Stuart Gordon's RE-ANIMATOR feels as though that child-like persona permeating Tim Burton's view on horror has grown into a girl-crazy teenager pushing the boundaries set down by the parents, on the cusp of true darkness. Though Re-Animator predates Burton's feature length horror films there is a tonal kinship between them. The whimsical score by Richard Band channels the fun to be had in the film as well as the fright, punctuating the blend of horror and comedy present. And the wonderfully peculiar and ardent performance of Jeffrey Combs, which never feels outright malevolent but flirts near the edge, carries the film into that strange and delightful personality that is Re-Animator.
And let's not forget the epic gore and grotesquerie! It isn't an exaggeration to say that this may be one of the goriest movies ever made. Re-Animator goes for the throat in terms of visual spectacle. It's a smorgasbord of practical effects. There are no limits to which this movie won't go. Re-Animator and the rest of the films of Stuart Gordon possess a unique and instantly identifiable flavor in that there's no other movies quite like them.
And while Re-Animator is Gordon's first film, thanks to the talented and dedicated cast and crew it may well stand as his best film and one of the best horror films ever made.
THE PLOT
Dan Cain was just your average student working his way through medical school. He had a fiancee and a full scholarship at Miskatonic University. Life was going well for Dan. And then he met a transfer student named Herbert West. The two became roommates. One night Dan heard a terrible wailing coming from the basement. Bursting through the door he found Herbert struggling against Dan's dead cat. After killing the cat, again, Herbert revealed his re-agent, a formula capable of re-animating the dead. Herbert convinced Dan of the revolutionary powers of his re-agent and the two worked together to perfect the formula. Their next stop... the coroner's office.
WHAT I LIKED
The Gore Effects. A huge crew of artists and technicians were employed to bring the gory effects of this film to life and what they achieved is nothing short of a goriffic masterpiece. The film opens with spraying blood and exploding eyeballs, setting the tone of the film. From here the film starts out small with a twice re-animated cat, then a full blown re-animated corpse, then another, then a decapitation and re-animated head and body, then a host of re-animated corpses and a cacophony of blood including monstrous intestines moving of their own volition. This movie has an incredible escalation of events, just when you didn't think it could grow more grotesque and bloody, it does. Even though it's over 30 years old, few films after have surpassed it.
Slightly Off Kilter. As I was saying above, the personality of this movie is wonderfully deranged, with there being few films like it. The Bernard Herrmann/Danny Elfman like score of Richard Band's really goes a long way in terms of setting the tone. The score is a perfect musical representation of Jeffrey Combs' performance. The cast is great all around but Combs steals the show as Herbert West, an impatient, arrogant, and slightly mad genius. The next biggest personality in the film is antagonist Dr. Carl Hill played with predatory menace by actor David Gale. I can only imagine David Gale's reaction when discovering his character's ultimate fate in the movie: a decapitated body holding his own severed head in his hands!
H.P. Lovecraft's Frankenstein. The story of Frankenstein has always been very near and dear to my heart. Of all the remakes and reimaginings of the story, Re-Animator is my favorite modern retelling. Yes, it's an adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft's work, but it is very much the Frankenstein story too. Herbert West is a young Victor Frankenstein, looking a bit like Colin Clive from the 1931 Frankenstein film, but possessed of the same intensity and drive as Peter Cushing in the Hammer Frankenstein films.
David Gale towers over Jeffrey Combs, in essence playing the Monster. While West represents creating life through science, Barbara Crampton represents creating life through nature, both characters pulling Dan Cain back and forth between them. That sort of makes Dan and Herbert different halves of Dr. Frankenstein's character, together making the whole. And if you needed more comparisons to Frankenstein, just look at the title to Re-Animator's sequel: BRIDE OF RE-ANIMATOR. The character of Herbert West might also be a little like Dr. Pretorius from The Bride of Frankenstein.
NITPICKS
More Shelley. Less Lovecraft. The full title of the film is H.P. Lovecraft's Re-Animator. But if you're searching for a great visual representation of Lovecraft's work then this film will likely disappoint you. It's not a fault of the screenwriters or those doing the adapting, but rather that Lovecraft's work is rather difficult to adapt. Lovecraft leaves so much to the imagination that, in order to bring it to the screen, one has to invent much to make it work. What results is more of a Mary Shelley film than Lovecraft, but I can't fault the filmmakers. Stuart Gordon is one of the few directors out there seemingly dedicated to bringing Lovecraft to life on screen and Cthulhu bless him for it. Of his Lovecraft films there are some that hit the mark better than others, but nearly all come out as quality horror films.
THE VERDICT
Re-Animator is like no film you've ever seen before. A wonderfully demented mix of heightened drama, horror, and comedy. Jeffrey Combs delivers the performance of a lifetime as the mad scientist Herbert West in one of if not the greatest reimagining of the Frankenstein story ever. The gory heights achieved here have rarely been surpassed, such sights never before or after attempted. Re-Animator is a true modern horror classic, unforgettable, and still powerful today over 30 years later.
Overall Ranking: 10 out of 10
Nude-O-Meter: 5 out of 10
For more films by Stuart Gordon, Jeffrey Combs, and horror with a wicked sense of humor check out these other films below
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