Blu-ray Review: Re-Animator (1985)

(aka Herbert West: Re-Animator)
Release Date: 
Country: USA
Rating: NR
Written by: Stuart Gordon, Dennis Paoli, and William J. Norris.
Directed by: Stuart Gordon.
Starring: Jeffrey Combs, Barbara Crampton, Bruce Abbott, and David Gale.

After being chased out of Switzerland for being an unethical bastard, medical student Herbert West arrives at Miskatonic University to continue his education... in bringing the dead back to life! You see, Herbert is a bit of a Mad Scientist in the making, and he's developed a serum that can bring the dead back to life, which he calls the re-agent.

THE RE-AGENT LOOKS LIKE LIME KOOL-AID.

The re-agent works like a charm, but it unfortunately leaves the re-animated corpses in a less than human state... and by that we mean violent and crazed. Why you'd expect anything different after injecting Lime Kool-Aid into a corpse's head, I don't know. I mean, have zombies every been sweet and demure? Maybe Purplesaurus Rex would have worked better.

THAT'S A DANGEROUS HEAD RIGHT THERE.

After killing his chief rival by lopping off his head, Herbert decides to re-animate him, which leads to all kinds of mayhem, which eventually places Barbara Crampton's perky little breasts in mortal danger. If you ask me, that's just going too far.

Insanity and shameless black humor ensue.

THIS IS NOT A WONDERFUL BREAKTHROUGH AT ALL.

Re-Animator is a Mad Scientist movie ala Frankenstein, with a twisted H.P. Lovecraft bent, and it is glorious.

You could easily dismiss Re-Animator as being little more than mindless, goofy fun, but that would be doing the film a huge disservice. Yes, this is a blatantly tongue-in-cheek affair, and it is almost cartoonish in its attempts at black humor, but it's also a dark, bloody, and disturbing movie that shocks as much as it amuses. It may not be all that scary, but the fact that it's both fun and gory is what makes it a true Genre Classic.
 
What makes Re-Animator so good, and so fun to watch, is the fact that the movie does some crazy things, and just doesn't give a shit. For example, a re-animated corpse that has been beheaded picks up its head and goes down on the buck naked Barbara Crampton. Dead as a doornail and decapitated, and this guy's instinct is still to get him some of that yum-yum... wow.

Re-Animator is the film that gave the world Jeffrey Combs; it may not have been his very first role, but his performance as Herbert West was so intense and memorable, that it may as well have been. And dare we say that Barbara Crampton made this movie a few notches better just for her beauty alone? Because she did.

You could also pair this one up with From Beyond and you'd have one hell of a double feature on your hands; they're both Lovecraft stories, both are written & directed by Stuart Gordon, and both star Jeffrey Combs and Barbara Crampton.

APPARENTLY, SHE'S NOT A BIG FAN OF GETTING HEAD. ZING!

As much as we love Barbara Crampton, we found her her character in this one to be annoying as hell. Maybe it's just us, but it always seemed as if she was bitching and moaning about something, and not in a tactful manner.

WE LOVE YOU, BARBARA, BUT LIGHTEN UP!

At times, this movie felt like it was almost too humorous for its own good. Had the movie had just a little less slapstick, and a little more actual terror, it would have been perfect.

THAT SEVERED HEAD IS ABOUT TO "COSBY" THAT GIRL.

It's safe to say that this movie is a gore-fest. The nastiest bits in the movie show up closer to the end (which by the way gets truly bat-shit crazy), but this movie should keep Gorhounds happily engaged throughout.

NOT FOR THE SQUEAMISH.

It's also safe to say that this movie features some of the best nudes scenes in all of 80's Horror, thanks to lovely and incredibly sexy Barbara Crampton. She was not only cute as a button, but she wasn't afraid to bare it all for her art... and for that, we'll always love her.

BARBARA CRAMPTON: A CLASSIC BEAUTY.

For an older, lower-budget movie from the 80's, Re-Animator looks pretty good on Blu-ray. The black levels are near perfect, the bloodier scenes are vibrantly red, and the fluorescent green (Yellow? We're colorblind, give us a break) re-agent pops whenever it's on-screen. For most people, this transfer will look great.

The disc's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix sounds pretty solid, though it's nothing spectacular.

As for the Special Features:

• Commentary with Director Stuart Gordon.
• Commentary with Producer Brian Yuzna and Actors Bruce Abbott, Jeffrey Combs, Barbara Crampton and Robert Sampson.
• Documentary: Re-Animator Resurrectus.
• Interview with Director Stuart Gordon and Producer Brian Yuzna.
• Interview with Writer Dennis Paoli.
• Interview with Composer Richard Band.
• Music Discussion with Composer Richard Band.
• Interview with Fangoria Magazines Editor Tony Timpone.
• Deleted and Extended Scenes.
• Theatrical Trailer.
• TV Spots.

WHY ALWAYS THE CAT? THEY HAVE FEELINGS TOO, YOU KNOW!

A true Genre Classic in every sense of the word, Re-Animator is clinic on how to do Horror Comedy the right way. Most of that is due to the electrified performance of Jeffrey Combs, but there is no doubt that Stuart Gordon deserves a ton of credit for creating such an outlandish movie, especially back in the 80's when everything was beginning to feel stale and similar.

This is a movie that truly belongs in every Horror Fan's library. 

A

Re-Animator is available now on Blu-ray, DVD, and VOD. Netflix too, if you've got it.

If there's anyone who personified hotness in the 80's, it was Barbara Crampton.