HBO's The Pet Cemetery Murders Isn't a Stephen King Story, It's a Real 1985 Murder. The Ghost Is the Least Scary Part

Let's get the most important thing out of the way. If you searched for The Pet Cemetery Murders because you thought HBO was making a Stephen King thing, I have news: it isn't. There are no reanimated cats, no grieving dad and no sign on a trail in the woods. What HBO made is a documentary about something that really happened to a real woman in Louisiana in 1985, and that turns out to be a lot stranger than it sounds.

It premieres tonight, Sunday, Oct. 11, at 9 p.m. ET/PT on HBO. I'll give you the practical stuff first, because it's probably why you're here: the time, how to stream it, how long it runs and what the real case is. Then I'll tell you what I think, which is that the ghost in the title is the least frightening thing about this story.

Is The Pet Cemetery Murders based on Stephen King's Pet Sematary?

No, and I'd bet a lot of people are about to find that out the hard way. The title rhymes with King's 1983 novel Pet Sematary (King's spelling, in case you're searching both), so it's easy to see why someone scrolling HBO Max on a Sunday night might expect a family, a cursed burial ground and something clawing its way back. RogerEbert.com's early review says plainly that the series isn't related to the novel or to Mary Lambert's 1989 film.

Here's a small piece of context I like. According to Bloody Disgusting's write-up of the trailer, King's story grew out of his time living near a busy road, where his daughter's cat was killed by a car. So even the fiction started with something real, small and sad. The HBO series starts with something real and far heavier.

I don't think the title is a trick. It's just accurate: there's a pet cemetery, there are murders, and there's a ghost story. But it might be the best accidental search bait of the fall, and if you landed here by typing "Pet Cemetery Murders Stephen King," welcome. Now you know. If what you really want this weekend is a fictional haunting, Hulu's Hokum is streaming now, and we covered it.

What time is The Pet Cemetery Murders on tonight, and where can you watch it?

If you're not a live-TV person, HBO Max is your move. One thing worth knowing: this is a weekly release, so there's nothing to binge. Part two arrives Oct. 18, and part three lands on Oct. 25, the Sunday before Halloween. I'll admit I like that. A story about something that refuses to stay buried deserves a few days to get under your skin between episodes.

How long is The Pet Cemetery Murders, and when do episodes 2 and 3 come out?

Three episodes, 142 minutes in total, which is a little over two hours and twenty minutes. Here are the runtimes drawn to scale, so you can see how the series is built.

Here's my honest question going in. The RogerEbert.com critic says the story feels a little thin for three episodes and might have worked as a feature. I see the argument. But I also think about how many true-crime docs feel stretched to fill a big episode count, and this one is just three, with the longest saved for the finale. A short, deliberate run is a refreshing amount of true crime.

What really happened to Dorothy Lou Thompson? The real 1985 case, step by step

Dorothy Lou Thompson was 61 and ran the Azalea Original Pet Cemetery, a 14-acre property in the Toca area of St. Bernard Parish, just outside New Orleans. Her mother, Grace, opened it around 1950, according to A&E's rundown of the case. Here's the timeline, pieced together from news coverage and HBO's own press materials.

1. Around 1950

   Thompson's mother, Grace, opens the pet cemetery.

2. Mid-April 1985

   Thompson disappears. She was last seen at a local bank. She had sued to get her land back, and according to the lead detective, the case was set for trial about ten days after she vanished.

3. May 2, 1985

   Fishermen find her body in the Mississippi River, in Plaquemines Parish, wrapped in heavy chains. RogerEbert.com's review of the series puts the weight at about 200 pounds.

4. 1985 to 2009

   The case goes cold. Investigators had long viewed one man, Brandon Nodier, as the prime suspect because of the land dispute, but there wasn't enough evidence to arrest him. At one point police consulted a psychic, who said Thompson was killed at the cemetery, per WDSU as relayed by A&E.

5. 2009

   Detective John Doran reopens the file. In HBO's description, a witness then comes forward with a terrifying story about Thompson's ghost, and three years later a second witness says he's being haunted too.

