Pet Sematary

This BBC dramatization of Stephen King's novel is an update of W. W. Jacobs's far superior short story "The Monkey's Paw." In rural Maine, new residents discover a hidden Indian cemetery where buried pets return zombie-like from the dead. When the family's young son dies, the grief-stricken father decides to use the cemetery's magical properties to get his son back. The adaptation is faithful, production values full and meticulous, the suspenseful direction excellent. However, the aural mis-en-scene is hackneyed and the acting merely adequate; the colorless lead voices are whiny and unsympathetic. Y.R. (c) AudioFile 2000, Portland, Maine


Stephen King's haunting 1983 novel finally has an unabridged audiobook version. The narrator is Michael C. Hall ("Dexter"), who can now add an Earphones Award to his resume. Though the horror elements are always looming, Hall warmly portrays the all-too-human Creed family, full of love for each other but also flawed, damaged, and uncertain. He molds Louis Creed into an imperfect but sympathetic protagonist and effectively changes pitch to give Louis's wife, Rachel, and their two kids believable voices. For added texture, Hall manages a solid Maine accent as the Creeds' kindly old neighbors. Hall's narration captures the surprising humanity found on the page, but his voice becomes appropriately grim as the story barrels toward the inevitable darkness. A.T.N. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award � AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine

May 28, 2018
The first unabridged audio edition of the novel King considers his most frightening should be more than enough to lure the author’s fans, and the fact that it’s read by Hall, who played the eponymous serial killer on Showtime’s Dexter (adapted from Jeff Lindsay’s novels), will only add to the appeal. Hall effectively employs a full emotional range, starting with joyous. That’s the dominant mood of Dr. Louis Creed as he and his family—wife Rachel, kids Ellie and Gage, and Ellie’s cat, Church—arrive at their new home in Ludlow, Maine. Hall’s narration quickly loses some of its cheeriness when young Ellie falls from a swing and bangs her knee and toddler Gage is stung by a bee. And, when their new neighbor, elderly Jud Crandall, leads them to a pet cemetery (with its misspelled sign) in the shadowy woods behind their home, the atmosphere grows distinctly chilly. The chill only increases when Church is killed by a car and Jud informs Louis—in an avuncular, Down East accent courtesy of Hall—that some animals placed in the Micmac Indian burial ground just beyond the cemetery have been resurrected. Louis and Jud bury Church there, and the cat does come back, but it’s different, malodorous, and sullen. Eventually there are more burials and reanimations, resulting in ever-increasing grotesqueries, with the narration rising to a hackles-raising height of terror. The combination of King at his bloodiest and Hall at his most terrifying make this irresistible.