I recently rewatched RE-ANIMATOR (1985) for the first time since the 1990s. Roughly based on a novelette by HP Lovecraft, it’s basically another of the era’s splatter flicks, but it distinguishes itself with the wacky, obsessive, and compelling character of Herbert West (Jeffrey Combs) and a comical touch. It didn’t quite hold up for me after all this years, but overall, it’s still a fun time for horror buffs, earning the cult status it gained over the years.
The story focuses on Dan, a med student at Miskatonic University, and his fiancee Megan, who is the dean’s daughter and the object of sexual obsession by one of the dean’s colleagues, Dr. Hill. A strange, humorless, and obsessive new student–Herbert West–arrives at the university and rents a room from Dan, drawing him into a series of experiments to raise the dead. The serum works, only they don’t really know what they’re doing and proceed without any real controls or ethics, resulting in the dead rising as homicidal maniacs. When Dr. Hill finds out about the experiments, he sees a way to claim Megan and the discovery for his own, with even more horrific results.
It’s a pretty crazy movie, notably for its fast pace, outlandishness, and Jeffrey Combs bringing the obsessive, amoral Herbert West to life. This is a young man who will do anything, sacrifice anyone, and cause any amount of grisly mayhem to get what he wants, which is to solve death once and for all using science. Most of the comedy in the movie comes from his antics as an anti-hero, splattered in blood and playing with body parts with enthusiastic scientific interest, along with the villain acting as basically two parts after resurrection.
Overall, it’s still quite a fun popcorn flick for horror fans, worth a watch or a rewatch. I haven’t caught the two sequels yet, but I may have to catch up.
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