After the first film was a success, it was only inevitable that it was followed by a sequel. Three years later, along came Pet Sematary Two, albeit with zero input from Stephen King, who by all reports was horrified that the movie was getting a sequel. The film follows the standard cash in horror sequel formula with a few variations. Basically, new cast comes along and the same horrors are unleashed on them (although to be fair, there were hardly any survivors from the first film). While this is a definite let down from the superior first film, it does have it's moments.
This time around, we have Chase Matthews (played by Anthony Edwards) and his son Jeff (played by Edward Furlong) move to Ludlow, Maine to try and find some stability after the tragic death of Jeff's mom, a movie actress who dies on set in the film's opening scenes. Chase is a veterinarian and sets about setting up a new practice while Jeff starts school at the local Junior High. There he makes friends with Drew (played by Jason McGuire), who is the stepson of the local Sheriff, Gus (played by Clancy Brown), a strict and at times cruel man. He also runs foul of the school bully, Clyde (played by Jared Rushton), who continuously taunts Jeff about his famous dead mother because he's basically a stereotypical school bully.
One night, after Drew's dog Zowie tries for the umpteenth time to get at Gus's prized pet rabbits, Gus chases off Zowie and winds up shooting him. Distraught, Drew and Jeff take Zowie to the same Indian Burial ground to bring back Zowie, with predictable results. Faster than you can say "Cujo!" the dog comes back, fierce, mean and missing a heartbeat. The two kids take this development surprisingly well, considering they have managed to resurrect a very dead dog. Before long, zombie Zowie has attacked and killed Gus while defending Drew. Not wanting to get into any trouble, the two brats drag Gus up to the burial ground to be resurrected as well, unleashing a whole new cycle of horror upon the town.
Mary Lambert returned as director for the sequel after helming the original film, but you'd never know it. The two films are completely different. The first film was dark and bleak whereas this film has a much more rock and roll, goofy sensibility to it. While it makes this outing a little easier to watch, especially in the second half when everything goes completely off the rails, it lacks the same gut punch that made the original film so memorable. Still, it manages to be entertaining in a large part due to Clancy Brown's demented performance as zombie Gus.
When I watched this one as a kid, I didn't mind Edward Furlong as our main character, but now I just wanted to slap him up alongside the head. As for his friend Drew, I feel the same way as I did then insomuch as I wish they had let the character be more heroic and not just the clumsy, awkward, fat kid. Still, I feel like maybe the biggest mistake of the film was focusing the narrative on the kids instead of the adults. Perhaps they were trying to be different from the original film, or more likely trying to appeal to the key demographic of the genre, teens.
Overall, Pet Sematary Two is an entertaining, if slight follow-up the original. It doesn't match it in any way, but taken on it's own it can be a silly guilty pleasure.
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