OVER THE YEARS I HAVE LEARNED that each person handles death in their own way. I also know as one grows older the shock of death loses some of its harshness, in varying degrees. Without classifying them as friend, family or stranger; I knew a woman who couldn’t wait for her husband to die. At the first sign of sickness she immediately had him placed in a nursing facility; she did not want to have anything to do with him. He eventually did die in that facility. Going to a different extreme, I knew a daughter who could not accept the death of her mother. Every day she went to the cemetery to visit her mother, with a thermos of coffee and a sweet roll. She would take a folding chair with her and spend time talking to her mother while sipping her coffee, after pouring a cup for her mother that she perched on top of the gravestone. Next to that cup the daughter placed a piece of the sweet roll on a napkin. When she would leave, she would pour the coffee on the grave and leave the sweet roll. The next day when she returned she would find comfort in the absence of the sweet roll; imagining her mother must have taken it. In reality it probably was either a cemetery employee, bird or rodent.      FOR MANY PEOPLE THEIR PETS ARE just as important as their family and friends. There was a man I knew who loved his pets so much that he would have them cremated. In his house he had a shelf devoted to the ashes of his pets; each pet’s ashes were placed in an urn that he would then line up across the shelf. Either resting in front of each one or hanging around the urn itself was that animal’s collar. If you think that is a bit extreme, what about those pet owners who have a taxidermist stuff their pets or freeze dry them for preservation? I have only seen such things on the news, where the dead pet could be curled up on a mantle or sitting up next to a potted plant. If I remember correctly didn’t the news report a few months ago about a celebrity who had her deceased dog cloned? The new puppy looked exactly like their previous pet. I am not one to judge; the way a person wants to handle their loss is up to them as long as it does not have a negative effect on those remaining. See what I mean in this horror thriller.      MOVING FROM BUSTLING BOSTON TO PEACEFUL Maine was meant to slow down the hectic life of Dr. Louis Creed, played by Jason Clarke (First Man, Everest), and his family. That all changed when their neighbor Jud, played by John Lithgow (Leap Year, Daddy’s Home Two), showed Louis a part of their land that was supposed to be off limits. With Amy Seimetz (You’re Next, Upstream Color) as Rachel, Jete Laurence (The Snowman, Sneaky Pete-TV) as Ellie and relative newcomer Obssa Ahmed as Victor Pascow; this mystery movie had an interesting style to it. I found some of the filming exceptional that added to the tension of the story. For me, as soon as I see an unkept cat I immediately think something is wrong with it and the cat in this film was giving me the heebie-jeebies. The downfall to this movie was sadly the script. I got tired watching the same scenario done in different ways. Though the acting was okay I never felt connected to the characters. It came to a point where I was looking forward to this movie being over as the dialog got cheesier and predictable. Because this was a remake, I felt the movie studio should have left this story buried and not try to resurrect it.

1 ¾ stars