Should you watch 'Pet Sematary: Bloodlines'? Everything you need to know about the Stephen King prequel.

Pet Sematary: Bloodlines is taking Stephen King fans back to Ludlow, Maine, a small town with a population that keeps getting smaller — because the murderous dead have a nasty habit of not staying in the ground when buried in the titular graveyard.

The new Paramount+ film is set in 1969 where young Jud (Jackson White) and his girlfriend, Norma (Natalie Alyn Lind), are ready and eager to leave behind their hometown of Ludlow for what they hope will be a brighter future. But the couple's dreams are quickly shattered when they realize the town is far from finished with them. By the time this story is over, Jud will truly understand why “dead is better.”

Pet Sematary 101

Stephen King's 1983 Pet Sematary novel tells the story of the Creed family, whose patriarch, Louis, buries his toddler son and the family's deceased feline in the town's so-called Pet Sematary, which is possessed by an evil spirit. The once-dead kid and cat both come back to life — extremely altered — and begin a killing spree around town. The novel has widely been considered one of the author’s most accessible stories of his blockbuster run in the 1970s and '80s, with readers empathizing with a grieving father who just wants his son back.

Director Mary Lambert's 1989 film version of Pet Sematary became a sleeper hit, grossing $57.5 million at the box office on a budget of $11.5 million. Unlike many of his earlier movie adaptations, King played an active role in assisting Lambert translating the film to screen. One of King's favorite bands, The Ramones, contributed the title track, "Pet Sematary," which ran over the movie's end credits. Critics weren't necessarily impressed, but fans loved the film, which led to the inevitable sequel, Pet Sematary Two. The original story was revisited in 2019 by filmmakers Dennis Widmyer and Kevin Kölsch. That remake, also titled Pet Sematary, starred John Lithgow and Jason Clarke.

Bloodlines is largely inspired by a chapter in King's book where Jud tells Louis the story of Timmy, a soldier killed in action, interred in the burial ground and then revived by his grieving father, Bill. In the below exclusive sneak peek clip, Timmy (Jack Mulhern) accosts his friend Donna (Isabella Star LaBlanc), and he seems to be fully aware that she has been having disturbing visions of the future in her dreams. That's when Donna's brother, Manny (Forrest Goodluck), feels the need to step in.

Who else is in the Bloodlines cast?

E.T. child star Henry Thomas co-stars as Jud’s father, Dan. Thomas is no stranger to the horror genre with appearances in past such King adaptations as Doctor Sleep and Gerald's Game, both helmed by horrormeister Mike Flanagan (whose blood-curdling work also includes The Haunting of Hill House, The Haunting of Bly Manor, Midnight Mass and the upcoming The Fall of the House of Usher).

Two other recognizable stars in the cast are '70s cinema icon Pam Grier as Majorie, a postal worker and one of the few Ludlow residents privy to its dark secrets, and The X-Files alum David Duchovny as the aforementioned Bill, who unintentionally sets the story in motion when he buries son Tim in the Pet Sematary. Despite some fan fears that Grier and Duchovny would be relegated to minor roles despite being prominently featured in the trailer, we can confirm that their characters are essential to the narrative and more than mere cameos.

How does the Bloodlines subtitle factor into this story?

Since this film is a prequel, it’s more than just Jud's origin story. It tells the hidden history of Ludlow, including how the town got its name, and how the power of the burial ground was revealed. The townspeople of Ludlow are sitting on a few secrets, even in the '60s. And the sins of their forefathers are about to be revisited on the current generation, including Jud.

Why is the title spelled with an 'S'?

King has fielded this question numerous times since Pet Sematary was first published, and has shared the answer on his official site. The short version is that there really was a pet cemetery near King’s house in 1979. It was created by the local kids in part because their dogs and cats were frequent victims of the speeding trucks on the road; King lost one of his own cats that way as well. It was the neighborhood kids who had put up a sign near the cemetery that featured the misspelled “Pet Sematary.” King kept that as the title of his book and the rest is history.

Where was Bloodlines filmed?

Montreal stands in for Ludlow in the prequel. But it's worth noting that Ludlow is a real town in Maine, the state King calls home and where he has set several of his horror novels. Aside from the original Pet Sematary, his novel The Dark Half was also set in Ludlow.

What are the critics saying?

Variety's Michael Nordine felt that Grier and Duchovny were underused. And while Nordine praised the flashback to Ludlow’s first settlers in 1674, he writes, "There's no sense of foreboding despite its attempts to unsettle, no feeling that the early warning signs are leading to anything especially frightening. Audiences already know what the eponymous burial ground does to anyone (or anything) unlucky enough to be interred there, and Bloodlines does little to live up to or expand the mythos."

Fred Topel of UPI had a more positive take: "Jud's experiences here add a new level to his role in the original Pet Sematary story. It's up to the audience to infer whether Jud is trying to atone for past mistakes later in life or is just doomed to repeat the ones of 1969."

Bloody Disgusting reviewer Meagan Navarro contends that the prequel focuses too much on scares at the expense of the story "Loud, abrupt aural jump scares become the default tool employed to keep audiences on edge. While the sudden blast of a truck horn as it barrels down a quiet street effectively lands its intended jolt, it can't compensate for the lack of atmosphere and tension."

Benjamin Lee of The Guardian suggests that Pet Sematary: Bloodlines lacks a reason to exist even after the 2019 reboot: "It leaves a film such as Pet Sematary: Bloodlines feeling even more like a dusty old thing of the past, not just because of its period setting but because of its sheer redundancy, existing just because rather than because of any real reason. Even the film it's technically linked to, 2019's barely buffed remake of Pet Sematary, about a devilish cemetery that brings the dead back to life, felt like a step in a pointless direction, only resurrecting the 1989 horror film as a result of author Stephen King's renewed popularity."

Currently, Pet Sematary: Bloodlines is sitting on a 18% score on Rotten Tomatoes based on 33 reviews.

What does King think about Bloodlines?

King acknowledges that Bloodlines took a lot of liberties with his version of Pet Sematary. The film even offers its own take on the history of Ludlow and the nature of the burial ground. Regardless, he gave it his endorsement, specifically calling out Duchovny's "excellent" performance.

When and where will the film be streaming?

Pet Sematary: Bloodlines premieres Friday, Oct. 6 on Paramount+.