Pet Sematary: Bloodlines (2023) – Some Evil Is Inherited

Before the cemetery was cursed, the bloodline was already broken

Pet Sematary: Bloodlines (2023), directed by Lindsey Anderson Beer, is a chilling prequel to the 2019 adaptation of Stephen King's infamous horror tale. Set in 1969, the film travels decades back to the cursed soil of Ludlow, Maine, where a young Jud Crandall—before becoming the wise old neighbor we know from the original story—discovers that sometimes, the evil buried in the ground doesn't wait to be unearthed... it comes looking for you.

Jackson White plays the younger Jud, eager to leave his small town behind and join the Peace Corps. But fate has other plans. When a close friend returns from the dead—changed, violent, and very much wrong—Jud and his childhood friends are pulled into a terrifying confrontation with an ancient force that has plagued Ludlow for generations. What begins as a personal tragedy evolves into a bloody reckoning, unearthing secrets far older than anyone imagined.

Unlike its predecessor, Bloodlines leans more into folklore horror and the psychological cost of inherited sin. This isn’t just about what’s buried—it’s about what a town chooses to ignore, generation after generation. The film explores how trauma, guilt, and denial fester over time, infecting both people and place. As the line between life and death becomes increasingly blurred, Jud must choose whether to protect his family—or help bury Ludlow’s terrible history for good.

Visually, the film captures a haunting, rustic Americana, mixing autumnal beauty with rotting dread. The woods aren’t just spooky—they're sacred, cursed, and watching. The practical effects, gritty cinematography, and well-paced tension give the film a grounded, atmospheric weight that echoes the creepiness of classic King adaptations. While the scares are sometimes predictable, the emotional throughline—especially Jud’s growing realization that his hometown is rotting from the roots—adds substance.

Pet Sematary: Bloodlines isn’t simply a horror film; it’s a tragic origin story that dares to ask whether evil is chosen, inherited, or inevitable. It may not break new ground in the genre, but it digs deeper into the mythos of Ludlow and shows us that sometimes, the most terrifying stories are the ones that begin long before we’re born.