Jete Laurence stars in a scene from the movie "Pet Sematary." The Catholic News Service classification is O -- morally offensive. (CNS/Paramount Pictures)

By Catholic News Service

After relocating from Boston to rural Maine, a doctor (Jason Clarke), his wife (Amy Seimetz) and their 9-year-old daughter (Jete Laurence) find themselves living near the burial place of the title beyond which lies a second cemetery of a different kind, one from which the dead can emerge revivified. All this is explained to the physician by the family’s kindly coot of a neighbor (John Lithgow) who lives to regret spilling the beans.

The second big-screen adaptation of Stephen King’s 1983 horror novel includes some hideous sights from the start though not, initially, much in the way of bloody mayhem. But eventually directors Kevin Kolsch and Dennis Widmyer go in for the kill, and graphic slaughter ensues.

Excessive gory violence, including torture, much gruesome imagery, a marital bedroom scene, about a half-dozen uses of profanity, a couple of milder oaths, occasional rough and crude language. The Catholic News Service classification is O — morally offensive. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is R — restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.

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