PET SEMATARY STARS DENISE CROSBY AND DALE MIDKIFF
THEN: Horror movies have a challenge. If you want an audiences to respond, you have to give them something to care about. Take PET SEMATARY for example. For folks to really relate to this flick they had to be sympathetic to a couple who don’t always make the right decisions. If Dale Midkiff and Denise Crosby didn’t have the right chemistry we wouldn't have been on board for the action that he ultimately takes. Thankfully audiences were invested. So in this weeks Where in the Horror are they Now? we decided to look at the careers of both Dale and Denise, and of course see what they are up to now. If I had to have a couple of genre parents, I’d have been happy to have this twosome trying to keep me off that stupid road.
Dale Midkiff isn’t necessarily known for horror, but that wasn’t because he didn’t do it. The actor started off his career with a thriller called STREETWALKIN’ in 1985 – opposite Melissa Leo. The following year, he had a role in a little movie called NIGHTMARE WEEKEND. This bizarro flick featured a strange experiment that turns college girls into mutants. So basically, Mr. Midkiff had his hands full with murderous college monsters. Following his early start with horror, you could find the actor in the comedy CASUAL SEX? (1988), the TV-movie Elvis and Me (1988) and the short lived series Dream Street (1989). With a ton of television on his resume, it wasn’t too long before Dale went to a very creepy graveyard.
Joining Dale in this adaptation of Stephen King’s PET SEMATARY was the lovely Denise Crosby. Considering that Ms. Crosby is very well known for her work in a certain science fiction series, she sure did a lot of comedy when she started. You could find her in 48 HOURS, TRAIL OF THE PINK PANTER in 1992, and then there was THE MAN WHO LOVED WOMEN and CURSE OF THE PINK PANTHER in 1983. After a funny start, Denise found herself in the indie drama DESERT HEARTS in 1985 with a series of TV-movies following that up. Then, in 1986, she appeared in the action/fantasy ELIMINATORS. I’ll be honest, I’ve never heard of this PG rated adventure. How about you guys? With a 4.4 on IMDb, it may not be worth watching perhaps.
Denise continued to take on a number of infringing indie projects. She appeared in the underrated little end of the world gem MIRACLE MILE. She fought crime as a lesbian cop in ARIZONA HEAT. And finally she was “Bad Girl #2” in the drama GREASY LAKE. All of this, from 1988. The same year that she continued her working relationship with Blake Edwards in SKIN DEEP, Ms. Crosby signed up along with Mr. Midkiff for PET SEMATARY. This 1989 feature was a terrifying movie, and frankly it holds up quite well. It is impossible to not feel a whole lot of pain for this couple and their loss, which is a huge reason why we care about them. I dug both actors, and this cemented my fandom for both.
Since portraying the grieving father Louis Creed, Dale Midkiff worked often. He had a number of TV-movies of course, but many of them had a slight genre edge like Visitors of the Night in 1995 or Alien Fury: Countdown to Invasion in 2000. The actor signed up for THE CROW: SALVATION in 2000 and ROUTE 666 the following year. He starred in the thriller FALCON DOWN (2001), MAXUMUM VELOCITY (2003), DEEP RESCUE (2005), FLIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (2007), and for all you potheads, TOTALLY BAKED in 2007. He appeared in the disaster flick 2012 DOOMSDAY in 2008. Aside from his random genre entries, the actor kept busy on the small screen, he even appeared in an episode of Dexter in 2007.
Here we are, almost finished with this article and I haven’t even brought up Denise Crosby’s most famous role to date. In 1987, the actress became an icon thanks to her years on Star Trek: The Next Generation. While there was a bit of frustration for her when she left because the role wasn't terribly challenging, she was still awesome as Lieutenant Tasha Yar. It was a role that she was hoping would grow more, and ultimately she felt that it would be better to walk away. Thankfully, the actress continued to work steadily. Her many horror credits include DOLLY DEAREST (1991), RELATIVE FEAR (1994), MUTANT SPECIES (1994), DREAM MAN (1995), DEEP IMPACT (1998), MORTUARY (2005) and BORN (2007). She has also worked on a number of television shows including The Adventures of Brisco County Jr., Red Shoe Diaries, Dexter, The X-Files, Southland and even The Walking Dead.
NOW: What I’ve always appreciated about television is that if you find success once on the small screen, it is seemingly easier to find work. Dale Midkiff has become a familiar face there. In the past couple of years he made an appearance on The Client List and Castle. When it comes to feature films, the actor currently has a feature called 21 OUTS under the status “In Production” and then he has a comedic horror project called HELL’S KITTY coming our way. This one also stars Doug Jones, Michael Berryman, Courtney Gains, Kelly Maroney and a few other familiar faces in the world of genre.
What about Ms. Crosby? Well, she has been pretty damn busy herself. In 2015 she starred in the horror thriller DARK INTENTIONS. She stopped by for an episode of The Magicians, Castle and Ray Donovan. And she also had another genre feature called THE WATCHER. With that, I’d be happy to watch Denise in anything. And with the upcoming remake of PET SEMATARY, wouldn’t it be cool to see both of these fine folks in a cameo situation? I’d be all about that frankly. Either way, I’ll always have the original and I have to give credit where credit is due. With the quiet intensity of Dale, and the strong leading lady of a mom that Denise gave us, I love that movie!
If you’d like to see what both of these fine talents are up to, you can follow Denise on Twitter. And if you happen to be heading to the Silicon Valley Comic Con this coming April, you will have the chance to meet this lovely lady in person. As for Dale, the actor seems to be keeping things a little more private… especially on social media, he appears to be not very active at all. Probably likes to stay out of the limelight, and who can blame him. If you are up for it, today may be a good day to find out why sometimes dead is better… Watch PET SEMATARY and rejoice in the creepiness of this classic feature.