Re-Animator (1985)

Directed by Stuart Gordon. Starring Bruce Abbott, Jeffrey Combs, Barbara Crampton, David Gale, Robert Sampson, Carolyn Purdy-Gordon, Gerry Black.

Socko mad-scientist horror-comedy story of a deadpan yet screw-loose medical student, Herbert West (Combs), who has created a re-animation serum he believes will bring the dead back to life. Oh, if only he had a fresh supply of corpses to experiment with—wait, what about the hospital morgue attended by just about the worst security guard on the planet? Outré theater director Gordon’s first foray into feature films is a wild ride, splitting time between the tongue-in-cheek and the sly (the Talking Heads poster seen on a bedroom wall could be described as foreshadowing), and gallows humor and gross-out gags. Fans of “straight” treatments of these sorts of tales will enjoy the clever send-up, less-experienced horror hounds can groove to the polished style and wicked invention on Gordon’s part, and those who revel in gore and tasteless humor will appreciate the excess-laden final act where Gale’s perverted scientist brings new meaning to the slang phrase, “giving head”. Hampered somewhat by a stiff, stolid leading man (Abbott), who rents a spare room to West and is dating the close-minded dean’s daughter (Crampton), but Combs is a pitch-perfect little weirdo of unfiltered arrogance and ambition, and the practical makeup effects and prosthetics are quite good for its type. Liberally inspired by a serialized novelette by H. P. Lovecraft (“Herbert West-Reanimator”); the film is even sometimes referred to as H. P. Lovecraft’s Re-Animator. Followed by a pair of sequels, starting with Bride of Re-Animator in 1990.

79/100