Saturday, September 28, 2013

Only now does it occur to me... PET SEMATARY

Only now does it occur to me...  that The Ramones were more deeply connected to PET SEMATARY than I previously imagined!

The Ramones don't wanna be buried in a Pet Sematary.

Most everybody knows that Ramones music ("Sheena is a Punk Rocker") plays during the infamous "Truck vs. John Hughes' Son" scene,

and that the Ramones jumped on the spectacular bandwagon of 80s horror/rock collaborations to record the end credits music "Pet Sematary" [thus joining Alice Cooper ("He's Back– The Man Behind the Mask" for FRIDAY THE 13TH PART VI), Dokken ("Dream Warriors" for NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET PART III), W.A.S.P. ("Scream Until You Like It" for GHOULIES II), Mötley Crüe ("Shocker" for SHOCKER), The Dickies ("Killer Klowns" for KILLER KLOWNS FROM OUTER SPACE), and AC/DC ("Who Made Who" for MAXIMUM OVERDRIVE), among others!], but little did I know– until I finally read PET SEMATARY– that the Ramones are all over the book!

Page 54 sees a random radio appearance:  "Louis turned on the radio and dialed until he found the Ramones playing 'Rockaway Beach.' He turned it up and sang along– not well but with lusty enjoyment..."

Page 213 gives us one of Stephen King's famous rocker quotes:  "Hey-ho, let's go!     –The Ramones 

And starting on Page 232, "Hey-ho" becomes a typical Kingish recurring subliminal thought:  "What is it the Ramones say? Hey-ho, let's go!   He thought he wanted to laugh but there was no laugh in him..."  and so on– so clearly The Ramones were fated to be a part of the film!

As for the film itself– it's not nearly as good (or scary) as I remembered, and it pales in comparison to the book, which is one of King's more depressing efforts with a mean streak worthy of Richard Bachmann (that's a good thing!).  Furthermore, Fred "Herman Munster" Gwynne appears to be the only actual actor in the whole movie, and despite his best efforts he is outnumbered.

Herman Munster emotes.

And hey, look, it's a Stephen King cameo– always good for a chuckle!

King's big moment.

In closing, this would have made a kickass melancholy horror flick if it were directed by George A. Romero in the early 1980s.  Oh, well.

No comments: