It’s been 20 years since the first film based upon Stephen King’s bestselling novel, Pet Sematary, was first released. In the 2019 remake, like the original story, Dr. Louis Creed (Jason Clarke), relocates from the fast pace of Boston, with his wife, Rachel (Amy Seimetz), son and daughter, to a quieter and more relaxed, rural Maine. Immediately, they find a pet cemetery burial ground hidden deep in the woods near the family's new home. A place where the locals have entombed their deceased pets and livestock for decades. When the family’s pet cat succumbs to a roadside accident, Louis turns to his reclusive neighbor, Jud Crandall (John Lithgow), for help in disposing of the feline. Jud, wanting to help relieve the family’s pain, sets off a chain of events leading to nightmarish results.

Pet Sematary, the handiwork of master scary guy, Stephen King, will entertain, scare and fascinate you! And it’s a See It! The fact that viewers are likely to have varying degrees of familiarity with the story is not a problem; as just the right amount of the original plot has been changed. And this familiarity piques viewers’ interest as to when, what they know will happen, is going to happen. Those who know very little about this film will still find it gripping.

The producers dug up a great group of performers. Horror films generally don’t require any acting range beyond a well-timed look of fear and authentic sounding screams. But Pet Sematary, demands more and Clarke, Seimetz and Lithgow provide it. Each character deals with his or her demons requiring them to behave in a way that convinces viewers of the deep anguish they each suffer.

Of course, there are some leaps in credibility. Like trucks driving at highway speeds on a narrow, country road where children and pets might be crossing. And why are horror films always set in remote areas? Why not in a high-rise apartment?

As to cast diversity, Pet Sematary gets an A-. The cast is small, and the film is set in an area which would likely have a small minority population. However, a black man has a major supporting and other people of color, smaller supporting roles.

It’s rated R for horror, violence, bloody images, and some language, and is 101 minutes in length. Pet Sematary is worth your while!

Jordan Peele is back with another thriller, and you get at least two opportunities to see Taraji P. Henson and Michael Ealy in movies in 2019

1. What Men Want

What Men Want is a twist on Mel Gibson’s 2001 movie, What Women Want, and is the story of a female sports agent (Taraji P. Henson) who has been constantly edged out by her male colleagues. Once she learns to listen to men’s thoughts, she shifts her strategy in her race to sign the NBA’s next LeBron James. Among the costars is Richard Roundtree who back in the 70s played John Shaft who was a bad mother. . . shut your mouth! Just remembering Shaft!

What Men Want is expected to open on February 8, 2019. 

2. The Upside

Inspired by a true story and based upon a hit 2011 French film, The Upside stars Kevin Hart and Bryan Cranston in a warm comedy about a recently paroled ex-convict who begins an unlikely friendship with a paralyzed billionaire. Bet you can guess who plays the ex-con and who’s the billionaire. The Upside opens on January 11, 2019. 

3. Us 

After his provocative 2017 megahit Get Out there was no doubt that Jordan Peele would be back writing and directing, but he's holding the storyline for Us close to the vest. Nevertheless, we do know, it will be a thriller and it stars Lupita Nyong’o, Elisabeth Moss, and Black Panther’s Winston Duke. Us is scheduled to be released in the United States on March 22, 2019, but if you’re going to South by Southwest, you might be able to catch the World Premiere of Us on March 8, 2019. 

4. Pet Sematary

This a remake of the 1989 film based upon Stephen King’s seminal horror novel, Pet Sematary. This version is set in rural Maine where Dr. Louis Creed, his wife, Rachel, and their two young children find a mysterious graveyard hidden deep in the woods near the family home. When tragedy hits the family, the doctor turns to his eccentric neighbor, Jud Crandall for advice, setting off a horrific series of events that the doctor could have never imagined. Pet Sematary opens on April 5, 2019, and stars, Jason Clark and Jon Lithgow. 

