Re-Animator Film Review

Mad scientists have long been protagonists in horror movies, but few have been quite as dedicated and deranged as Herbert West, the central character in director Stuart Gordon’s cult classic.

Inspired by a 1922 HP Lovecraft short story, the film begins with West, then at university in Zurich, bringing back to life his dead professor – but with horrifying side effects.

The next time we see him, West, who’s clearly a scalpel short of an operating kit, has enrolled at Miskatonic Medical School, where he immediately rubs his tutor, Dr Charles Hill, up the wrong wa;
Hill wants to get his hands on the notes of the experiments West had been assisting on while in Switzerland, but the younger man is having none of it.

West also moves into the apartment of fellow student Dan Cain, and eventually ropes him into helping with his further researches into breathing new life into the deceased. As you can probably imagine, matters do not work out well for either of them, or for Dr Hill and Dan’s fiancee, Megan, daughter of the dean.

Gordon’s film is a twist on the Frankenstein tale, laced with lots of gore and a dark wit. If you’re a fan of the likes of the Evil Dead franchise, then you’re sure to love it; the physical effects are a delight to see too – they’re impressive enough to rival those seen in any film by body horror expert David Cronenberg.

Jeffrey Combs is now viewed as a horror icon, and it’s his performance as West that is the key to the film’s success – he’s clearly mad, bad and dangerous to know, yet for some reason, we root for him throughout.

We see the story, however, through the eyes of the rather more down-to-earth Dan, a once promising student whose life is torn apart by his relationship with West. He is the everyman of the tale, one who doesn’t deserve what happens to him.

Barbara Crampton is suitably pretty as Megan, the token female who, as always seems to be the case in such films, was expected to disrobe at any and every opportunity, while David Gale is particularly creepy as Dr Hill, who has his own designs on Megan.

Listen out too for Richard Band’s soundtrack, which bears more than a few similarities to the one Bernard Herrmann wrote for Psycho.

There’s a wealth of special features included in the release, including interviews with Combs, Crampton and producer Brian Yuzma, as well as a fascinating documentary about big-screen Lovecraft adaptations. The film itself looks fantastic too thanks to a stunning 4k restoration.

Sarah Morgan studied film journalism at post-graduate level with the BFI and has been writing about TV and film for PA Media’s newspaper, magazine and new media customers since 1996. She’s also written for a wide range of other publications, both online and in print, including the book Offbeat and Intermission magazine, and is a regular contributor to the Talking Pictures TV podcast.

When she isn’t watching movies, she’s collecting and reading vintage crime and horror paperback books or, for her sins, watching her beloved Sheffield Wednesday.

Second Sight Films is issuing Stuart Gordon’s cult classic in Dual 4K UHD/Blu-ray Limited Edition and in separate Standard 4K UHD and Blu-ray editions.

Jeffrey Combs, Bruce Abbott, Barbara Crampton and David Gale.

Directed by Stuart Gordon – produced by Brian Yuzna.

Brilliant but unhinged medic Herbert West develops a serum to re-animate the dead – with gory, darkly comic consequences.

Approx. 86 minutes – rated 18.

Yes – it is loosely adapted from Lovecraft’s 1922 serial Herbert West – Reanimator.

A rigid slipcase with new artwork, a 120-page book of new essays, six art cards and a dual-format three-disc set – 1 UHD and 2 Blu-rays.

Yes – the UHD is presented in HDR with Dolby Vision, approved by producer Brian Yuzna.

Yes – the set includes the main feature and The Integral Version in HD, plus extensive extras across…