Jeff Matthews, 13, and his father, Chase, a veterinarian, relocate to his mother's hometown of Ludlow, Maine. He meets the aggressive town sheriff, Gus Gilbert, and his stepson, Drew, whom Gus cruelly mistreats. Additionally, Jeff enrages Clyde Parker, a local bully, who tells him the legend of the Mikmaq burial ground and the Creed family story. After Zowie, Drew's cherished dog, interrupts him during sex one evening, Gus shoots and kills the dog. To find out if the rumors that the dog can bring the dead back to life are accurate, Drew asks Jeff to assist him in burying the dog in the Milkmaq cemetery. Zowie does come back from the dead, but his ferocity is out of character. Chase tends to Zowie's gunshot wound, which is not healing; what is more strange is that Zowie does not have a heartbeat. Chase provides a lab with a sample of Zowie's blood. As it happens, Zowie's cells have degraded to the point where they are identical to those of a deceased dog. Jeff and Drew spend a Halloween night telling local boys scary stories at the Pet Semetery. Gus hurries to the cemetery and cancels the celebration after learning that Drew's mother permitted him to leave even though he was grounded. He attacks his stepson and is about to strike him with a grave marker when Zowie shows up out of nowhere. Gus is fatally mauled by the dog, and the boys bury him at the Indian graveyard. Gus comes back to life; he treats Drew better but now moves stiffly and does not talk much. Gus grows more uncivilized and vicious over time, sexually abusing Drew's mother and ruthlessly skinning the pet rabbits for dinner. After killing three kittens in the veterinary clinic, Zowie storms into Chase's house and attacks him. A day later, Jeff runs into Clyde, who is going to cut Jeff's nose with his own bicycle's wheel spokes when Gus arrives. After sending Jeff home, he kills Clyde while Drew watches. After that, Gus follows Drew to their home, where the boy is stranded alongside the barbaric Zowie. Just as his mother pulls up in her car, he breaks out through a window and the two drive away. Gus speeds after them in his squad car, killing them both when their vehicle collides with an approaching potato truck. Then, with the intention of taking it to the cemetery as well, Gus goes back to Clyde's body and places it in a body bag. After Drew's funeral, Jeff decides to use the Indian burial ground's power to resurrect his mother. Gus exhumes her body and brings it to Jeff at the cemetery. When Chase finds out that his wife's grave has been looted, he heads straight to the Gilbert home. There, he is attacked by Gus and Zowie, who he shoots dead. Upon her resurrection, Renee stabs and kills Marjorie Hargrove, the housekeeper for the Matthews. As Jeff confronts his undead mother in the attic, they embrace. Given that Renee desires to spend more time with her husband, Chase tells Jeff to leave her alone when he gets home. Following Chase's unconsciousness, an undead Clyde shows up and attempts to murder Jeff, first with an axed and then with an ice skate. Chase and the two boys are imprisoned in the attic, which Renee then burns. Jeff uses a severed live wire to kill Clyde before breaking down the attic door to get away. Renee claims that she wants the three of them to resolve their differences and will not let Jeff and Chase go. According to Renee, she loves Jeff and wants him to stay and die with her. As Renee is destroyed by the flames, Jeff yells, "Dead is better!" and carries his father out of the house. A recuperating Chase shuts down his veterinary clinic in the last scene before he and his son depart Ludlow.
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