The 1980s were so chock-full of great, cheesy horror films that at some point, even some of the greatest movies slipped through the cracks of the mainstream radar. One such film is Stuart Gordon’s Re-Animator, and while it’s grown into a cult classic over the last four decades, it still doesn’t get the love it deserves for being one of the best genre-blending horror films of the decade. A gory, gruesome, sci-fi zombie comedy, Dennis Paoli’s screenwriting of Re-Animator put a spin on H.P. Lovecraft’s short story, Herbert West–Reanimator, that actually made Lovecraft’s classic tale much more engaging.
Quite possibly Jeffrey Combs’ most notable role, he brought an iconic personality to Dr. Herbert West that has long stuck with the actor throughout his career. His cold, calculated approach to death and doing whatever it takes to feed his obsession with it, mixed with subtle, comedic prose, makes West one of those villains that viewers love to hate and hate to love.
For those unfamiliar with Re-Animator, the film follows Herbert West, a man who leaves Switzerland after an experiment goes wrong and shows up at Miskatonic University to continue his studies of using a special serum to reanimate the dead long after they’ve perished. West gets mixed up with Dan Cain, another student, and after Dan sees the serum work on his deceased cat, he too becomes fixated and fascinated with using the serum as the next big medical breakthrough.
The movie is only loosely based on Lovecraft’s short story, but it’s probably his best adaptation, regardless. Lovecraft’s tales have proven to be difficult to adapt accurately, mostly due to their sheer oddness and incredible visualizations, but films and TV shows that are more inspired by his work, rather than being direct adaptations, seem to find an audience, like Joe Hill’s Locke & Key or HBO’s Lovecraft Country.
When discussing writing the screenplay for Re-Animator with Horror Geek Life, writer Dennis Paoli said, “Re-Animator took five stories; there are actually six Re-Animator Herbert West stories, and we took a piece from each of those stories and made a single story out of it, so that was a different exercise in adaptation entirely. But it also works, so Lovecraft is a very fertile field to work in.”
Re-Animator’s great performances go beyond Combs. Bruce Abbott and Barbara Crampton (in her first major horror movie role) were both fantastic, and David Gale’s turn as the creepy, sneering Dr. Carl Hill is amazing, especially when he’s whittled down to a reanimated severed head.
Re-Animator may have some funny moments, but it certainly doesn’t shy away from the grotesque. From blood-covered, walking corpses to shrieking zombie cats and sloppy decapitations, the film encompasses the greatest aspects of ‘80s cheese and gore, all the way up to its gross final act. The film was so bloody that the special effects supervisor went through 24 gallons of fake blood by the end of the shoot. To that point, the most he had ever gone through was two gallons.
This underrated horror gem, along with its two extremely fun sequels, Bride of Re-Animator and Beyond Re-Animator, is perfect for any viewer’s annual spooky season movie list, and for those who haven’t seen it, they’re in for a real treat.