Movie tip

Pet Sematary

It takes a lot to get The Old Cretin off the couch and into a real movie theater. Seems like the last time that happened was the premiere for the cartoon version of "Halloween" starring Barney Rubble as Dr. Loomis and Foghorn Leghorn as Michael Myers. Anyhoo, I'd have gotten to the "movie house" on my hands and knees if that's what it took to see the new version of Big Steve King's immortal (literally) "Pet Sematary." It's freakin' pretty great. There's a significant but cool left-turn in (burial) plot, but it allows a different and enlightening perspective of King's raison d'être: a genuine literary meditation on loss and grief. There are some terrific and truly dark touches and brutal shocks; it's very well acted and directed; and at its A-fib heart, "Pet Sematary" is so much more than a horror film. As the man himself said: "Death is a mystery and burial is a secret." Spend two hours in Ludlow, Maine, with the Creed family, and a lot of that mystery/burial stuff is cleared up. You've been warned.