In the Tall Grass is a 2019 Canadian supernatural horror drama film written and directed by Vincenzo Natali and starring Patrick Wilson, Laysla De Oliveira, Harrison Gilbertson, Avery Whitted, Will Buie Jr. & Rachel Wilson. It is based on Stephen King and Joe Hill’s 2012 novella of the same name. The film had its world premiere at Fantastic Fest on September 20, 2019. It was later released on October 4, 2019, by Netflix.

Siblings Becky and Cal DeMuth travel to San Diego so that 6-months-pregnant Becky can give up her baby for adoption. While stopping outside an old church, the pair hears a young boy named Tobin call for help from a nearby field of tall grass. the pair enters but quickly gets separated and finds that their distance from one another changes strangely. Increasingly panicked, the pair decides to leave but are unable to locate the road. Night falls and Cal stumbles across a bruised and dirty Tobin holding a dead crow, who claims the grass won’t move dead things and buries the bird in the path. Becky encounters Tobin’s father, Ross, but they get separated in the grass. Tobin leads Cal to an ancient rock in the field and encourages him to touch it, but they are interrupted by Becky’s scream as she is attacked by an unseen figure.

Meanwhile, the father of Becky’s child, Travis, arrives looking for her and Cal. He finds their car parked outside the church and decides to investigate the field of grass, eventually stumbling across Tobin who leads him to Becky’s rotting corpse. As Travis grieves, he loses sight of Tobin. At the same time, a seemingly earlier version of Tobin arrives at the church with Natalie and Ross. Hearing Travis, who is now calling out to Tobin, their dog Freddy runs into the grass and the family runs in after him where Travis hears Tobin and looks for him. The family panics and scatters, with Ross stumbling across the rock and touching it as night falls. Morning comes and shows Becky and Cal re-entering the grass as they investigate Tobin’s cries. Tobin states that Freddy was killed. Knowing that the grass does not move dead things, Travis instructs Becky and Cal to move toward Tobin and all four find each other. Travis tells Becky and Cal that they had been missing for two months.

The group walks to a building that they see while Beck receives a call from someone who is very distressed.  As they walk, the grass seemingly enters Becky’s uterus and she passes out, only to be revived by Ross, who then reunites with Tobin as the sun goes down. Ross leads them to the rock where they are confronted by a startled Natalie who claims she saw Becky’s corpse earlier. She then warns them not to touch the rock. Ross gets more and more agitated until the others decide to leave. He wounds Travis and kills Natalie before pursuing the others, claiming the rock showed him the truth and the way out, but that he doesn’t want to leave. Becky, Cal, Travis and Tobin reach the abandoned building and while scouting, Travis and Cal discover that Freddy has managed to escape the field via a “hole” that leads to the road. A jealous Cal, who is implied to have incestuous feelings for Becky, lets go of Travis as he slips, causing him to fall off the roof. Tobin witnesses this and flees into the field when Ross follows them to the roof.

Becky refuses to leave Travis and goes back and as Cal flees, Cal is strangled to death by Ross and it is revealed they are in a time loop, permanently being hunted by an insane Ross in the grass. Travis has survived the fall and goes searching for Becky. They can hear each other on opposite sides of the field and Becky admits she was going to give up the baby for adoption. Becky is attacked by Ross but escapes after stabbing him in the eye as a thunderstorm begins. Becky is confronted by Grass Creatures who carry her to the rock which has prophetic markings relating to Becky’s pregnancy. After seeing a horrific vision underneath the rock, Becky frantically makes a phone call, pleading for her past self to prevent Cal from hurting Travis. Becky then passes out. She awakens to find Cal caring for her, but she is actually hallucinating and it’s actually Ross, and feeding her with what is revealed to be her baby.

Moments later, Travis stumbles across Becky’s unconscious body. Tobin finds him and they are confronted by Ross, who mortally wounds Travis. As Ross tries to make Tobin touch the rock, Becky attacks Ross and scratches out his other eye with her necklace, before dying from her wounds. Travis kills Ross and then realizes the only way to understand the grass is to touch the rock. Travis touches the rock and sees a series of strange visions. He then grabs Tobin’s hand and guides him through the grass to an exit, instructing him to stop Becky and Cal from entering the grass. Tobin emerges in the church across the road just as Becky and Cal are about to enter the grass and convinces them to stay out by showing them Becky’s necklace that Travis gave him, hence closing the loop. Becky decides to keep her baby as they drive back home. Travis listens to them leave and dies peacefully in the grass.