6. April 2012

   Nodier surrenders on April 25 and is indicted on a second-degree murder charge.

7. July 2014

   He pleads guilty to manslaughter as part of a plea deal and is sentenced to 10 years. Doran has said prosecutors were wary of a trial because key evidence was lost in Hurricane Katrina and the eyewitness was hesitant to testify.

The break in the case, in A&E's account, was an eyewitness: a man serving time in prison who had once worked as an assistant groundskeeper for Nodier. He told investigators he saw the killing and kept quiet for nearly three decades out of fear. He also said Thompson was haunting his dreams.

What the series adds, per HBO, is a much bigger picture: a trail of dead husbands in Thompson's past, a domineering mother who founded the cemetery after staying a step ahead of her own crimes, and a community history of massacres and mob ties. That's a lot of "buried" for one stretch of bayou.

Did a ghost really help solve the murder? What the series claims vs. what the record shows

This is where I'd slow down, because the headlines are doing a lot of work. Some coverage frames the story as a murder solved by a ghost. HBO's own description is more careful: a witness comes forward with a terrifying tale of Dorothy's ghost, and that tale compels him to share information. RogerEbert.com adds that some of the people in the series sincerely believe a ghost helped. Those are claims about what witnesses believe, and they deserve to be taken seriously as exactly that.

Now set that next to the courtroom version. FOX 8's report on the 2014 sentencing said the case relied almost entirely on the testimony of one eyewitness who had come forward two years earlier. The motive investigators described was land. And the obstacles Doran talked about weren't supernatural at all: lost evidence and a nervous witness. I can't tell from the press materials which witness in the series is the one in the news coverage, and I don't want to guess.

The ghost is the hook. The silence is the story.

So here's my take, and I'm saying it before I've seen a single frame: the ghost is the least scary part. A ghost, if you believe in one, at least wants the truth told. What actually chills me is the ordinary stuff. A fight over land. A man who stayed quiet for decades because he was afraid. Evidence lost to a hurricane. Nobody needs the supernatural to explain how a person disappears and the people who know something say nothing for nearly thirty years. That happens in daylight.

And yet there's something hopeful buried in there too, pun mostly not intended. Detectives kept working an old file, a frightened witness finally talked, and a case that sat cold for decades ended up in a courtroom. Late isn't the same as never.

What are critics saying about The Pet Cemetery Murders?

It's early, so there isn't much of a consensus to report. RogerEbert.com's Brian Tallerico gave the series three stars (the site rates out of four) and called it a reminder of how much range the true-crime genre has. He liked that director Philip Cairney lets interview subjects linger in their conflicting memories and beliefs, and he compared the feel to a multi-episode podcast instead of the cheap, recreation-heavy version this story could have been. His main complaint is that it feels a bit thin for three episodes.

I couldn't find a Rotten Tomatoes score as of Sunday morning, and one review is one voice. Still, his line that you don't have to believe in ghosts to appreciate it is the kind of sentence that makes me want to press play.

My ghost test: four things that will tell me if the series earns its hook

These are my criteria, not HBO's, and I'm not scoring anything because I haven't watched. It's simply what I'll be looking for.

1. Dorothy comes first

   iHorror put the challenge well: a ghost sighting is a great logline and also a real woman's murder. I want to meet Dorothy as a person, not just as the reason for a good hook.

2. The skeptics get airtime

   The RogerEbert.com review describes a lead officer who believes in indisputable evidence alongside subjects who believe in a ghost. The best version of this story lets both sit in the same room without a wink at the camera.

3. It explains the silence

   Why did it take so long? Fear, lost evidence and reluctant witnesses are, to me, the real mystery. If the series spends real time there, I'll be happy.

4. The place earns its screen time

   The RogerEbert.com review says the series leans into setting, local legend and atmosphere. Atmosphere should deepen the story, not just decorate it.

Should you watch The Pet Cemetery Murders? Who it's for and who should skip it

The Pet Cemetery Murders questions, answered fast