History Literature / PetSematary

* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: The driver of the truck that strikes Gage is utterly horrified by the accident and driven to profound despair by what he did. Apparently he keeps saying that, for reasons he couldn't understand, he just felt an overwhelming need to push the accelerator on that patch of road and go as fast as possible. The clear implication is that the evil influence of the local burying ground and/or the Wendigo influenced his behavior.

* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: The driver of the truck that strikes Gage is utterly horrified by the accident and driven to profound despair by what he did. Apparently he keeps saying that, for reasons he couldn't understand, he just felt an overwhelming need to push the accelerator on that patch of road and go as fast as possible. The clear implication is that the evil influence of the local burying ground and/or the Windigo influenced his behavior.

* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: The driver of the truck that strikes Gage is utterly horrified by the accident and driven to utter despair by what he did. Apparently he keeps saying that, for reasons he couldn't understand, he just felt an overwhelming need to push the accelerator on that patch of road and go as fast as possible. The clear implication is that the evil influence of the local burying ground and/or the Windigo influenced his behavior.

-->'''Jud''': You do it because it gets hold of you. You do it because that burial place is a secret place, and you want to share the secret, and when you find a reason that seems good enough, why...

* AnimalsHateHim: Inverted with Church the Zombie Cat. Everyone instinctively hates him after his revival.

* DownerEnding: One of the few totally straight and unambiguous ones King has ever written. [[spoiler: Jud and Rachel are murdered by the resurrected Gage, while Louis has been driven completely insane after being forced to kill his son a second time. He places Rachel's body in the burying ground, and while his ultimate fate at the hands of his newly-resurrected wife is not shown, we can be reasonably certain it won't be pleasant. The death of everyone who knows about the burying ground means there's probably no one left to 'put down' Rachel, potentially leaving her free to wreak havoc. Ellie is the only member of the Creed family to survive; King has gone on record saying she was raised in a loving home and turned out okay, but she still has nightmares about the Pet Sematary.]]

After Church is run over while the kids are visiting their grandparents with Rachel for Thanksgiving, Jud leads Louis beyond the deadfall to an ancient burial ground that was once used by the Mi'kmaqs, a Native American tribe. Following Jud's instructions, Louis buries the cat and constructs a cairn. The next afternoon, the cat returns home. However, while he used to be vibrant and lively, [[CameBackWrong he now acts ornery and "a little dead", in Louis's words.]]

King has said his goal was to write a novel too scary to be read all the way through, and many critics said he came uncomfortably close to accomplishing it. It's still regarded by many -- including King himself -- as the scariest thing he's ever written.

The 1989 film adaptation starred Dale Midkiff as Louis, Creator/FredGwynne as Jud, Creator/DeniseCrosby as Rachel and Miko Hughes as Gage and was popular enough to warrant the sequel, ''Film/PetSemataryTwo'', in 1992.

The book was adapted again as ''Film/PetSematary2019'' with Creator/JasonClarke as Louis, Amy Seimetz as Rachel and Creator/JohnLithgow as Jud. A prequel to this film is in development for Creator/ParamountPlus.

[[quoteright:285:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/pet_sematary_book_cover.jpg]]

Louis Creed, a doctor from Chicago, moves to a house near the small town of Ludlow, Maine with his wife Rachel, their two young children, Ellie and Gage, and Ellie's cat, Winston Churchill ("Church"). Their neighbor, an elderly man named Jud Crandall, warns Louis and Rachel about the highway that runs past their house; it is used by trucks from a nearby chemical plant that often pass by at high speeds. A few weeks after the Creeds move in, Jud takes the family on a walk in the woods behind their home. A well-tended path leads to a pet cemetery (misspelled "sematary") where the children of the town bury their deceased animals.

-->''He [Louis] could now feel his sanity beginning to give way. This was an actual sensation, a true thing. It was interesting. He imagined a tree overloaded with ice in a terrible storm would feel this way— if trees could feel anything—shortly before toppling. It was interesting... and it was sort of amusing.''

* HopeSpot: Not long after Gage's funeral, the narrative abruptly shifts gears with "But none of those things happened", clarifies that Louis in fact ''did'' manage to save Gage from the oncoming truck, and spends a few pages powering through Gage's life until the point where he becomes a gold-medal Olympic swimmer... [[AllJustADream and then Louis awakens back into the reality where his son is dead]].

* TheDreaded: Rachel and her family are terrified of Zelda. Even when Rachel is an adult she still was haunted by her.

** The horrible description of the spinal meningitis that Rachel's sister suffered from. While it is indeed a serious disease, it is usually treatable, and many of its symptoms are much lighter than described in the book (though this could be Rachel ''remembering'' it as more horrible than it was).

** The horrible description of the spinal meningitis that Rachel's sister suffered from. While it is indeed a serious disease, it is usually treatable, and many of its symptoms are much lighter than described in the book.

** The remarkable physical condition Gage is in after his death. Make no mistake: a semi-truck plowing into a toddler at full speed on an open highway would likely resemble lasagna that had exploded in a microwave. There would hardly be a single intact part of Gage's body.
** The horrible description of the spinal meningitis that Rachel's sister suffered from. While it is indeed a serious disease, it is usually well treatable, and many of its symptoms are much lighter than described in the book.