Welcome back to Thursday, where every ‘Thursday is Halloween! Yes, I am on a budget so every day being Halloween is out of the question. Tonight! How do you follow up a great film like Frankenhooker? With Re-Animator, of course! Get ready for a giant dose of camp and blood. How much blood? Legends say over 20 gallons of fake blood were used during filming!
So what is it about? There are no doubt a number of you who never saw this film. I went through a lot of reviews on IMDB, ended up settling on one by clydestuff who reviewed this film almost 20 years ago:
Most of the cheap or not so cheaply made horror films these days are nothing more than a tedious exercise in how to bump off as many teenagers in as many different ways as one can imagine in ninety minutes or less. One need only watch recent films such as Wrong Turn or the remake of Texas Chainsaw Massacre to realize how far the horror genre has fallen. Once John Carpenter made the first Halloween film, we have been subject to an endless series of copy cat films whose only purpose seems to be finding an imaginative way to slice and dice the local teenage population. All of the Freddies, Jasons, and Michael Myers films combined don’t come close to having an ounce of the entertainment and imagination of Producer Brian Yuzna and Director and Writer Stuart Gordon’s Re-animator.
Professor Herbert West (Jeffrey Combs) is a scientist who has discovered a formula which brings the dead back to life by reanimating their tissue. After an experiment in Switzerland goes awry, he moves to Miskatonic University to continue his experiments. One thing Professor West isn’t and that is modest. He even takes a few moments to ridicule a professor, Dr. Carl Hill (David Gale) when he disagrees with him about when death actually occurs. He eventually rents a room from fellow student Dan Cain (Bruce Abbot). Dan is dating Megan Halsey (Barbara Crampton) who is the daughter of the college dean, Alan Halsey (Robert Sampson). What Dan doesn’t know is that the aforementioned Dr. Hill has a perverted eye on Megan also. We know this because of the sleazy stares Dr. Hill eyeballs her with when ever she’s around. Think of Megan as being an overage Lolita and Dr. Hill as Humbert Humbert and you’ve got the idea. All of this is not window dressing as it would be in some other films. It all comes into play very nicely. It goes without saying that sooner or later, Dr. West will be making good use of his reanimation formula, in ways only those with the most grotesque sense of humor can imagine. To say any more than that would deny you of the true pleasures of this film.
Thank you, clydestuff. In 20 years I don’t think anyone did a much better job of a a review.
Trivia! David Gayle ended up divorced after this film. Two things, courtesy IMDB:
- Actor David Gale‘s wife divorced him shortly after this film’s release. In the DVD’s audio commentary, the rest of the cast suspects that the scene when the reanimated body of his character, Dr. Hill, attempts to rape Megan was the cause of divorce.
- When David Gale‘s wife first saw the infamous “giving head” scene, she stormed out shouting “David, how could you?!” This has been confirmed by Stuart Gordon.
Oh boy. Don’t marry an actor unless you are willing to see him do some crazy stuff. And this movie is chock full of it! I hope you enjoy this evening’s feature, and I will see you again next week!
So watch! Or don’t! Everything is voluntary! Next week, Zwak is up to bat with a long-term suggestion that just came to streaming: Mad God. Who is he mad at? Stay tuned to find out!
Also next week starts our double features as we move towards Halloween. More for your money! Granted, nobody is paying anything. It sounds good though!
TBF, Al Jourgensen made pretty good coin.
Hey, I like the Wrong Turn remake!
I think I’ve seen this, but I’m still diving in because of the Lovecraft connection.
Umm… this is in Spanish
Que?
Unlike English, it’s a language spoken in Europe.
Kay?
Relevant
Quay?
Ih oh. There was a spanish and English version. Did I make a mistake? A terrible mistake?
I think this is in English.
Yes, that’s an English version
There is exactly zero change of a hospital, even on a college campus, looking like that on the North Shore of Massachusetts.
Fun fact, Richard Band who did the music for this, also did the music for most of the other horror movies with Barbara Crampton — From Beyond, Puppet Master (both played here recently), and Castle Freak.
No idea how he didn’t get sued by Bernard Herrman for this one. To my non-expert ears it sounds like Psycho in a brighter key.
Although they have most of the same people, this movie almost slapstick compared to From Beyond.
No idea how he didn’t get sued by Bernard Herrman for this one.
Probably because Bernard Herrmann was rather too dead to sue.
Thanks Ted/S
“Bernard Herrman”
Ha that was my immediate impression.
It’s almost too obvious.
Oh shit, I requested this! Jumping in.
I’ve seen the sequel a couple of times over the years. Might dive into this over the weekend. Tonight, I’m hoping watch the Seahawks spank the Donkeys. Have fun, kiddos!
The sequel “Beyond Re-Animator” came up first when I was searching Tubi. I didn’t know there was a sequel.
There is also a Bride of Re-Animator. Jeffrey Combs is in all of them, but the sequels aren’t good.
I had a friend who did special effects for those.
I didn’t know this was a Lovecraft joint either.
The rough inspiration would be “Herbet West, Reanimator”.
I do mean Rough Inspiration.
Is that the one with the dead soldier that carries his head in a case or am I misremembering?
Sounds about right. It’s been a few years.
I’m watching the 1:44:54 extended version. The same file USB direct into the TV looks different than VLC via HDMI.
This is the second-best movie with a Hans Gruber.
Both are holiday movies.
Switzerland You say?
