Re-Animator 2

Herbert West (Jeffrey Combs) and Dean Cain (Bruce Abbott) are up to their old tricks again--reanimating dead corpses and causing tons of gory fun to ensure. And the evil, dead Dr. Hill (the late David Gale) is back again too...

Strange sequel--for starters West and Hill were dead at the end of the first movie. In the special DVD edition of this they show there WAS footage shot to explain how they were back--for some reason it never made it into the movie leaving some gaping plot holes.

In terms of gore this equals the first one (despite the R rating) with some truly extreme sequences--especially the ending which is drenched in blood. It also has the pitch black humor of the first...some of it very funny. But this time around there's just not enough of a plot to fill 90 minutes. Poor Combs says essentially the same speech about reanimation five times! And there are just a lot of scenes not necessary to tell the story so the movie moves in fits and stops.

Still, it is a lot of fun (if you have a very strong stomach) and Combs is having a whale of a time in his role. Gale is very underused--but then he was written in at the last minute.

So this is a definite must-see for horror fans--just don't expect anything as good as the original.

Best line: "My God! They're using tools!"

I have loved the original "Re-Animator" since I first saw it as a demented little boy way back in 1986. So naturally, I was quite excited when I got the chance to see the sequel when it premiered on Cinemax in 90 or 91. Although I was satisfied with "Bride of Re-Animator" when I initially viewed, I some how managed to avoid seeing it again for the next decade. I am not quite sure why that is, especially considering I have been enjoying the original on dvd for quite some time now. Looking back I think it's because I had the realization that, as I have grown older and my tastes have matured, things that were "great" when I was kid are often terrible these days, rendering films that were merely "oky" even worse. In other words, I was afraid of watching "Bride" and just hating, thereby tarnishing the legacy created by the still fabulous original. To get to the point, I recently decided to take a chance and I broke down and bought "Bride" on dvd. Going into it with my expectations totally lowered (since I couldn't remember much from watching it 10 years prior), I was pleasantly surprised by this worthy sequel to one of my all time favorite horror flicks. Sure, "Bride" still somewhat pales by comparison, but it would be safe to say that it compares to the original the same way that the competent "Halloween 2" stands up to it's classic predecessor. In other words, this isn't a great flick, but much of the magic that made the original work is still here, and the film has a few surprises of it's own. I won't go into the plot because everybody else on here has already explained it, and besides, I find the plot to be one of the areas where "Bride" is most lacking. I will instead try to concentrate on the things I like about this film, namely, some snappy (and extremely DRY) one-liners, hilariously over-the-top gore effects and another great turn by Jeffrey Combs as the titular "re-animator". "Bride" relies on the mix of outrageous horror and dark comedy that defined the original, this time leaning just a little more towards the comedy side without becoming a parody of the first one. With stronger direction and more a more fleshed-out screenplay, I believe this one could have had the potential to be as good as the original-but who wants to see classic overshadowed? "Bride of Re-Animator" stands well on it's own and as a nice afterthought to the original it should please most fans. I also highly recommend the feature-loaded dvd release, and although some would argue this film gets a slightly grander dvd treatment than it deserves, who can really complain about a plethora of special features?

Why don't people think this is a great sequel? I loved this movie and I know it's not quite as good as the first, it kicks much more ass than most sequels(Scream 2, I still know what you did last summer, Inferno(sequel to Suspiria) and umm... any Nightmare on Elmstreet not called New Nightmare) Go see this if you want to see Herbert West help bring his good friend down the road of madness. Dr. West in this installment is more jealous than annoyed by his partner's suave ways with the ladies but this is most definitely hella fun. Dr. Carl Hill is back in the gizame and having a blast... and he doesn't exactly keep his head on straight...

Dr Herbert West and Dr Dean Cain are back to their old ways. West isn't trying to bring back life now- but actually trying to create life from spare body parts. But along the way they have a police inspector snooping around and Dr. Hill is back.

This is a reasonably stylish, but crazy sequel to the very good original. Keeping with the tradition of the original it sticks to the black, campy humour we loved and also being soaked in blood & gore.

The story is pretty much the same as the original with West's freaks of nature causing havoc again. Though just like the title implies, it parodies the film 'Bride of Frankenstein'- but the repetitiveness' this time really shows throughout the film. It has some plot holes that aren't explained on from that of the first film- but it didn't fault the story, the humour or pace of the film.

The director this time around was the producer from the original, Brian Yuzna- he brings some nice added touches and a morbid sense to the film, though it might have been much better if Stuart Gordon held the realm.

The performances are good, with the ever-reliable Jeffrey Combs delivering the eccentrically insane Herbert West, Bruce Abbott as the sympathetic Dean Cain, Claude Earl Jones as the mischievous police detective, Fabiana Udenio as Cain's concerned girlfriend Francesca Danelli and finally David Gale as Dr West's Nemesis the deviously evil head (Yep, that's right) of Dr. Carl Hill.

The atmosphere is truly stunning- from the dark basement filled with enthusiastic experiments and West's bizarre creations to the coldness of the eerie mortuary and hospital. The cheese ball performances, along with the witty script and dazzling special effects add up to equal a lot of fun.

3.5/5

Herbert West and his reluctant sidekick, Dr. Cain, return for another fun, gory round of bringing back the dead in bits and pieces. This time, West cons Cain into an attempt to rebuild his late girlfriend, using her preserved brain and body parts scrounged from the local hospital. From here on in, this film is like a contemporary "Bride of Frankenstien", except the special effects (I love the stop-motion "eye" spider!) are terrific and there's enough gore to please fans. A underrated sequel. See it~