Explaining The Ending Of Pet Sematary

If there's any human experience more universal than love, it's loss. And that's the exact flavor of optimism explored in Pet Sematary. Plus horror. And creepy masks. And cats.

Pet Sematary opened to relatively good reviews, largely due to a few key themes and moments of crucial character development. But as the ending swirled into gory mayhem, you might have lost track of those themes. Let's dig in and resurrect the ending of Pet Sematary. Spoilers ahead!

The film's protagonist, Louis Creed, is shown to be blunt and realistic. For him, sugarcoating things like dead cats is an unhealthy approach to parenting.

This rationalism is what makes Louis' decision to upset the natural balance so surprising. Despite the fact that he already watched his undead cat Church go totally bonkers, Louis abandons common sense and tries to reincarnate his daughter. Initially, Louis achieves his goal, and Ellie is raised from the dead and returns home.

Even though Louis makes a costly mistake in his decision to spend more time with his daughter, he does come full circle and regain a degree of level-headedness in his final moments. As he fights with his daughter, he decides to take Jud's advice about dead being better, making the painful decision to re-end Ellie's life.

Watch the video for more about the ending of Pet Sematary explained!

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Father, doctor, necromancer | 0:30
The undead daughter | 1:18
Grief | 2:16
Religious themes | 3:10
Better off dead | 4:04
The Wendigo | 4:41
What lies ahead? | 5:32