Well it's that time of year again. Where better to kick things off than with a 1980s adaptation of a Stephen King story? Will this one rank somewhere up there with the likes of Misery or will it slip into the realm of those which are simply forgotten? Well, the screenplay is by the man himself, which may be either a good or a bad sign. After all, many of the most memorable big screen versions changed a lot of things. He's also in this. But then the same can be said of anthology classic Creepshow. There's a nice simple premise, a catchy title and a spooky setting. But how these elements come together is questionable as this is all too often guilty pleasure material.
It's a pretty flat looking horror story for starters. It's brightly lit, and the roadside houses that take up much of the screen time are plain and lack character. Where's the ominous sense of impending doom? Even the titular graveyard is kind of dull, without much in the way of sinister shadows or interesting angles. It's not until right at the end that things get interesting as fog begins to roll in, and the effects budget finally comes along. It may be that they wanted it all to seem very mundane until the really weird stuff arrived but it's just not that exciting and it feels like TV movie at times.
The narrative concerns a family moving to a new house so that the father Louis (Dale Midkiff) can work at a local hospital. His wife Rachel (Denise Crosby) has her hands full with two kids and a cat called Church - all who have to be supervised since they chose a property right next to a road frequented by speeding oil company trucks. So the title makes it obvious where this is all going. They don't even build a fence. Less predictable is their neighbour Jud (Fred Gwynne) who seems friendly enough but randomly invites the whole clan to check out all the animal graves near the property which doesn't go down well with Rachel. It's a weird creepy dog and cat burial site, what's the problem?
The theme of death permeates this storyline as Louis is warned by the ghost of an accident victim about the 'sour earth' nearby his house, and Rachel tells him an upbeat story of her bed ridden sister whose death haunts her in a different way. There's also a random suicide at the house just to keep the good times rolling. Inevitably the family cat is run down, just as their daughter begins to obsess over the idea of pet graves and the afterlife. A lot of these moments feel like odd King-esque tangents that probably work better as book chapters to be digested one at a time, and the pacing often feels weird. Character motivations are also hazy since inner monologues are absent, and most of the supernatural elements are left unexplained.
Since the cat died Jud tells Louis about the other local cemetery - the one hidden over the hill right on that sour ground he was warned not to go onto. Dark forces are at work here, but what the heck if you bury a cat it will come back to life - whether it's now evil or not is a minor detail. Of course things immediately escalate and soon there are non-animals to consider burying there. Jud knew the whole time the place was cursed so why he revealed it at all just to make a little girl happy is not clear. Why Louis keeps going back knowing all this is another question. Are they all just losing their marbles being stuck in this town? It's a really mixed bag despite some gruesome moments in the finale and a few interesting ideas. There are some unintentionally funny bits at a funeral, lots of wacky cat sound effects, and a reasonable number of schlocky sequences. So maybe that's just about enough.
3/5
