"Re-Animator" - Film Review

By no stretch of the imagination is Re-Animator a good movie. In fact, at times it’s very bad, and for nearly the first half of its run-time, it’s barely watchable.

The plot is an unfocused mess and, besides Jeffery Combs’ Herbert West, none of the characters are all that interesting or well realized (A problem that remains throughout the entirety of the film).  Bruce Abbott as Dan Cain and Barbara Crampton as Megan Halsey never get developed what-so-ever beyond the typical hey look protagonists!-sort of going through the motions plot mechanics. Likewise David Gal’s Dr. Carl Hill eventually shifts to the film’s villain and the change comes out of absolutely nowhere.

And then something strange happens…

The film becomes bizarrely entertaining. Almost enough to make up for how distractingly one dimensional it’s been (and will primarily continue to be). There’s a number of horror setpieces and over the top gore effects that are actually kind of inspired. The scene with the clearly fake cat being tossed around and scratching up people is so damn funny and weird and over the top, and everyone is so committed to it and later scenes that the film starts to win you over just a little bit. 

There’s an Evil Dead sensibility to the film’s over-the-top nature. The blood and guts are so obviously unrealistic and so clearly excessive that it renders itself into the absurd. This lends it a dark, weirdly comical tone that it maintains throughout and saves the film from being a total disappointment.  

I don’t know if I’d recommend Re-Animator, but it’s unique and quite unlike anything else. For those fans of extreme gore, horror comedies, or H.P. Lovecraft (it’s adapted from his story “Herbert West-Reanimator”), it may be worth seeing the cult film, but for everyone else: it may not be your cup of tea. 

Grade: B-