Plot: What’s it about?
I was excited to see that Arrow Video was going to release the cult classic horror-comedy Re-Animator. Re-Animator was originally released on Blu-Ray a few years back, and the results were not half bad, but given that Arrow Video have released two Brian Yuzna films already (Society and Bride of Re-Animator) it made perfect sense for them to do a deluxe version of his most popular film. For those who have not heard of the film, Re-Animator is one of the best known and most beloved cult films from the Eighties. Its fans would rank it up there with films like Evil Dead or An American Werewolf in London. It is so well known that the film was even referenced in American Beauty. You know the scene where Kevin Spacey’s character smokes pot and talks to Wes Bentley’s character about a crazy horror movie? This is that movie.
The movie begins with a doctor and some security guards moving down a hallway at a hospital in Zurich. Screams are emanating from a room. As they burst into the room an older man in a lab coat lets out a scream as his eyes begin to bulge before they burst. The man falls down dead. The young doctor in the room with him, Herbert West (Jeffrey Combs,) proclaims that he has not killed him but in actuality “given him life.” The film then cuts to America, where medical student Dan Cain (Bruce Abbott) is dating Megan Halsey (Barbara Crampton,) the Dean’s daughter. Dan is working his way through medical school and needs grants to make his way through. His medical professor and best shot at financial aid is Dr. Carl Hill (David Gale,) who also has a crush on his girlfriend. Needing to help subsidize his expenses, Dan accepts a new roommate – Herbert West. Soon Herbert resumes his experiments in their basement with reanimation of living beings in Dan’s basement, causing chaos.
Re-Animator is well loved for numerous reasons. For one, the film was made on roughly a one million dollar budget independently and did not need to answer to anybody for its content. Therefore, it pushed boundaries in gore and sexual content that could not have possibly received an R-rating at the time. Bravely, producer Brian Yuzna decided to release the film Unrated and did not alter the film’s content. This caused many horror fans to love it for its audaciousness. Another reason why it is so beloved is its dry commitment to the ridiculous material. Jeffrey Combs is absolutely fantastic as Herbert West. He delivers absolutely ludicrous lines without the slightest wink to the audience. This has a lot to do with the theatrical training of Director Stuart Gordon who held numerous rehearsals with the crew as if the film was a stage play. The rehearsals paid off large dividends.
The supporting cast is very capable. David Gale is the most notable supporting actor as the villainous Dr. Carl Hill. Barbara Krampton and Bruce Abbott do solid work with the more straight laced roles in the film. The score by Richard Band that rips off Bernard Hermann’s work on Psycho adds to the enjoyment and silliness of the film.
Re-Animator set the bar for many more ridiculous horror-comedies to come. Its tone that alternates between incredibly gross sights and gallows-humor is a tough balancing act to follow. This is essentially one of those movies where numerous elements work together to form something better than they could have possibly envisioned when they made it. It holds up well over thirty years after production took place. For fans of this type of material, this is basically necessary viewing.
Video: How’s it look?
An excellent transfer of the film using an MPEG 4 AVC codec of a brand new 4K restoration from the original camera negatives has been provided. The transfer is another strong effort by Arrow Video and the image looks great, retaining the grain and demonstrating great amounts of detail. Keep in mind that this film was made for a million dollars independently in 1984. Therefore, the image is the most detailed that it has ever looked, but the film is by no means beautiful. This is undoubtedly the most faithful transfer that has been released of the film and another great effort. Fans will be ecstatic, and newcomers will enjoy what they see.
Audio: How’s it sound?
Provided are the original stereo mix, a mono mix, and a DTS-HD 5.1 mix of the film for the Unrated cut. I personally liked the way that the 5.1 mix sounded the best, but all of the mixes sound pretty good. Given that the film had directionality but was not originally mixed in 5.1, there is not as much directionality as more recently made films. The excellent score by Richard Band gets a nice boost in the 5.1 mix, and helped to make an already enjoyable film even better. For the Integral Version only a 5.1 mix is supplied, but I can not imagine any fan caring whatsoever given their due diligence on the first disk. Excellent stuff.
Supplements: What are the extras?
Disc One:
- Unrated Cut of the Film (86 minutes)
- Re-Animator: Resurrectus – (1:08:36, SD) an excellent full length documentary on the film produced by Anchor Bay with great interviews with Stuart Gordon, Barbara Crampton, Jeffrey Combs, Bruce Abbott, Brian Yuzna, and more. This was excellent.
- Interviews:
- Stuart Gordon and Brian Yuzna – a great sit down between the two men most responsible for the film coming to fruition.
- Writer Dennis Paoli- a quick an enjoyable chat with the co-writer of the film.
- Composer Richard Band – another in depth discussion.
- Fangoria editor Tony Timpone – short interview that highlighted the magazine’s response to the film.
- Music discussion with Richard Band – a continuation of the prior interview where he discussses exactly what he did with the score.
- Barbara Krampton interview – Barbara sat down for an extended interview at 2015 Fright Fest.
- The Catastrophe of Success – Stuart Gordon discusses at length his theatrical roots that included producing plays from noted playwrights like David Mamet at the Organic Theatre in Chicago.
- Theatre of Blood – the lyricist for Re-Animator: The Musical, Mark Nutter, discusses adapting the film to a musical.
- Extended Scenes
- Deleted Scene
- Multi Angle Storyboards – for three scenes you can alternate between film and storyboard.
- Trailer
- TV Spots
- Still Gallery
- Audio Commentaries:
- Stuart Gordon – an interesting (but occasionally dry) commentary with the director.
- Cast and Crew – Brian Yuzna, Jeffrey Combs, Robert Sampson, and Barbara Krampton discuss the film. Fun stuff.
- Stuart Gordon, Graham Skipper, and Jesse Merlin – The director sits down with the actors from the musical to discuss the film. I was not as interested in this one, just because I have not seen the musical.
Disc 2:
- Integral Version (105 minutes)
- A Guide to Lovecraftian Cinema – Nucleus Films produced this long and well put together overview of films that owe to Lovecraft. One of my favorite features in the set. Really fun and interesting.
- Doug Bradley’s Spinechillers: Herbert West – Re-Animator – Audio recordings of all six of the original Herbert West stories by Lovecraft.
The Bottom Line
Re-Animator is a cult classic for all the right reasons. It is as funny as it is grotesque and it still holds up over thirty years after its production. Fans of horror-comedy will be delighted by the care that Arrow has given the release, with an absolutely astounding amount of supplemental material and a new 4K restoration of both versions of the film. This movie obviously has some objectionable material, so consider yourself warned. This one is for hardcore horror enthusiasts. Fans and newcomers should pick up a copy before Arrow sells out of the limited edition release which features two versions of the film and the original comic book adaptation.
