Pet Sematary: Bloodlines

The film gives Native siblings Manny and Donna a direct place in the land’s history. Manny becomes a co-hero and kills the undead Timmy, while Donna’s visions warn the group about the evil. The dialogue mentions racism, the American Indian Movement, and the Alcatraz occupation. Beer said she wanted to give these characters a point of view and move away from the old mystical-Indigenous trope. These identity-driven ideas recur through the story but remain secondary to the resurrection horror.

The film says the town was named to remind settlers of their sins. It presents the Mi’kmaq as protectors of the land and the settlers as people who awakened the evil. Manny and Donna talk about racism, and their parents are linked to the American Indian Movement’s Alcatraz occupation. This creates a recurring Western institutional / cultural critique, although the movie does not focus on capitalism or patriarchy.

The original story only briefly tells Timmy Baterman’s history. The movie expands it with Manny and Donna as native characters and gives Manny a heroic role. Beer said she changed the material to challenge the old mystical-Indigenous trope and give those characters a clear point of view. This is a clear identity-driven change, but it is limited to the prequel’s new backstory.

Stephen King has a mild liberal public record, but his creative work is not centered on modern identity politics. Jeff Buhler has no documented public activist record. Lindsey Anderson Beer has no documented long-term woke track record. Her interviews about this film show a specific focus on native representation, but that is a title choice rather than a broad career pattern.