Ré-Animateur

In Austria, the medical student Herbert West (Jeffrey Combs) develops a serum to resuscitate the dead while working with a famous scientist that mysteriously dies. Herbert travels to Massachusetts and his application is accepted by the Miskatonic Medical University Dean Alan Halsey (Robert Sampson); then he moves to the basement of the house of Daniel 'Dan' Cain (Bruce Abbott), a medical student that is seeking a roommate to share his expenses and that is in love with Alan's daughter Megan Halsey (Barbara Crampton). When Megan's cat disappears, she finds it dead in Herbert's refrigerator. Later, Daniel hears a cat and Herbert screaming and he sees the cat alive violently attacking Herbert and they kill the animal again. Herbert invites Daniel to work with him, but Megan sees the bizarre experiment and tells her father that expels the students from the University. But Herbert and Daniel go to the morgue to find a corpse to revive and they are surprised by the dean that is murdered by a resurrected man. Herbert injects the re-animating fluid in Alan that revives but the envious and greedy Dr. Carl Hill (David Gale) wants his formula to become famous.

"Re-Animator" is one of my favorite cult-movie and I have just watched it again at least for the sixth time (last time I saw it was on 21 March 2000). This funny and gore B-movie has excellent special effects and made Jeffrey Combs worshiped for the rest of his career. Barbara Crampton is very beautiful and the scene in the laboratory with she naked and Dr. Carl Hill beheaded is one of the funniest I have ever seen. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Re-Animator"

Note: On 26 August 2012, I saw this film again, now on DVD.

Note: On 25 June 2015, I saw this movie again.

This movie is campy, gory fun, amusing in parts, generally entertaining... and Jeffrey Combs is perfect as West--calm, creepy, and endearing at the same time. But at the same time, it lacks the beauty and eloquence of H.P. Lovecraft's original story, "Herbert West--Re-Animator." The modern, 1980's setting seems odd and a bit awkward. West would be much more at home in the world around the nineteen-teens and twenties, when the original story was written and set.

Lovecraft's works are so much more than just shocking tales and monster stories. They're beautiful and engaging, thrilling and--not just gory, but genuinely morbid in the truest sense of the world; a sense that seems to have been largely lost in the world of modern horror.

Re-Animator possesses none of the first three qualities. It does have some true morbidity--but only in the very small parts wherein it remains true to the source material.

To sum up: This is a good, entertaining movie, if you don't mind some gore. It's definitely worth watching. But it's the kind of movie you watch one night and then the next night forget about. It's far from worthy of cult classic status.

While many horror movies have strong doses of humour in them (from 'Bride Of Frankenstein' to 'Dawn Of The Dead', 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre' to 'From Dusk Til Dawn'), there's very few actual horror-comedies I enjoy. 'Motel Hell' is one exception, Frank Henenlotter's movies, especially 'Frankenhooker' are others, but to my mind Stuart Gordon's 'Re-Animator' is by far the most original and entertaining one ever made in my opinion. This movie put Gordon on the map and also made Jeffrey Combs into a worldwide cult figure. Combs is absolutely brilliant as Herbert West, one of the most memorable mad scientists in horror history, and the rest of the supporting cast - Bruce Abbott, David Gale, and the lovely Barbara Crampton - are all excellent. Gordon uses H.P. Lovecraft's West stories as a jumping off point for some grotesque and genuinely funny moments that once seen are never forgotten, particularly THAT scene between Crampton and Gale, which is now the stuff of legend, though beware it is cut from some versions of the movie. Make sure you see the uncut version of 'Re-Animator' whatever you do! Gordon went on to make some other Lovecraft adaptations, some good, some not so good, but 'Re-Animator' was the first and is still in my opinion the best. Highly recommended fun which gets better and better as the years go by! This movie is an unquestionable horror classic!

The astute viewer will immediately pick up on the tone of Re-Animator. The introduction (added to the film at the last minute before its release) is a glimpse of the over-the-top nature of the entire production. If one were to be frightened by this intro, he or she will be comforted by the playful cheer of the opening title music. The score was heavily inspired by the famous Psycho score, a classic by Bernard Herrmann.

The movie, inspired by H.P. Lovecraft's `Herbert West: Re-Animator', follows a simple plot. Herbert West (played to precise pitch perfection by Jeffrey Combs who, like Bruce Campbell, is a B-Movie legend) is new at Miskatonic Medical University. Immediately, Herbert clashes with Dr. Carl Hill (David Gale) on the subject of `brain death'.

At the same time, Dan Cain (Bruce Abbot) is looking for a roommate. He is also dating Dean Alan Halsey's (Robert Sampson) daughter, Megan (Barbara Crampton). When Herbert West shows up at Dan's door one night during a `study' session, Megan is immediately suspicious. Why is Herbert so anxious to move in? Why is he so interested in the basement?

It is not long before the cat is dead, re-animated and dead again. The early scenes of violence are disturbing and hilarious at the same time and are only a taste of what is to come. Dan tries to resist the temptation of power inherent in the re-animating fluid, but is sucked into Herbert's mad world of life giving.

There is a turn of events about halfway through the film (which I would be crazy to spoil) that almost screams to the viewer, `We aren't playing by the rules here.' The storyline twists its way to the famous conclusion that, if you haven't heard of it, will leave you breathless. Even if you know what is going to happen, when you finally see it, in all of it's gory, sexual glory you understand why this classic has achieved such a status. The finale of the film is twisted in so many ways it's impossible to count.

Obviously, I loved the movie. Having never been anything but a horror fan, I cannot say it will suit everyones' tastes. The film is so over-the-top that the outrageous gore becomes less and less shocking. The timid viewer may want to shy away from this masterpiece. Anyone with even the slightest curiosity should seek this movie out.

I bought this movie after reading a review, it must be one of the greatest horror comedies of all time! If you, like myself, thought that Evil Dead II was hilarious just go ahead and watch this one. Very sarcastic, probably the best Lovecraft movie.