| Enter the LaNd of your nightmares! |
| Re-Animator |
Re-Animator
Reviewed by BombA
Directed by : Stuart Gordan
year : 1985
Based Losely on a Story By : HP Lovecraft
Tagline : Death is Just the Beginning
Cast :
Jeffrey Combs .... Herbert West
Bruce Abbott (I) .... Dan Cain
Barbara Crampton .... Megan Halsey
David Gale (I) .... Dr. Carl Hill
Robert Sampson (I) .... Dean Alan Halsey
Gerry Black .... Mace (Miskatonic security guard)
Carolyn Purdy-Gordon .... Dr. Harrod
Peter Kent (I) .... Melvin the Re-Animated
Barbara Pieters (I) .... Nurse
A lot of people might say that movies like the Re-Animator are gross just for the sake of being gross. To these people I say; "good point, but isn't it a whole lot of fun in the process?" Really the Re-Animator is sort of like slapstick horror. And what could be more amusing?
The Re-Animator starts with a brief pre-credit scene involving...well re-animation. For people not too familiar with bizarre scientific experiments that are only performed in horror movies, re-animation is the process of giving dead people a chance to be alive again and fulfill those dreams they never got to fulfill in life, like eating living humans and stuff like that. Here we, the viewers, are introduced to our title character who is destined to take a place in all of our hearts; Herbert West. West is brilliantly portrayed by Jeffrey Combs.
After that brief preview we role credits and cut to a scene of a college man posting a roommate wanted sign. You don't suppose that creepy guy from before the credits will turn up at his doorstep do you? Naaaaaaah. Anyway this scene is almost immediately followed by boobs. Good choice by the director. This kind of back-to-back imagery should be enough to subliminally influence anyone who views this film to further their own education, go off to college, and post "roommate wanted" signs hoping to attract boobs. We soon learn that Dan Cain, our main character played by Bruce Abbot, is honor-rolling-in-the-hay (I realize I was reaching a bit there, I apologize) with the dean's daughter. This situation will surely be a problem later in the film. Anyway Cain is looking for a roommate, and who better than Jeffrey West who just moved onto this campus and has stolen the secret of life and death?
Pretty soon Abbot's cat disappears and he finds it in West's fridge. Although this is extremely strange, Abbot finds it acceptable enough from his new roommate and they move on to arguing about the phone bill. West then shows Abbot the formula that will bring the cat back to life, which strangely looks like the anti-freeze my dad uses. Maybe I should check my dad's fridge. Anyway this brings the cat back to life, though mangled and very angry. The next step is obvious; use this on a human subject. This is where the fun really begins. With dead humans being brought back to life, in a very pissed off and hungry state, what could possibly go wrong?
The Re-Animator is a classic, with people dying, coming back to life, carrying around their own detached heads, and then dying again. There are also some rather disturbing scenes involving intestines, a cat cut in half and then brought back to life, and the previously mentioned detached head very nearly performing oral sex on a young "bubble-headed co-ed." Silliness abounds in this one.
The Re-Animator is based on a story by H.P. Lovecraft, I would guess that, like most movies based on the works of Lovecraft, this film is a drastic departure from his actual text. Jeffrey Combs, who frequents films that are loosely based on the works of H.P. Lovecraft, comes through with a truly great performance in this one. Combs really steals the show. He is creepy yet sly, clever yet…well creepy. Anyway I believe that his sometimes-frantic over-the-top, yet at times strangely deadpan performance in his role in this film is kind of a throwback to the types of performances you could expect to see from Vincent Price in classic old-school horror movies. He plays the low-key mad scientist, and perhaps only Vincent Price himself could've done it better than Combs did in the Re-Animator. His performance should always be remembered by fans of the genre. Anyway that's just my opinion, I've often been told that I am a huge moron so take it with a grain of salt.
Anyway, Combs' aside, the other performances in general are fairly good for the genre. Barbara Crampton plays the female lead slash set of boobs for the film. Crampton is a horror regular, be sure to check her out in "Chopping Mall." Bruce Abbot plays Dan Cain, our "hero" for the film. If watching him fight the newly re-animated body of his own formerly dead cat doesn't make you smile then you quite possibly have no soul at all.
The Re-Animator is one truly great piece of cinema. Some of the effects in the movie are a bit questionable, but this is easily forgiven. The film comes across sort of like a super gross cartoon, with its silly concepts (a headless man passes through security by sticking a mannequin head on his neck-stump) and over-the-top situations (the previously mentioned intestine scene for one). It is a great thrill ride for anyone who can take a little gore.
Although it isn't very scary (for most adults anyway, when I was a kid it freaked me out pretty good), it is definitely gross, and has strong comedic and sci-fi value. For anyone who likes zombie movies this is a must see. Although it will make you squeamish types a bit…well squeamish. I actually saw this movie for the first time when I was very young. My mom used to rent a lot of horror movies for my older sister when I was a kid. Of course she wasn't supposed to let my brother and I watch them and of course she did. The Re-Animator was one of those movies that my sister wasn't supposed to let me watch. If I ever go crazy people will probably blame her and the Re-Animator.
HELPER CHARACTERS!!!!
"The first man they re-animated at the morgue is Arnold Schwarzenegger's body double, probably a bad choice since he will undoubtedly be very angry and hungry when awakened, wasn't there a little dead Chinese girl anywhere? Also, West shoves the drill through a cadaver's back and and it comes out of the cadavers chest. But if you look closely you can see West and the cadaver accidentally lift the fake chest high enough to reveal the real body underneath the "cadaver" who is actually the one pushing the drill though. Case closed. " - Percy