“Pet Sematary: Bloodlines,” written and directed by Lindsey Anderson Beer, takes place in 1969 and centers around a young Jud Crandall (Jackson White) as he makes plans with his girlfriend (Natalie Alyn Lind) to leave their sleepy town of Ludlow, Maine to join the Peace Corps. Their plans quickly spoiled and Jud, along with help from his friends, must understand his town’s history in order to fight the evil forces within.

“Pet Sematary: Bloodlines” serves as a prequel to the original story, exploring Jud’s personal and familial history and his connection to his hometown. This timeline is murky, with Jud around his early 20s in this film, but in his early 80s in the 1989 original film. Following this timeline, 20 years pass between this year’s prequel and the original, but Jud ages 60 years. It seems like “Bloodlines” means to serve as a prequel for the 2019 remake of “Pet Sematary,” instead of the original from over 30 years ago. 

Confusing timeline aside, this entry in a long-existing intellectual property doesn’t offer much in terms of emotional stakes or context. Audiences learn about Jud’s young adulthood and why he decides to stay in Ludlow, but not much else. While the 1989 Stephen King adaptation worked to explore themes of guilt and grief, this prequel only lightly brushes those topics in favor of a few somewhat impactful jumpscares and time-consuming chase sequences. 

Beer decides to address the Native American perspective of the story, an outlook not yet explored by any “Pet Sematary” installments. She introduces Jud’s childhood friend Manny (Forrest Goodluck) and his sister Donna (Isabella LaBlanc) who seem to be responsible for representing their entire Mi’kmaq tribe. While this makes for a noble effort, the two characters lack the development that had the potential to round out a previously ignored viewpoint. 

In fact, this theme of underdevelopment permeates throughout the entire project. Audiences see the histories of Ludlow and Jud, but not much else. Stephen King-penned books and their adaptations typically overflow with symbolism and metaphors, but there just doesn’t seem to be any significant presence of that here. 

While not actively bad by any means, “Pet Sematary: Bloodlines” feels like an unnecessary addition to the universe. With solid directing, one or two good laughs and some satisfyingly gnarly gore, “Bloodlines” could likely make the same impact as a novella or prologue instead of an 84-minute feature film.

2 ½ bloody sunflowers out of 5