Angie B's 31 Horror Films in 31 Days Continues With... RE-ANIMATOR.
RE-ANIMATOR
(1985)
STARRING: Jeffrey Combs, Bruce Abbott, Barbara Crampton, David Gale.
DIRECTED BY: Stuart Gordon.
RATED: R.
Student Dan Cain (Abbott) just wants to get his medical degree. He's madly in love with the Dean's daughter, Megan (Crampton), taking classes on the brain from the imminent Dr. Hill (Gale), and seems to be on the fast track to success. But then the creepy, mysterious, possibly sociopathic Herbert West (Combs) becomes his roommate -- and involves him in his genius yet mad experiments with reanimating corpses. Things go pear-shaped (albeit a bloody, oozing pear) in less time than it takes to say "You killed my cat and brought it back".
If you're a fan of fringe films and scifi television, you already know, and probably worship, Jeffrey Combs. The man is a legend in the genres of horror and science fiction; he's worked with Peter Jackson (The Frighteners), has starred in more than one movie based on a Lovecraft story (see also: From Beyond, which also happens to costar Barbara Crampton), and I do believe holds the records for most characters/aliens played in the Star Trek franchise. He's sort of legendary for a certain brand of geek. And this was really the film that put him on the map. Re-Animator has a shit-ton going for it, but Combs as the mad Dr. West is definitely one of its biggest strengths. He's utterly creepy and yet strangely compelling as West -- it's obvious from the get go that the little guy with the pouty lips and huge eyes behind even bigger glasses is up to no good; you can see the mad gleam on his face from the beginning. But West is also so firm in his convictions, so assured of his own genius and achievements, that it's not really a huge wonder that the clean-cut and curious Dan falls in with him so readily. West's madness is like an open flame to Dan's moth, and it quickly destroys nearly everyone around them.
Dr. West may be a genius, but he really needs to work on that bedside manner...
The 80s were really a mad time to be a horror fan, weren't they? The more I watch and research, the more I realize just how absolutely lunatic and vulgar the genre was in that decade -- today's horror may be denounced (and perhaps rightly) for its extreme violence and torture porn (ugh, torture porn can just GTFO out my genre already), but the horror of the 80s wasn't just violent: it was fucking insane. There were a ridiculous number of Lovecraft-inspired films released, and movies that felt like truly horrific acid trips. The imagery was grotesque and truly shocking; the sexuality was almost always perverted or cringe-inducing, and the body horror was truly at its peak. The 80s were the era of Clive Barker, Cronenberg, and their ilk, and damn if some of this shit doesn't do its best to scar me for life. Re-Animator fits into this period like a glove. I wouldn't say it's as scary or tension-filled as most of the films of the time, but it's certainly not for the squeamish or the prudish. The violence is graphic and brutal, the results of the mad science is often messy, and there's that expected (and now infamous) perverted moment wherein Dr. Hill really tries to give the lovely Megan "head". OH MY WORD. I believe that moment is the definition of the phrase "bad touch". *shudders*
What's interesting about this film beyond the frankly stellar special effects is that while we have the good guy Dan set up to be our protagonist and hero, the two characters that are focused on the most are the villains: West and Hill. West is only slightly more sympathetic than Hill, despite the fact that he's the cause of all of the horror, because he doesn't come across as pure evil so much as sociopathic. In the vein of Sherlock Holmes, West is first and foremost a brain in search of more knowledge, more understanding, more success. He's willing to do just about anything to achieve his intellectual goals, even decapitate a rival, but he does it with cold and calm efficiency -- there's no cruelty or malice in his actions. And he does try in a way to be a friend to Dan, which I suppose is a credit to him. Dr. Hill, however, is truly a villain of the full stripe. He's greedy, cruel, depraved, obsessive and truly evil. We have to root for West over Hill no matter what, especially after he kidnaps Megan for his own disgusting purposes. And, of course, the re-animating horror reaches its climax when these two villains have their final face-off (in Hill's case, his face truly is off). We may get a few more scenes involving Dan and Megan's attempted escape from the morgue, but everybody really knows that the movie's over when West and Hill disappear into the caustic smoke.
Easily the second best intestines-versus-human fight I've ever seen...
As most horror films go, this one ticks just about every one of the necessary boxes. Interesting characters and (a) great villain(s)? CHECK. Plenty of gore and violence? CHECK. Tension and sudden frights? CHECK. Decent special effects that often verge on inspired? CHECK. A murky enough ending to allow for a sequel (or three)? CHECK. I really enjoyed Re-Animator because it gave me almost everything I demanded/expected from it, defied casual predictions and typical cliches, and was inventive with its SFX and characters. Jeffrey Combs was wonderfully creeptastic, as was David Gale. There was plenty of ridiculousness and black humor to accompany the horror, and while it was plenty disturbing it never got into full-blown Hellraiser (OH GOD THAT MOVIE WHY) territory.
If you haven't seen this cult classic yet, and have seen Combs in anything else (and chances are you have seen him, even if he was under four inches of latex prosthetics), make sure to put this on your list this Halloween. If you can handle some squeamish scenes, nudity, and are ready to laugh at a hilariously-done reanimated cat, then Re-Animator may be a good pick for you.
FINAL SCORE: I'm giving this glowing green concoction in an unbreakable plastic vial a 7 out of 10.
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