Beyond Re-Animator

Any movie that includes a character named after the Great Lovecraft himself is bound to attract the attention of quite a few enthusiasts, even though in this case said character is dull and mostly thinly constructed, yet this is a sequel to the epic of Doctor West and his uncanny obsession, as such it was bound to create a certain momentum.

Which it does, up to a certain time. The opening scene is quite unexpected if not remarkably brilliant and although the movie seems to lag off during its middle sections, encompassing a completely unnecessary and mostly painful romance, it gains strength as it marches towards a complete onslaught of mangled bodies re-animated, a sinister warden now possessed with the spirit of a nasty rodent, an exploding junkie and a forest of not quite-dead bodies merrily twitching away.

Obviously, there is no plot worth mentioning, and only West's zeal to proceed through the insanity and protect his work manages to cause some impact in terms of psychologically rendering a character above a simple stereotype.

As it has already been mentioned, in this movie insanity reigns supreme, until it seems clear the director was more interesting to enjoying the pandemonium than anything else.

***Spoiler***

A perfect example of this is the rat-fighting-penis scene, perhaps one of the most hilarious and strangely concocted images to have surfaced the big screen ***Spoiler****

Also, a few scenes are reminiscent of some horror cult icons, which further stress that Beyond Re-Animator, like the whole series, is a product to and for the genre that fostered it, without trying to reward any viewer not in sync with the dictates of horror from the gory kind.

***Spoiler***

I found it most satisfying that West makes it through it all simply to walk away at the end of the movie, clearly all other characters were somewhat perfunctory and it would seem too much anti-climax to dispatch the good doctor or not grant him his liberty ***Spoiler***

Overall, a very amusing piece of horror that is not the work of a genius but is far from being completely without worth.

I loved the first Re-Animator movie. "Bride of Re-Animator" was OK. This one is over-the-top, completely twisted, and just plain clean, gory, bloody, guts spattering about, eyeballs crawling around, penis-attacks-rat fun.

This isn't a movie that takes itself seriously, and you shouldn't, either.

Jeffrey Combes is wonderful, as always, as Dr. Herbert West. Dr. West has figured out (or so he thinks) what was missing in his previous "experiments." Needless to say, it doesn't work as planned (hey, it's "just a theory"), and much mayhem ensues. Much. Much more than in the first two movies. Think "Attica" meets "Night of the Living Dead" meets "Freaky Friday." Yes, it's that far off the deep end.

I would recommend this film highly to anyone who enjoys a humorous splatter flick. If you're not a deranged gorehound, you probably won't like this one. Speaking as a longtime deranged gorehound, however, I can safely say that this is one of the finest films ever made in its genre, and certainly worthy of several Academy Awards.

I did mention that I was deranged, right?

Yeah, I did. And if you are, too, see this movie. And don't forget to watch the absolutely classic "Move Your Dead Bones" video that also comes on the DVD. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll like it better than "Cats."

Kudos to Brian Yuzna!

Beyond re-animator is the final installment of Stuart Gordon's "Re-animator" series that began in 1985 and like most late installments, comes off as unnecessary and a failed attempt to cash in on a popular title. In the fashion of "Jason goes to Hell", "Freddy's dead: The Final Nightmare" and "Halloween: H20", Beyond Re-animator attempts to restart the series by trying to retcon certain plot elements while pretending to be a legitimate sequel. The result, as usual was a colossal mess of inconsistencies, leaving only the most superficial elements from the original two films without the heart of what made those films so beloved in the first place. We find our protagonist Herbert West imprisoned in a federal jail after his former assistant Dan Kain apparently turned him in to the authorities for his illegal experimentation. We never find out why Dan, a prominent character in the original films would do such a thing and Beyond Re-animator brushes off any details as unimportant. We're also provided with no explanation as to how West escaped the cliffhanger conflict at the end of the last film "Bride of Re-animator". Jeffrey Combs reprises his role as the mad scientist, who continues his devilish experiments on whatever subjects he can gain access to within the confines of his small prison cell. However, everything changes for West when Dr. Howard Philips (Jason Barry) takes over as the prison physician. Philips had witnessed the power of West's reagent serum as a child and has since become obsessed with the science of re-animating the dead. Handing West his iconic syringe containing the glowing green reagent, it's only a matter of time before West restarts his old experiments, and the entire prison is thrown into chaos. The film plays out in the typical fashion that we've come to expect from this series. Characters die only to be used as test subjects for West and Philips who bring them back to life as vicious, murderous monsters. The style blends graphic body horror with ridiculous slap stick comedy. While entertaining at times, Beyond Re-animator does little more than copy it's predecessors and fails to further the story of Herbert West in any meaningful way. The absence of Stuart Gordon is obvious as the film feels more like a what if scenario, rather than a genuine attempt to further an existing mythos. The story is convoluted as the majority of scenes serve little more than excuses to get from A to point B. For example, there's an ongoing joke about one of the inmates having a pet rat. We see West experiment on the rat which serves as an all to predictable foreshadowing of the rat being re-animated as one of West's experiments and eventually attacking his former owner. The characters in this film, save for Herbert West, were all one dimensional and failed to establish meaningful identities for themselves. Herbert West is deranged and lacking in social graces as always, making him the sole source of entertainment. By comparison, the scenes without West were uninteresting and took up far to much of the film's run time. It was fun seeing Jeffrey Combs reprise his most famous role one last time. However, the unoriginal plot and hollow performances by the rest of the cast simply couldn't keep up with him and ultimately dragged him down along with them and the rest of this film. Beyond Re-animator attempted to bring new life to the Re-animator series. Unfortunately, this experiment was a failure.