5. Jacob’s Ladder

After his brother dies in combat, Jacob Singer, played by the blue-eyed brother, Michael Ealy, returns home from battle-worn Afghanistan only to fall into a deep state of paranoia as he comes to believe that his brother is still alive, and life is not what it seems. Jacob’s Ladder, a remake of the 1990 film of the same name, doesn’t have a release date as of yet. However, the film’s distributor, LD Entertainment, says Jacob’s Ladder is expected to open in 2019.

6. Tyler Perry’s A Madea Family Funeral

A fun-filled family reunion becomes a disaster as Madea and her kin travel to backwoods Georgia, where they plan a funeral that could unearth some deep dark family secrets. Of course, Tyler Perry heads the cast in Tyler Perry’s A Madea Family Funeral, along with Courtney Burrell, Patrice Lovely, and Ciera Payton. Tyler Perry’s A Madea Family Funeral opens on March 1, 2019.

7. The Best of Enemies

Inspired by the true events during the civil rights era, The Best of Enemies stars Taraji P. Henson as Ann Atwater, a fiercely determined civil rights activist in North Carolina, and Sam Rockwell as the Exalted Cyclops of the Ku Klux Klan. The two conduct a 10-year battle, which ends in an abrupt and unlikely way in 1971. The Best of Enemies is based on the book, The Best of Enemies: Race and Redemption in the New South by Osha Gray Davidson opens on April 5, 2019. 

8. The Intruder

Michael Ealy (yes, him again) and Meaghan Good star in The Intruder, a psychological thriller about a young married couple who buys a beautiful Napa Valley home only to find that the previous owner (Dennis Quaid) simply won’t let the property go and will stop at nothing to drive them out. The Intruder opens on May 3, 2019. 

9. Fighting With My Family

Fighting With My Family is based on the 2012 documentary, The Wrestlers: Fighting With My Family, depicting the WWE career of the professional wrestler, Paige. The movie stars Florence Pugh as Paige, and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson makes an appearance. Fighting With My Family opens at Sundance on January 28, 2019, and nationwide on February 14, 2019.

10. Aladdin

The musical romantic fantasy Aladdin returns. Having been released in an animated version in 2017, this edition features real living and breathing humans. Aladdin stars Mena Massoud as the title character alongside Will Smith as the Genie.

We all need some downtime and in The Shallows medical student, Nancy Adams (Blake Lively) decides to get away from it all and ride the waves at a secluded beach in Mexico. Once in the water she guides her surfboard out to a very dead and very bloody whale, only to discover the killer, a large vicious shark, lurks nearby. The seafaring killer apparently thinks that Nancy's fate should be the same as the whale's. And her "downtime" should be permanent.

The Shallows is an intense battle between human and beast. However, this is a story that we have seen over and over. In Alfred Hitchcock's 1963 thriller, The Birds, actress Tippi Hedren comes under attack by a flock of birds gone mad. We saw it in Stephen King's Cujo, where lead character Donna Trenton does battle with a rabid St. Bernard.

Also, as is often the case in horror films or these types of dramas, characters find themselves in these nightmarish situations due to a series of bad decisions. Like here a young woman goes to an isolated beach, in a foreign country, all by herself.

Another problem with The Shallows is the writers try too hard to make Nancy a sympathetic character. She's a medical student which implies she's both smart and caring. She calls to check in on her little sister from the beach. And there is also a subtext that her mother is dead and might have been killed at that very same location!

While Blake Lively serves the purpose of the beautiful young heroine who is fit and athletic, her character is supposed to be from Galveston, Texas, which is in the southern part of that southern state, yet Lively who grew up in California doesn't have the slightest regional accent.

The positives are The Shallows dramatic and intense scenes. There are some edge-of-your- seat clashes between Nancy and the shark. We are accustomed to superhuman male protagonists, so it's good to see female leads showing that same type of credibility-stretching strength and vitality.

Shot in Australia, there's beautiful scenery – but frankly not any better than you'll see on HDTV. That's the problem; with so much entertainment available on big screen TVs, at our fingertips on our laptops and phones, movies have to offer us something exceptional. And The Shallows simply doesn't. And it's a Rent It – engaging but not worth the trip to a theater.

The Shallows is rated PG - 13 for bloody images, intense sequences of peril, and brief strong language and appropriately timed at 87 minutes.