The Wendigo in Pet Sematary (2019) (4/8/19)

I having a sneaking suspicion that after watching Pet Sematary, the question on a lot of peoples’ minds was “what is a Wendigo??”, along with “why was it so briefly referenced in the movie, with no clear relevance??”. Well… let's find out. First, before we can understand what importance a symbol like the Wendigo could have in PET SEMATARY, we must first understand exactly what a Wendigo is. In Native American Algonquian folklore, the Wendigo is a mythical beast with an insatiable taste for human flesh. The Wendigo often appears as a lanky, gaunt being with massive antlers, and is traditionally associated with greed, starvation, cannibalism, and murder. Conceptually, however, the Wendigo can be seen as a monstrocized version of a human consumed by selfish greed, especially one who lacks the foresight to see that devastating consequences of their self-serving actions. That greed is symbolically represented in the Wendigo’s constant hunger to consume the flesh of men.

In the context of PET SEMATARY,  it is the mythical power of the forest-dwelling Wendigo that imbues the burial ground with its powers of resurrections. The Wendigo itself is only physically shown twice, initially in Jud’s book and again for a moment in the forest, but the concepts it represents heavily permeate the film. Not only does the burial ground itself quite literally want to consume the flesh of the beings that are buried there, but when those beings are resurrected, they become possessed with the desires of the Wendigo, to kill and to claim the bodies of those around them for their own. When Ellie returns from the grave, she appears to have lost her humanity, her soul if you will. She is driven purely by a brutal, animalistic desire to slaughter her family, and have them join her in living death. The Wendigo pulls the string throughout the entirety of the film, leuring Louis into the woods, and recalling Rachel’s repressed memories of her sister Zelda’s death.

However, more so than the ways in which the Wendigo is represented in the “monsters” of PET SEMATARY, I am fascinated by the ways  Louis’ character embodies some of these concepts. One of the ideas that the Wendigo is most closely associated with in folklore is selfishness. Similarly to the Freudian concept of the Id, the Wendigo can bring out the most base and self-serving desires in its victims, namely Louis. While the bond between a parent and a child is commonly thought to be the most selfless human relationship, by bringing Ellie back from the grave, Louis is in no way acting in her best interest. Just as in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Louis ultimately holds responsibility for the life and actions of the being he creates. And yet, while we know Louis is wrong to resurrect Ellie, it is hard to imaging making any other choice after the death of one’s own child. I realize I am getting off the topic of the Wendigo to a certain degree, but at the same time, it is humanity’s inherent selfishness that the Wendigo can be seen to represent. PET SEMATARY is so especially crushing because the audience must watch Louis bring doom upon his family, while knowing we would probably make the exact same choice.

**This analysis is meant to be applied to the 2019 film adaption, independent of the King novel.