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!

After thirteen years in a prison ruled by a very mean director, Dr. Herbert West (Jeffrey Combs) is invited to be the assistant of the new-comer Dr. Howard Phillips (Jason Barry), a brilliant resident, in the penitentiary infirmary. After being introduced to each other, Dr. Phillips discloses that the last experiment of Dr. West killed his sister thirteen years ago, when he was a boy, and he became fascinated with the possibility of bringing dead people back to life. The journalist Laura Olney (Elsa Pataky), who is covering a matter for her newspaper in the prison, has an affair with Dr. Phillips, and they fall in love for each other. However, the experience of Dr. West looses control and the place becomes a branch of hell. "Beyond Re-Animator" was a great surprise for me. I did not expect anything interesting in this sequel, but I decided to risk, based on the names of Brian Yuzna and Jeffrey Combs. When I saw twice the microphone mistakenly in the scene in the beginning of the movie, when Dr. West is having a conversation with Sergeant Moncho (Lolo Herrero) in his cell, I thought that I was going to lose my time watching this film. However, "Beyond Re-Animator" is an excellent and very funny trash-movie, with a great potential of cult-movie. The story is very bloody and has lots of black humor and gore, recalling the style of Peter Jackson's "Braindead". This movie is a worthwhile sequel of the cult "Re-Animator" and "Bride of Re-Animator". Along the credits, there is another very funny scene. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Re-Animator – Fase Terminal" ("Re-Animator – Terminal Phase")

After causing the Miskatonic University Massacre,Dr.Herbert West has been serving a prison sentence for the past 14 years.Far from overcoming his scientific obsession with bringing dead organisms back to life,he has had no choice but to continue his experiments on the only specimens he can find in his cell:rats.When Howard,a new young doctor,comes to work as the prison MD and requests his assistance,Dr.West discovers that the young protege has something he left behind 14 years ago..."Beyond Re-Animator" is an enjoyable horror flick that offers plenty of gore.It's nice to see Jeffrey Combs again as Herbert West.The acting is okay and and there is a lot of zombies running around plus a nice dose of black humour(a bitten-off re-animated penis which has a rather hilarious fight with a re-animated rat).This film is surely not as good as "Re-Animator",but if you want to be entertained give it a look.7 out of 10.

Better than it had to be. I'm not gonna lie - I liked it more than Bride. It's more cohesive. It's zany without the over the top acting like Bride had. I like that after all these years - it stays true to the original. It still has that 80's spirit. This is a treat for fans who needed one more fix of that Re-Animator goodness!