Starring: Leo, Tonic, Jager, JD

Directed by: Kevin Kölsch, Dennis Widmyer

This review contains a severe Kitty Carnage Warning!

Cat Out of the Bag Alert! This review contains MAJOR spoilers for this film!

Synopsis: Based on the book by Stephen King. The Creed family moves to a home by a wooded area which harbors a children’s pet cemetery and other secrets too soon revealed.

Featured Feline: The family owns a Maine Coon cat named Winston Churchill, whom they lovingly call “Church”. Church is in a cat carrier in the car when the family drives to their new home.

The family settles in, including Church. As father Louis (Jason Clarke) puts his daughter Ellie (Jeté Laurence) to bed she asks about death. Louis assures her that the family, including Church, will be there for some time.

Church is a comfort to Louis after a rough day.

Kitty Carnage Warning: Unfortunately the home is located near a busy road which trucks speed down regularly. Their neighbor, Jud (John Lithgow) sadly directs Louis’ attention to the deceased Church who is lying on the side of the road on Halloween. A fake cat was used for the dead Church scenes.

This sets off the main story in which Jud shows Louis a hidden cemetery beyond the pet “sematary” where they bury Church. Much to Louis’ amazement, Church returns to his daughter’s room, although not quite himself.

It is clear that Church has changed since being buried and coming back to life. His one eye droops (achieved using CGI, mostly likely) and he is quick to temper.

Church even lashes out at Ellie and scratches her as she tries to comb through his matted fur.

Louis’ wife Rachel (Amy Seimetz) is highly disturbed when Church drops a nearly dead bird on their bed. When Louis tries to take Church outside, the cat turns on him.

At one point Church even sits in their youngest son Gage’s (Hugo Lavoie) crib.

At this point Louis, who is a doctor, decides to put Church down. But when he goes to give the cat an injection, Church mews and gives him sad eyes.

Instead Louis takes Church to an isolated road and leaves him.

This leads to tragedy when Ellie spies Church returning on the road outside their home and runs to meet him.

Church is quick to get out of the way of a crashing fuel truck. Ellie is not so lucky.

Of course Louis ends up taking Ellie to the secret cemetery and burying her, bringing her back to life. Only Ellie is also not the same. In fact Church tags along with her when she attacks Jud.

Things spiral out of control from there, eventually leading to the end in which Gage is sitting in the car alone as his family (or rather what used to be his family) including Church approach the car. This film differs from the original film adaptation by having the post-grave Church survive.

Behind the Scenes:

The five Maine Coon (reportedly mixed) cat actors were all shelter cats found and trained by lead trainer Melissa Millet and animal coordinator Kirk Jarrett (only four cats are named in the end credits because apparently one dropped out after getting scared on set). Positive reinforcement (clickers and food rewards) were used to train the cats for their role, but two cats turned out to be the standout stars. Tonic, trained by Millet, played the laid back lovable family cat Church in the early scenes of the film while normally lovable Leo, trained by Jarrett, played the evil undead Church. “Tonic is the smart cat,” Millet explained, “Being a busy, active, cute, super intelligent guy he’s the pre-grave Church. And then we have the post-grave Church based on their personalities; they’re quiet, calm, kitties that like to stare, that like to sit, and those are our out-of-the-grave cats.”

In the behind the scenes making-of video on the Blu Ray release, the trainers explained how having a cat in this big of a role in a film takes time and patience and the right environment; a space where the cats can feel comfortable and acclimate to the area, crew and equipment. “Keeping a quiet, non-ruffled set is essential,” Kirk Jarrett explained. Directors Dennis Widmyer and Kevin Kölsch agreed. “The cats are on set, everyone gets quiet,” Widmyer explains, “And you would always have to let the cat out of the carrier and the cat would have to approve the set. The cat would walk around and sniff the whole set and once the cat is okay with the room only then could you proceed.”

A cat “village” was erected so the cats had their own trailers where they could work with the trainers and be relaxed. “It is relationship-based training,” Millet explained. “We form a solid relationship and trust so that we can take them into environments that can be somewhat intimidating like sets. So when you use food, relationship, positive reinforcement as in play and toys, then the cats enjoy the work.” The cat(s) were trained to hiss and swat at a particular toy. Rewards included cooked chicken, cat treats and salmon paste as well as verbal praise.

Producer Mark Vahradian explained how he had a cat who was killed by a car and that part of the story resonated with him (Stephen King’s daughter’s cat was killed by a truck which inspired the book). Because Church comes back from the dead for much of the movie, cat actors Leo and his stand-ins had to undergo makeup in which their fur was mussed and made to look matted. Time was taken to make Leo accustomed to this process. “We do that with positive association,” Millet said. “So day one, we introduce a little bit of water while they’re eating. Every day they get a little more water, a little more makeup until it’s not a big deal for the cats.” Egg whites were used to “matt” the fur while corn syrup and organic red food coloring was used for blood.

The comfort and safety of the cats was of paramount importance to all involved. For instance, the scenes on the highway were shot on a blue screen so the cat was nowhere near a road.

The cats were all adopted after the shooting was finished. Sadly cat actor Leo, who had been adopted by trainer Jarrett, passed away in May of 2019.

Final Mewsings: Yet another great argument for keeping your cats inside!

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