PET GRAVEYARD (2019)

Armed with a great poster and a mockbuster title worthy of The Asylum, Pet Graveyard is here to cash in on the Pet Sematary reboot. The plot however echos Flatliners. Do these ingredients gel into a satisfying brew, or should it be buried in Potter’s Field?

After a prologue set “3 Years Ago” which somewhat sets us up for what to expect we jump to the present. Lilly (Jessica O’Toole) is having a bad year at college since her mother passed away. Her brother Jeff (David Cotter) has already decided to drop out and is trying to make a name for himself with YouTube daredevil videos. This leads him to a group who want to cross over into the afterlife and then come back. Of course if they’d seen the prologue they would know this won’t end well for anyone.

But they haven’t, so they go ahead with their plan which involves dying so they can talk to those on the other side before being brought back. However, this leads to them being stalked by the Grim Reaper and his pet cat who feel they’ve been cheated out of their souls.

Of course, the obvious inspirations here are Flatliners and, to a degree Final Destination. However, Pet Graveyard is a British film and the UK has produced a couple of notable films along this line as well. There are the well-known cult favourite Psychomania and the lesser-known but disturbing The Asphyx.

Sadly neither writer Suzy Spade nor director Rebecca Matthews (Witches of Amityville Academy, The Candy Witch) are up to continuing this legacy. Pet Graveyard needed to be over the top and memorable, instead, it’s flat and uninspired. The quest for knowledge or eternal life has been replaced with the quest for YouTube fame. The afterlife looks like a black cloth background. And The Reaper looks like a man in a dollar store mask.

The glowing-eyed Sphinx cat is meant to be chilling, but it’s actually cute. If Hell’s Kitty can make an ordinary house cat sinister, Pet Graveyard should be able to do the same for a hairless one. But this feline looks like it would be at home hanging out with my three cats.

Even the killings are weak, substandard slasher material. The most creative Death can get is beating someone to death with a pipe wrench?

You could do worse than watch Pet Graveyard, but there’s also much better choices out there.

Uncork’d Entertainment will release Pet Graveyard on DVD/digital on April 2^nd.