Rejuvenatrix

So many 80's horror films that were made mostly for the video market have been unfairly thrown aside in the 30+ years since they were released and many of them have a lot of creativity that deserves to be seen by a new audience. The Rejuvenator is one of those lost films that still has the capacity to entertain.

A doctor has been working on an anti-aging serum forever, but he hasn't been working fast enough to please one of his biggest financial benefactors - an aging actress whose career could use a refreshing. Even though he's nervous about it, he agrees to shoot her up with the serum, telling her all the risks and that she'll need multiple doses of the serum or else the entire thing will reverse. The only problem is that he needs human brain tissue to make more serum and he's running out of cadavers.

The special makeup effects are top notch, the performances are spirited with just enough camp appeal given the subject matter, and the script is smarter and better written that other films of this type and budget. This is a film that could benefit from a new Blu-Ray release.

A scientist is tasked to create a 'rejuvenating' serum with a huge investment from a has-been star. When a break in the development was discovered, a youth obsessed star tries it without care AND discover a much more scarier after-effect AND pushed to insanity.

That was ok.

I really watched this simply because I want to watch see the comparison against the Substance. Its practically similar in that an aging star drinks a somewhat untested product that has out-of-this-world repercussion to its host. Its rife in similarity but fundamentally it differs in how it tells its story.

This film is very focused on the Monster of it all. Its more interested how awful she is as a monster and loses any kind of satire or commentary that the Substance really succeeds on. I mean this has a great make-up special effect too BUT the only characterization the star has is that she wants to be young again and work - which is fine but she uses her new found youth to be able to hang around the youth of time. Its quite a weird disjunct to her original position.

I also think that this solidly putting the blame towards her is sad. Initially, I posit the lack of a male antagonist is the reason I did not like how this story is told BUT the more I think about it, I just felt that there is something missing in how this film put blame. I felt that it was more complicated and there's no easy pass for everyone involved. I think it condemns the star far too much for my own liking.

And ultimately, i think it did not fully just developed certain characters to make us care for their plight. Its not bad AND I see where it succeeds but it clearly flawed.

Soft Recommendation.

Wow! I honestly can't believe that I'd never heard of this excellent little eighties horror film! How The Rejuvenator has managed to stay undiscovered all these years is anyone's guess, as this entertaining mix of splatter and Sunset Blvd does what it says on the tin, and then some! Science and the human body give way to all kinds of horrific horror scenarios - from the constant attempts to rebuild a face in the French classic Eyes Without a Face, to the teleporting disasters in The Fly, you can usually count on an intriguing, and frightening, film if it's based on something scientific. The plot here focuses on actress Elizabeth Warren; she's now too old for the good roles, and like most women, wants to recapture her youth. Unlike most women, however, she's prepared to go that extra mile to realise her dream, and she employs Dr. Gregory Ashton to make her young again. He discovers something in the brain that affects the aging process, and soon performs his experiment on her. But it has unforeseen side effects, and pretty soon Elizabeth begins regenerating into a hideous brain eating monster!

Given that it's an eighties horror film, you've got to expect rather a lot of silliness and tacky special effects, which the film has in droves; but it has to be said that the plot is carried off really well, and despite being cheap and nasty, the special effects fit the film and are a hell of a lot more believable than the CGI that would infect The Rejuvenator if it were made nowadays. The characters aren't exactly well defined, but a film like this needs the audience to care at least somewhat for them otherwise the story won't hold any weight, and director Brian Thomas Jones obviously knows that as he ensures that the situation feels as real as possible. The acting isn't bad, and sees Vivian Lanko doing well in the double central role, and while John MacKay doesn't exactly convince as a genius doctor - he's at least fun to watch, and the two have some chemistry together. The film is interesting throughout, and while there's no out and out standout moments, there's enough going on for it to remain interesting. Overall, The Rejuvenator might not appeal to everyone, but if you like your eighties horror cheesy and imaginative - I'm pretty sure you'll enjoy this!

An aging actress employs a scientist to make her younger and it comes with drastic side effects. Whenever the potion wears off, she turns into a monster and needs human blood to rejuvenate. It's a fun concept that well executed with excellent special effects.

"The Rejuvenator" is a pleasantly old-fashioned horror film, while still integrating today's requisite dose of elaborate makeup effects and gore. It is variously known as "Rejuvenatrix" (title displayed on print) and for foreign markets, "Juvenatrix".

Premise is the old reliable use of a woman seeking to regain her youth: former movie star Ruth Warren (Jessica Dublin), who funds the research of Dr. Gregory Ashton (John MacKay). He discovers the part of the brain controlling aging, and via lab experiments with rats, comes up with a serum to reverse the aging process.

Warren eagerly volunteers to act as a human guinea pig and is turned into her younger self (actress Vivian Lanko taking over the role in second reel), dubbing herself Elizabeth Warren, her own fictitious niece. Problem is that she turns into a hideous monster, requiring increasing dosages of the serum to be brought back to normal youth.

Ashton breaks the law to acquire numerous cadavers to prepare the serum, derived from human brains. In her monstrous state, Warren takes to killing innocents in order to survive, ultimately discovering how to get the same rejuvenation effect directly from a victim's brain (for lunch) without resorting to the doc's serum. He eventually develops a synthetic serum but by then it is too late.

Low-budgeter works because it is played absolutely straight, with campy elements, such as the obvious references to "Sunset Blvd." (Warren even has a Stroheim-like butler from the old days), allowed to blossom unforced. Adroit casting has Jessica Dublin and Vivian Lanko physically matched in the central role, each playing it in an appropriately florid and meanie manner. John MacKay and the Sandy Dennis-like Katell Pleven as his assistant are utterly earnest and believable as the scientists, while James Hogue plays Warren's butler/former lover with panache.

Highlight of the production is Edward French's elaborate makeup effects, moving from the routine expanding bladders under the skin to an original design of Medusa-like proportions as her head expands to monster scale. Tightly directed by Brian Thomas Jones, pic is designed to appeal to B-movie connoisseurs who can tolerate the explicit violence of contemporary horror efforts.