| | | Anchor Bay Collection.
Features: DVD
Herbert West has a very good head on his shoulders...and another one in a dish on his desk! Deep within the morgue at Miskatonic University, arrogant madman West (Jeffrey Combs) introduces fellow graduate student Dan Cain (Bruce Abbott) to his startling formula for the re-animation of fresh corpses. But the secret of life and death has some very messy consequences. Get ready to re-experience one of the most outrageously inventive horror films of all time, the over-the-top classic that The New York Times hails as "ingenious...it has as much originality as it has gore, and that's really saying something!"
"A bloody fun time for those with strong stomachs." Alex Sandell, Juicy Cerebellum
"...audaciously grotesque special effects and witty black humor..." James Kendrick, Q Network Film Desk
"...the more excessive it gets, the more fun it is." John J. Puccio, DVD Town
"...a livid, bloody, deadpan exercise in the theater of the undead..." Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
"Smart, funny and drippy. A modern classic of horror." Scott Weinberg, eFilmCritic.com
Editor's Note
Herbert West (Jeffery Combs) has found the secret to eternal life--or so he thinks. West needs fresh cadavers to continue his experiments in the re-animation of dead tissue, so he enlists the help of young medical student Dan Cain (Bruce Abbott) to steal bodies from the local morgue. Despite all the warning signs of failure, the eccentric West's research continues. The results are crazed zombies that roam the streets, severed heads that talk, murder, madness, and chaos, all in the name of science, of course. Director Stuart Gordon's film debut, an adaptation of the short story by H.P. Lovecraft, is a masterpiece of ghoulish fun. Graphic special effects, good scripting, and perfectly over-the-top performances make RE-ANIMATOR a classic horror film in the tradition of THE EVIL DEAD and RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD.
Plot Summary
In Stuart Gordon's RE-ANIMATOR, a demented medical student develops a serum that can bring human corpses back to life, but the re-animated carcasses turn spastically violent in this smart, gore-strewn, tongue-in-cheek schlocker based on a story by H.P. Lovecraft.
| Features | 70 Minute Featurette: Re-Animator Resurrectus | | Audio Commentary With Director Stuart Gordon | | Audio Commentary With Producer Brian Yuzna & Actors Bruce Abbott, Jeffrey Combs, Barbara Crampton & Robert Sampson | | Audio: English Dolby Digital Mono | | Deleted Scenes | | DVD-ROM Features: Screenplay & Herbert West, Re-Animator By H.P. Lovecraft | | Extended Scenes | | Interactive Menus | | Interviews With Director Stuart Gordon, Producer Brian Yuzna, Writer Dennis Paoli, Composer Richard Band, & Fangoria Editor Tony Timpone | | Music Discussion With Composer Richard Band | | Original Theatrical Trailer | | Photo Galleries | | Scene Selection | | Storyboard Gallery | | Stuart Gordon Bio | | TV Spot |
| Technical Info
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Release Information
| | Studio: Foxvideo |
| Release Date: 3/20/2007 |
| Running Time: 86 minutes |
| Original Release Date: 1985 | | Catalog ID: 15021 | | UPC: 00013131502190 | | Number of Discs: 2 |
Audio & Video
| | Original Language: English | | Available Audio Tracks: English | | Video: Color |
Aspect Ratio | | Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85:1 |
| Cast & Crew | Barbara Crampton | | Bruce Abbot | | David Gale | | Jeffrey Combs | | Brian Yuzna - Producer | | Dennis Paoli, et. al. - Screenplay | | H.P. Lovecraft - Story By | | Lee Percy - Editor | | Mac Ahlberg - Cinematographer | | Michael Avery - Executive Producer | | Richard Band - Original Music By | | Robert A. Burns - Art Director | | Robert Ebinger - Cinematographer | | Stuart Gordon - Director |
| Memorable Quotes| "What if we get caught?"----Dan Cain (Bruce Abbott)|"What'll they do? Embalm us?"----Herbert West (Jeffery Combs) | | "Who's going to believe a talking head? Get a job in a sideshow."----Herbert West |
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| | Professional Reviews | New York Times
"REANIMATOR has as much originality as it has gore, and that's really saying something....A fast pace and a good deal of grisly vitality..." 10/18/1985 p.C6Variety
"...[The film] zips along, making full use of the inventive effects..." 05/15/1985 Los Angeles Times
"...Everyone involved is first-rate..." 10/25/1985 p.C11 Entertainment Weekly
"...The movie itself remains eye-popping in every sense of the phrase..." 05/31/2002 p.83 Ultimate DVD
4 stars out of 5 -- "Goth, funny and camp as hell, with all previously cut scenes now included, this is a classic of the genre." 06/01/2007 p.120 FilmCritic.com 8 of 10
Re-Animator is Lovecraft's twist on the Frankenstein fable, this time involving a fluorescent green liquid that, when injected into a dead brain, will bring its host back to life...Jeffrey Combs launched a career in cult horror with this film, and he stands next to Bruce Campbell (The Evil Dead) as one of the heroes of the genre. The story isn't all that original, but Lovecraft's creepy spin makes the Franken-legend much more fun than traditional versions. The gore, obviously low budget and almostly completely shot at night, is nonetheless effective, creepy, and on the unrated DVD edition (the original version shown in theaters), remarkably effective to the point of visceral overload. I had to avert my gaze more than once. Also of note is the green re-animation liquid, an innovation that still gets copied today (and who can blame them?). - Christopher Null
Reel.com 8 of 10
The 1985 film actually comes from a group of stories that Lovecraft was less than proud of, so it seems appropriate that director Stuart Gordon and producer Brian Yuzna took the original work and simply shaped it to fit their means, rather than attempting to "reproduce" Lovecraft verbatim....The result is a gruesome-yet-fun exercise in low-budget horror moviemaking...Re-Animator was Gordon's directing debut, but the cult success of the picture guaranteed him a following that would allow the filmmaker to further pursue similar fare for years, utilizing gory effects and twisted humor all the way. Like its brethren of the '80s (the Evil Dead films for example), Re-Animator and its ilk took the gravity out of horror and instilled in it a much-needed comedic spin that audiences couldn't (and still can't) get enough of. - Scott Collura
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