I think they had the right idea. The basic concept for me had potential. This special element representing 'the soul', energy that could be used to revive someone back to normal once re-animated. Having to kill one source to bring back another has a nice twist to it.

The opening and closing of the film was cool (with the intro of West and him walking away into the mist). I could deal with the new protege, Howard, or whatever his name is, though I would have rather he used his native accent to give the film some more flavour. (but having Dan Cain back would have been so much better)

My first biggest problem with the film comes from what they do with the basic concept. To me, they never fully realized it. I kept waiting for everything to go to the next level... especially when the riot broke out, I was hoping they'd take the massacre at the end of the first movie and just let loose. That never happened. Instead, they opted for a couple truly idiotic moments and what at the end of the day felt like a stale re-mix of elements from the first and second. I didn't want to see reflective moments from the first, though that might have been fine in a better movie... nor of Bride. I wanted something taken to a new level, much like Bride did after the original.

They had the concept. They had the setting. And I believe that Brian Yuzna can still direct a decent movie had he a good script and cast to work with. More and more, I wish they could have convinced Stuart Gordon to come back and take his rightful place as director of Beyond Re-Animator. I loved Dagon, very much showing he's still got it (not to mention the fact I love Re-Animator and enjoy From Beyond), and I could only imagine what he could have done with Beyond Re-Animator.

I think the script is the biggest fault of the film. Performances or the direction of those performances is next. The only truly golden character in the film is obviously Herbert West, with Jeffry Combs doing a wonderful job given the material he has to work with. I would rather they focused more on West than the silly little romance between Howard and that reporter (with an annoying voice recorded, which I believe must be because of bad dubbing to hide a thick accent. And if it wasn't dubbing, please dear god go back in time and cast someone else). The reporter subplots would have been better written out than to have to sit through them again. The only part I could get behind with that whole mess was at the end, when Howard had lost it and he was going back and forth calling out Emily (his sister) and Laura, the reporter, mixing the two up in his head, and just before that cradling her head in his hands. From that point on, the film was back on target... exactly as it should of been all along. Too bad there was only a couple minutes left in the film.

Don't get me started about the final Rat shadow sequence.

All I have to say in regards to the Warden was that he was no Dr Hill.

Overall, I was left with a bitter taste in my mouth. A disappointment. At the back of my mind, there was a hope that it'd be at least on the level of Bride. Not great, but a decent Re-Animator fix. The final result is anything but.

It's been well over a decade since we last saw Herbert West and now he's finally back. It seems his past has finally caught up with him as he is now currently serving a jail sentence for the gory mayhem his re-animated corpses have caused. The arrival of a new young doctor, who wants to help West, results in West being back in business. The best thing about this film is Jeffrey Combs. He slips back into the role of Herbert West effortlessly. The gore effects courtesy of Screaming Mad George are also a highlight. While not as good as the original, it's about even with Bride Of Re-Animator. I hope there'll be further instalments.

Oh and continue watching during the end credits.