Re-Animator (1985) Review

"Cat dead.  Details later."
-Herbert West



Medical student Dan Cain (Bruce Abbott) gets a new roommate, Herbert West (Jeffrey Combs), another medical student.  After the mysterious death of his cat, Cain discovers West has found a way to bring it back to life.  Now West wants to try out his serum on human corpses...and he needs Cain's help.


What Works:

The practical effects of this movie are truly spectacular.  We get some awesome gore and really creative and disgusting body horror.  There's nothing I love more than 80's body horror and we get plenty of it here.  Not every effect is perfect, but I love the effort and the cheesiness.

The main antagonist of this movie is Dr. Carl Hill (David Gale), who gets his head severed and brought back to life by West.  He spends a large chunk of the film walking around carrying his own head.  That's absolutely wonderful and a lot of fun.

I was presently surprised with the writing of the movie as well.  We have five main characters, each of whom have a different and discernible goal or motivation.  Most horror movies have trouble giving us one motivation.  It makes for an interesting story because all of the alliances are unstable adding some tension to the plot.

Finally, Jeffrey Combs is brilliant as Herbert West.  I have always heard great things about his performance and he did not disappoint.  His strange mannerisms and odd sense of humor are easily brought to like by Combs and I can't imagine anyone else in the role.


What Sucks:

My only problem with the film comes from the scene where Hill sexually abuses Megan Halsey (Barbara Crampton).  It's really uncomfortable and doesn't fit with the tone of the rest of the movie.  Re-Animator is a fun and weird film, but this scene isn't fun at all.  I get that there is a novelty because Hill is a severed head at this point, but I think it could have been done more tastefully to better fit with the rest of the film.


Verdict:

Apart from one problematic scene, Re-Animator is an absolute blast with great practical effects, an interesting story, and a wonderful performance by Jefferey Combs.  This movie certainly lives up to the hype and has definitely got it going on.

 9/10: Great    

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