I missed the food fight thread. Rats.
throws pie at RJ just like Bugs Bunny.u
“Think of Megan as being an overage Lolita…”
Doesn’t that just make her “just legal”? (Perhaps being deliberately obtuse.)
The same guy whose neighbors said, “good fucking riddance”.
Piss off you crime-loving commie fuck.
He really is the worst, isn’t he. Fun for me: The DSA’s giving him shit, talking behind his back about getting rid of Commissioner(?) Tisch, despite crime apparently being down. Don’t see the article there at this point, but that whole thing seems like such fun back-stabbing in broad daylight, political shits playing Game of Thrones with their political machinations.
Wonder if you’d have any thoughts on the Tisch thingy.
Full disclosure: Not a typo but an initial mistype, I wrote “Game of Throngs” the first time. And with their Useful Idiots? Uh? Damn, Ev. That’s a great term for their larping w their little acolytes. Also, I’m with you on the “queer” word just meaning commie, cuz, uh? It doesn’t mean anything else. (Game of Thongs also comes to mind, but, eh? Thongs can be wonderful when properly filled.)
Tisch is I guess an old-school Democrat. She is a holdover from the Adams administration, and apparently is doing a good job for an old-school Democrat. And that is why the DemSocs hate her – because she actually wants to reduce crime rather than increase it.
“Game of Thongs” is the porno adaptation.
Today was another day in the Vault because IT hasn’t gotten back to give me official “Vault Access” so I can log in to their internal whatever it is that They are running. (They are being written off on requests to get it done by whoever gets It done. (They are the ones writing it off.)
So perhaps tomorrow, perhaps not. Whatevs. I’ll miss the Vault, methinks. Only 4.1 miles today, but I shoulda worn my better shoes. I think I’m going to be 50/50 on pro/cons of this gig, in pretty powerful ways in both directions. The money will be a massive step-up; I could live a comfy life by my single-self forever on it. ($40,040/yr) It’s absolutely ‘unfulfilling’ and I’m not sure it can go anywhere upward beyond it. I don’t think I really want to be doing this my whole damn life.
A good year to save, I s’pose. We shall see.
(((They))!?
Fantastic question, Threedor, that. I wonder if that should sway me in either direction… (((?)))
Also, the angle of my dangle won’t be affected by my, indeed, (((‘cox’))), as that was snipped long ago.
The Democrat Party can’t wait until the bodies are cold to wave bloody shirts. Despicable scum. Fuck Walz, you lying shitbag. And the rest of the hivemind that are in lock step with their pre written talking points. “Thank you first responders” but not one word of thanks to the armed citizen that stopped the evil. These people are not fit to live in a civilized society.
Walz is still trying to load his shotgun, give the guy a break.
He was, after all, a National Guard Sgt Major.
For whatever it’s worth, Fox’s coverage includes this shout-out to the “community member” (who did have a concealed carry permit per the Feds on the scene) who took out the shooter:
It’ll be a miracle if the good guy doesn’t get charged with a felony. Carry on school grounds is prohibited.
Oh look, Cory Fuckface from NJ is weighing in.
I like how the black security guard checked out at the end.
That was pretty good. Thanks RJ!
You are welcome! Sorry I missed it!
Hey! Apologies. There was an impromptu pool party.
That was fun, thanks.
Balls or water?
Water. This is probably the last weekend for swimming in the whole pool. Spa only after this most likely.
“A New York City teen is accused of drugging two Manhattan college students with fentanyl and then raping one in her dorm room while she was unconscious from the dangerous drug that ultimately killed her, according to a “sick and twisted” new indictment.
Bronx native Moises Freire, 19, brought fentanyl he claimed was cocaine to two Fashion Institute of Technology students at an undergraduate residence hall on March 18, a newly unsealed indictment from the US Attorney’s Office alleges.”
https://nypost.com/2026/10/15/us-news/fit-student-dead-after-being-drugged-raped-in-her-nyc-dorm-prosecutor/
Total coincidence.
“French teen charged in school shooting cites revenge for bullying
Anti-terrorism prosecutors said a 14-year-old involved in a shooting that wounded teaching staff at a school in the south of France earlier this week was acting out of revenge for bullying. The teenager was charged with attempted murder and remanded in custody Wednesday. – A 14-year-old charged with attempted murder in France after wounding a principal and a teacher in a school shooting this week said he acted out of revenge for bullying, prosecutors have said.”
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Aww… this is actually pretty pathetic: The French teenager, who carried out the attack on Monday using small hunting pellets in the southern town of Aubagne near Marseille, was charged and remanded in custody late on Wednesday.”
Oooh, have to get their digs in: “The adolescent admitted to having been influenced by an online subculture that celebrates mass shootings like those in the United States called the “True crime community”, but said he did not act in its name, it added.”
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Unfortunately(?), I thought it was going be like the shooting in Oregon today and query how that could’ve possibly happened in France, of all places? https://www.france24.com/en/france/20261015-france-charges-teen-shooter-citing-revenge-for-bullying-in-school
I’ve seen this one a couple-three times. I may have seen it in the theater (like much of that, err, era, my memory is a little foggy). Can recommend.
It’s the best Lovecraft movie, and I think I’ve seen all of them.
Why aren’t there any really good ones?
As many stories of his that are amazingly creepy, you would think it would be easy to do.
The producers and directors attracted to making Lovecraft films just do not have the budget or skills to pull it off. Sooner or later someone will come along and do another like this one, or the old Hammer films.