Stephen King's 1983 novel Pet Sematary is one of his most popular works and for good reason, as it tells the scary and sad story of the Creed family who moves to a country home and discover a nearby burial ground. The 1989 film adaptation and the 2019 remake follow the source material closely, from the same characters to the same main storyline, which is just as emotional as it is unnerving.
Do the two Pet Sematary movies share the same ending, and how do they compare to Stephen King's original novel? Although movie and TV adaptations of King's works don't always fare well with fans or critics, it's fair to say that Pet Sematary is a solid example of a time when his words translated well to the big screen.
How Does The Original Pet Sematary End?
At the end of the 1989 Pet Sematary movie, Louis Creed (Dale Midkiff) kills his son Gage with morphine and burns Jud Crandall's (Fred Gwynne) house down. Louis thinks that his wife Rachel (Denise Crosby) will be okay because he buries her in the ancient burial ground only a few hours after her passing. Unfortunately for Louis, the evil, dead version of Rachel hugs him and then pulls out a knife.
While the end of The Mist is devastating, the same thing could be said of Pet Sematary. Louis has lost his family and when he realizes that Rachel won't ever come back to him, he has to grieve her for a second time. While it's emotional and upsetting to watch the Creeds deal with so much death and destruction, a happy ending would feel cheap and wrong. Pet Sematary is a scary Stephen King movie but also so sad.
The story is ultimately about death, which proves the talent that Stephen King has as he infuses his horror stories with relatable elements. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, the author shared that he and his family lived in Orrington, Maine while he was a writer-in-residence at the University of Maine and there was actually a pet sematary behind the home.
He spoke about the tagline "Sometimes dead is better" and added that the story has a lot of emotion behind it. He said, "It's about anybody who's ever had to deal with a lingering illness or a relative that won't let go. Sometimes the desire to live is just a biological thing, and it's better when it's over. Everybody — everybody's dealt with that, you know? You deal with your parents, your grandparents, and at some point, you just have to let go, that's all."
Is The Remake's Ending Different?
The 2019 Pet Sematary remake makes the mistake of following the original too closely. However, the ending is different and sees undead Ellie (Jeté Laurence) and Rachel (Amy Seimetz) teaming up. Louis (Jason Clarke) is going to kill Ellie, but Rachel hits him with a grave marker. Ellie, a new and undead version of Louis, Rachel, and their cat Church light Jud's (John Lithgow) home on fire and then open the car where Gage (Hugo and Lucas Lavoie) is sitting. It's implied that they will kill Gage, too, and the family will live together in this undead form.
In some ways, this is a happier conclusion than in the 1989 Pet Sematary since the Creeds will be together now. On the other hand, it's possible to see it as even more miserable and melancholy, since the only way that they can stay a family is to lean into their new, evil personas. Whether someone considers this one of the worst horror remakes or not, one thing is for sure: no one can forget the chilling final scene.
How Does Stephen King's Book End?
While some Stephen King adaptations changed his endings, the end of the Pet Sematary book is similar to the original movie. Louis takes morphine and kills his son Gage and the family cat Church. But instead of setting Jud's house on fire as he does in the 1989 movie, he sets his own house on fire, as he can't get over the loss of his wife and child. The final scene of the novel is Louis playing a game of solitaire and the dead version of Rachel coming over to him and saying "Darling."
It's smart that the 1989 Pet Sematary movie keeps the spirit of the novel's ending, as this is what the story is about: a character realizing that they will never get their partner back and grieving before moving on without them. It's a haunting way to end both the book and the movie, and while Stephen King fans debate the merits of his endings, the Pet Sematary novel ending is just somber enough to make an impression.