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