Very interesting concept but what the heck is in that tall grass? And time loops and stuff? It leaves so many questions unanswered and I hate that. But then this is a short story which is made into a movie and there are bound to be some limitations. I give it a 7 outta 10!

Pet Sematary is a 2019 American supernatural horror film directed by Kevin Kölsch and Dennis Widmyer and written by Jeff Buhler, from a screen story by Matt Greenberg. It is the second adaptation of the 1983 novel of the same name by Stephen King, after the 1989 film. The film stars Jason Clarke, Amy Seimetz, and John Lithgow, and follows a family that discovers a mysterious graveyard in the woods behind their new home.

The story is pretty much followed from the original with some changes mainly towards the end. Dr. Louis Creed moves his family – wife Rachel, daughter Ellie, toddler Gage and their pet cat Church – from Boston to the small town of Ludlow, Maine. The same day they see a procession of children in animal masks headed towards the woods to bury a deceased pet dog. There is a sign that reads Pet Sematary deeper in the woods and their aged neighbour Jud warms the, not to venture to far out.

At the university hospital, Louis is left shaken after failing to save the life of Victor Pascow, a student who has been fatally injured after being struck by a vehicle. On the night following Pascow’s death, Louis experiences a vivid dream in which he meets Pascow, who leads him to the back of the cemetery and warns Louis not to “venture beyond” and that “the ground is sour”. A disturbed Louis awakens to find his feet and bed sheets caked in mud, suggesting that the evening’s previous events were more than just a nightmare. Later on Halloween, Church is killed when he is hit by a truck. Jud takes Louis to the Pet Sematary, supposedly to bury Church, however he leads Louis farther to an ancient burial ground. The next day Louis is stunned to see a dirty and smelly Church has come back. The cat is more aggressive and scratches Ellie and violently mangles a bird.

Louis confronts Jud who tells him that the burial ground behind the Pet Sematary is able to bring things back from the dead and is believed to be inhabited by a spirit known as the Wendigo. After Church attacks Gage, Louis attempts to euthanize him, however he decides against killing the cat and instead releases him at the gate of an area with restricted access, before telling Ellie that he ran away. The Creeds throw an outdoor party for Ellisees Church returning and runs out to the highway to greet him, followed by Gage. Louis rushes to save Gage and the truck driver wrecks the truck in order not to hit Ellie but the trailer separates and hits the girl, instantly killing her. The family is devastated, and Rachel and Gage leave to spend a few days with Rachel’s parents. Jud, sensing that Louis is planning on resurrecting Ellie, warns the grieving father that “sometimes dead is better”. However, despite the warnings from Jud and Pascow’s spirit, and his own reservations about the idea, Louis’s grief and guilt spur him to carry out his plan.

After drugging Jud, Louis exhumes Ellie’s body from her grave and inters her in the burial ground watched by the Wendigo who lets him bury Ellie. Ellie returns from the dead, however she immediately manifests a disturbing and ornery demeanor. At her parents’ house, Rachel is frightened by visions of her dead sister Zelda, who suffered from spinal meningitis and died after falling down a dumbwaiter shaft, leaving Rachel traumatized since she was young. Gage also sees the ghost of Pascow; meanwhile, Jud wakes up and confronts Louis. Insisting everything is fine, Louis sends Jud away; however, Jud spots Ellie watching him from her bedroom window. He is distracted by a snarling Church and Ellie slashes his ankle and after he falls she stabs him to death. Rachel returns home with Gage and cannot believe that she is seeing her daughter alive. She manages to get Gage to Louis but she is stabbed by Ellie. Louis locks Gage in the car and returns upstairs to find a dying Rachel who begs Louis not to resurrect her before succumbing to her injuries.

Ellie knocks Louis unconscious and drags Rachel’s body into the woods where she buries her beyond the Pet Sematary. As Louis prepares to kill Ellie in the forest, he is impaled through the chest with a weather vane by a resurrected Rachel, and he too is buried. Along with Church, the trio set fire to Jud’s house before approaching the car where Gage still sits inside. The resurrected Louis gestures to Gage to unlock the door.

This one is darker and ends differently from the original but it doesn’t better the original and I feel that horror film makers seem to be running out of ideas and reboots and remakes seem to be popping up a lot. I still liked it even though the lead actor’s mumbling and acting style put me off. I give it a 7 outta 10!