1985 Directed by Stuart Gordon
A dedicated student at a medical college and his girlfriend become involved in bizarre experiments centering around the re-animation of dead tissue when an odd new student arrives on campus.
I was asked by a few users on my Favorite Horror Comedies list why I had included Bride of Re-Animator but not Re-Animator and their questioning me made me question myself, even though I was pretty sure I always found the sequel to be more funny.
Interestingly enough, I shouldn't have doubted myself. I still love Re-Animator and I like it more than the sequels, and while I think it is a fun, fast-paced movie, I don't find it funny. I don't laugh while watching it, I may smile simply because I love everything about it, but it's not something I find overly hilarious.
The only word I can think of to describe Jeffrey Combs is unique. There is no…
This is a movie where I'd love to watch myself watching it because I could feel myself grinning like a goddamn idiot the entire time. It's a wonderfully campy low budget horror b-movie with some hilarious scenery-chewing performances from its entire cast (Jeffrey Combs especially) and great practical gore effects. Let's just take a look at what we have here:
- Glowing green liquid
- A soundtrack blatantly ripped from Hitchcock's Psycho
- Quotes like "You killed him!" "No, I gave him life!"
- The most traumatic/hilarious cat death since Boondock Saints
- The most obvious reanimated head effect ever
- Strong Freudian overtones
- Glowing green liquid
It's a very silly movie. If you like b-horror I really can't recommend it highly enough.
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Film #16 of the March Madness 80s Sci-Fi Movie Challenge!
letterboxd.com/naughty/list/march-madness-80s-sci-fi-movie-challenge/
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My one and only complaint is that I hadn't seen this sooner! But I guess it's better late than never! I cut my teeth on the old Black and White Frankenstein classics, if Director Stuart Gordon's flick had been available to me back in the day it would have blew my ever lovin mind!
There's enough cheese in it to feed a 3rd world country! You know it's going to be a winner when you learn in advance that it required 24 gallons of fake blood!
Jeffrey Combs nails it causing an influx of celebatory touchdown dances in his honor!
From its gore-soaked opening, to its deliriously unhinged climax, Stuart Gordon's "Re-Animator" is an ever-so-slightly tongue-in-cheek slice of horror fun. With its purposefully overwrought performance by Jeffrey Combs and its near-notorious set pieces, the film rates as a memorable and satisfying horror outing that does never takes itself too seriously.
Based on an H.P. Lovecraft story, Gordon's film focuses on the scientific goings-on at Miskatonic University involving a certain doctor and his certain serum that re-animates dead tissue. Needing test subjects for the serum, things get out of hand quickly.
The story is brought to life with solid, tone-setting performances; gooey, practical makeup effects; and buckets full of gore. Throw in the Lovecraftian roots and a score that wears its…
Downright insane and ridiculously gory! When I say "ridiculously" I mean totally bonkers, I mean getting-choked-by-intestines gory. The 80s is truly a glorious (or gore-rious, if you like) decade for practical effects. The gore is treated with such care here it almost looked like a character in the film. Surprisingly, I love it. I love it! I can't believe myself. I think Re-animator awakened something inside me. "If you're a horror director and you don't come home every day bathed in blood, then you've failed" I think Eli Roth said (something like) that. The opening credits is a beauty too, the psycho theme is capable of making anything suspenseful, even watching paint dry.
"I've always admired your beauty, my dear."
One year ago I wouldn't even dream of watching this, but now I've finally made it. Thank you Fatpie for recommending.
Part of the History of Horror Challenge!
Week 38. Stuart Gordon
Here we have textbook definition of a cult following. Did I love it? Eh. I can definitely see where its cult following stands, but whenever rape is taken lightly in a film you have to consider what it's point is and honestly I get that a dismembered head trying to sexually assault this girl is cartoon villainy... it's still one of the scenes it's famous for and... ick. If the film paid more respect to women, I'd let it get away with it, but since they literally operate on her with her tits out, I'm gonna have to say nah. Should I relax and have a little fun? Maybe. Will I as long as I have a pulse and the horror genre keeps treating minorities badly? You bet your sweet ass.
Funny, gory, splattery, over-the-top, with one of the best horror themes of all time. Hard not to enjoy!
Watching this with the actors commentary is just great. You can tell they all had fun making this film. Definitely worth checking out.
Some horror comedies, like Shaun of the Dead, work because they blend the horror elements with the comedy elements skillfully enough that they complement each other. Another, harder way to it, is to make the horror so over the top that it becomes hilarious. Evil Dead 2 achieves this. So does Bad Taste. And so does Re-Animator.
It's actually pretty hard to explain what makes this movie so funny without sounding like a psychopath. "The head keeps falling down, so he puts it on a paper spike". But it works, partly for its complete refusal to pull any punches with the violence, partly because the script is wittier than you'd expect, and mostly because Jeffrey Combs is awesome.
Combs plays…
Entry #1: A horror film from 6 different decades - (The 80's)
68/100
Although my first entry for this challenge wasn't exactly setting me up for the scariest of viewings, I still had a great time with this cheesy, cult horror comedy. Yes, this film could have benefited from a little more fleshing out of the characters, a few less awkward cuts and choices of blocking as well as perhaps a more developed ending, but perfection isn't what I was anticipating when coming into the 'Re-animator', I expected a cheesy cult narrative and a shit tonne of practical effects and I got that. Although I wouldn't call this an essential watch, I would recommend popping it on on a quiet night, it's very enjoyable.
This was a good intro to my month of horror binge, I'm looking forward to it.
Great practical special effects, Twisted story both funny and creepy, Herbert West was a fun character, Some real gross out scenes
This 1985 Stuart Gordon film is based on an H.P. Lovecraft story called "Herbert West: Re-Animator". Jeffrey Combs plays West, a student who studied under the famous Dr. Gruber in Munich. One day, they were doing an experiment and Dr. Gruber's eyeballs exploded all over the place, so West had to switch schools. He attends Miskatonic University and immediately confronts his instructor Dr. Hill (David Gale) with charges of plagiarism, and the two build an adversarial relationship consisting mostly of mad scientist smack talk.
West rents a room in the house of fellow medical student Dan Cain (Bruce Abbott). Cain is dating the dean's daughter, Megan Halsey (Barbara Crampton), who spends a fair amount of her screen time naked. West…
Yeah this is pretty much the way I remember Re-Animator. I appreciate it and there's some good stuff in here but overall I'm kept waiting for it to go really nuts...... which for me doesn't really happen until the sequel I recently found out!
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