louis because Louis was with him when he died.
Swamps Are Evil: Especially when they are as lousy with spectral beings as Little God Swamp. On the first trip through, the swamp is generally creepy, but they don't witness anything too strange aside from a white opaque fog that covered the ground like 'the world's lightest snowdrift.' Jud tells Louis about some advice given him by the town drunk, Stanny Bouchard, who was the person who took Jud up to the Burying Ground for the first time. Stanny said you might see St. Elmo's Fire, what sailors called 'foo-lights' and to just ignore it. You might hear voices, but 'those are just the loons down south toward Prospect. The sound carries. It's funny.' And most of all, do not speak to anything, should it speak to you. On Louis's second trip, though, Little God Swamp is wide awake and humming:
The Extremist Was Right: Irwin Goldman believed Louis was unworthy of marrying his daughter. He was right that the man was flawed...he was just wrong about just WHAT the flaw was.note
Too Dumb to Live: Jud, for telling Louis about the Indian burial ground when he knows from first-hand experience just how bad messing around with it can get. Somewhat justified by the influence the burying ground has on people.
Jud: You do it because it gets hold of you. You do it because that burial place is a secret place, and you want to share the secret, and when you find a reason that seems good enough, why...
Town with a Dark Secret: The town being Ludlow, Maine, and the secret being the fact that if you bury a dead body in the Micmac burying ground beyond the pet cemetery, it will be resurrected, but it won't be quite the same as before. According to Jud though only a few people in the town actually know the secret.
Trauma Conga Line: Gage's death would have been horrible enough on its own, but it ends up triggering further disasters, both supernatural and completely mundane. Louis at one points thinks of the events that led up to his fistfight with his father in law at Gage's funeral as a Rube Goldberg-like 'exaggeration' of horror.
Unholy Ground: It did not produce overtly undead resurrectees, but there definitely was something wrong and horrible to those who rose from it.
Wendigo:
The book implies that one may be responsible for the burying ground's power. Louis nearly meets one when he carries Gage's body to the burying ground, but it's a foggy night so he's spared from seeing it.
The Wendigo is glossed over in the film, although it's briefly hinted at when Pascow tells Rachel 'It's trying to stop you!' This leads to the above accusations of Too Dumb to Live, because the film shows what the characters are led to do, but doesn't indicate that their actions are not entirely their own.
What Happened to the Mouse?: No mention is made in either the book or the film of what happens to Ellie in Chicago when the rest of her immediate family ends up insane or dead. Irwin and Dory, however, are still alive and it's established that they are very loving grandparents (yes, even Irwin, despite being quite a jerk to Louis earlier) so it can be safely assumed they are going to take care of her as best they can.
Word of God via Twitter confirms that Ellie is alive and well but still has nightmares about the Pet Sematary.
Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Rachel's phobia about death (she doesn't deal well with even hearing the concept mentioned) leads into discussion of Zelda and has an effect on how some other plot events play out.
Your Cheating Heart
Norma Crandall, if the demon speaking through Gage at the end is to be believed, slept with all her husband's friends. It's debatable whether this is true or not. On one hand, the demon said the truth about people's secrets before. On the other hand, what he said about Norma was pretty outlandish, and he said it to make Jud angry and lose control. It's possible that there was truth in it, but the demon exaggerated. Jud is guilty of infidelity himself, so it's definitely something he would be sensitive to and lash out. Notably, Timmy Baterman said nothing of it; given that he gleefully told Alan Purinton of his own wife's infidelity, it would suggest demon!Gage is lying about Norma, unless she only cheated after Timmy Baterman's second death.
Jud Crandall visited prostitutes when he was younger and married to Norma.
One of the party who went to kill Timmy Baterman, too.