Re-Animator

Title: Re-Animator (1985)
Dir: Stuart Gordon
Tagline: Herbert West Has A Very Good Head On His Shoulders...And Another One In A Dish On His Desk.
Rating: ***** out of 5 stars



I heart Jeffrey Combs. I really do. It's kinda ironic he was randomly in my dream today, the same day Re-Animator arrived in my mailbox. Yes, it's true - I had not seen this movie until now. I almost bought it last August at Horrorfind Weekend, along with a porn version called Re-Penetrator. No joke. The tagline was, "Herbert Breast has a very good head on his shoulders, and another one on his cock." Catchy, huh? haha, barf. Turns out that porno is DISGUSTING, but I regret not buying the horror movie because as you probably know, it's frickin awesome!

Re-Animator is loosely based on the H.P. Lovecraft story of the same name. The film is about a med school student named Herbert West (Combs) who discovers the key to re-animating dead tissue. With the help of fellow student Dan, West tests his reagent on some human specimens, and the results are pretty disastrous. Like all good zombies, these re-animated corpses are very strong and very violent. You can imagine the rest. Some of it is basic zombie formula, and much of it is Frankenstein-based. The opening credit sequence is actually very Hitchcockian, which is pretty neat.

I was worried that after seeing all the Evil Deads, Peter Jackson movies, etc that I had run out of hilarious, gorefests to see. Thankfully, there was Re-Animator. I mistakenly always thought Combs had the lead role in this, but he clearly steals the show. At 31, this guy looked like he was 17. That just makes it even funnier to me, haha. He was born to play West. He's so great in this, and I cannot wait to watch the sequels (Is Bride really as good as people say?).

The movie is so twisted, and I've seen a lot of twisted movies. I'm sorry, but no torture scene in the world is going to disturb me more than seeing a bloody decapitated head trying to eat a girl out. Now that's cinema! haha, seriously it is fucked up, but not in a bad way - it keeps you laughing throughout. I was so disappointed when it ended - I want more!

The gore is just great. Much of it is low-budget trickery, which gives me hope that I can do it, too! There are just gallons and gallons of blood. It has all the sick twistedness of the Evil Dead series but doesn't at all rip those movies off. Re-Animator also boasts a good director. I haven't seen the sequels yet, but I'm disappointed that Gordon did not direct them. He has some really great shots in this movie, and he must have a real sick sense of humor.

If you like stuff like Dead Alive or Evil Dead 2, do NOT miss this one. Frankly, if you like those movies I'd bet my life you've already seen Re-Animator. I'm just a d-bag for waiting so long to watch it. In any case, this movie rocks. Even if you generally like horror, you'll dig it, so go rent or buy it. And afterwards, watch The Frighteners and love Jeffrey Combs all over again.