In this morbid but compulsive horror, adapted by Stephen King from his own novel, the Creed family move to a new home in rural Maine that borders an ancient native American burial ground and discover that corpses buried in the pet cemetery there come back to life.
For much of its length, the story, which seems to be yet another re-working of the classic short story The Monkey’s Paw, provides only the occasional shudder and is interrupted by awkward flashbacks.
But those who stick with it are rewarded with a really ghastly climax, cleverly engineered to tweak very raw nerves.
Director Mary Lambert also did the sequel, which went straight to video in the UK.
A remake was released in 2019 with a (controversially) changed ending.
Jud Crandall
Fred Gwynne
Louis Creed
Dale Midkiff
Rachel Creed
Denise Crosby
Victor Pascow
Brad Greenquist
Irwin Goldman
Michael Lombard
Gage Creed
Miko Hughes
Ellie Creed
Blaze Berdahl
Missy Dandridge
Susan Blommaert
Director
Mary Lambert
