Honestly, if all Pet Graveyard had going for it were its name and poster, I would love it in the same unconditional way that I love all animals. But this movie does something so audacious, even I’m kind of shocked. It isn’t content to ripoff just Pet Sematary. No, it also decides to double up and absorb parts of Flatliners into its narrative. Bravo!

A group of friends decides to do an experiment where they all die for just long enough that they can see the dead. That means that in the universe of this film, neither the 1990 or 2017 versions of Flatliners exist. However, Death doesn’t like them playing with the afterlife, so he dons his cape and brings along his red-eyed sphinx cat who is so adorable that I couldn’t be frightened by him. I kept wishing he were watching the movie with me so I could pet and cuddle him.

Pet Graveyard is the directorial debut of Rebecca J. Matthews, who produced Mandy the Doll and several other direct to video efforts. The results aren’t bad — there’s a story here after all, but I was kind of hoping that the actual movie would be beyond crazy to live up to the riffing on past films and the impressive title.

I was expecting animals rising from the dead and killing clones of Julia Roberts in her dreams, but British people dealing with family issues. But hey — the box art and title more than did their job, right?

But just look at how cute this little fellow is!

Pet Graveyard is scheduled for release on DVD and digital on April 2.

DISCLAIMER: We were sent this movie by its PR firm, but that doesn’t impact our review.