“Staff Picks” is a deeper look into movies that we love here at Video CULTure. Each edition of this column will focus on a single film that we think you should check out, either for the first time or for a long-overdue revisit.
By Patrick Bartlett (Twitter: @alleywaykrew)
This is a little harder than I expected it to be. A big part of that is the fact that we lost Stuart Gordon, a bonafide “master of horror”, this year . I never met the man but his death hit me hard because of how much his work has meant to me. Of all of that work, none has meant more to me over the years than “Re-Animator”. That’s another reason this is difficult. What can you say about something so important, both to me personally and to the genre as a whole? It’s integral to both. It’s the movie that I point to when discussing the merits of horror-comedy. Other films like it came before and many have come since its release in 1985 but “Re-Animator” is a truly perfect example.
Doing a horror-comedy is an incredibly dodgy proposition. Honestly, doing either genre well is a Herculean feat in and of itself but combining the two? Many have tried and many have failed. Inarguable great filmmakers, no less. It’s incredibly easy to make things too funny to be scary or vice versa. When you hit that sweet spot though… there are few things that are more entertaining. A big part of why I love “Re-Animator” as much as I do is that it never fails to entertain. I’ve watched it over and over again and it always feels the same to me. The scares and gore work, the over the top humor works as well as the more satirical moments work and the film’s anarchic pace keeps everything from ever once dragging. It’s easy to write off a lot of horror or low budget filmmaking in general but few films in more well-regarded genres approach the level of skill shown in the making of “Re-Animator”.
It being touted as based on a short story by H.P. Lovecraft, as a lot of Gordon’s work was, undersells how original of a work this is. If you’ve ever read the short story and seen the film, it becomes obvious very quickly how much of the film was the filmmakers’ and not Lovecraft’s. I’m not trying to impugn Lovecraft’s work. I actually enjoy the story more than most Lovecraft fans I know. It’s most famous for creating the concept of zombies. However, the story itself is basically a journal kept by Bruce Abbot’s character of Dan Cain (although never named in the story). It’s him observing and acting as an Igor-esque assistant type of character to Herbert West while he tries to find the secrets to returning the dead to life. It’s essentially a series of scenes of trial and error in that pursuit. The film is focused on the character of Dan Cain. He’s a medical student at Miskatonic University. He’s dating the Dean’s daughter, Megan Halsey on a pretty secretive basis. He’s learning from the highly respected doctor Carl Hill (a man who is infatuated with Megan). If you don’t introduce Herbert West into the story, you would probably still have a pretty compelling film.
However, once you introduce Herbert West into it, everything is completely upended and shaken up in a truly glorious way. A large part of that is material that came from Lovecraft’s story. West is written as a brilliant, driven scientist but also as a pathological narcissist. He’s on the edge of madness, if not already over the edge. All of that comes across right away in the film but with the writing, Gordon’s direction, and especially Jeffrey Combs’ performance… instead of a character that seems like he should be unlikeable on paper, you get exactly the opposite. The cast is great. Let me just say that before going further. Bruce Abbott’s performance as Dan is someone that you can’t help want to see succeed. He’s driven in his own ways and likable in a way that makes you want to be his best friend. Barbara Crampton’s charisma and her take on Megan is iconic and a large part of the reason she’s still an important figure in the genre three and a half decades later. She’s beautiful and sweet and feels like she’s a perfect counterpart to Dan. David Gale is appropriately sinister and narcissistic in his own right as Dr. Hill. He’s a believably formidable adversary for both Cain and West. Having said all that, Jeffrey Combs’s performance is in a class by itself. In Lovecraft’s prose, he doesn’t necessarily feel evil per se but he doesn’t seem to care about anything but his work. That’s not the case in the film. He genuinely seems to desire to endear himself to Dan Cain. He wants him by his side. He values him. A big part of the reason the film works is that it in some ways feels like a love triangle between Dan, Herbert, and Megan. All of that is integral to the film but even more so, Combs and Gordon know innately how to make Herbert West breathe life into all aspects of the film. It’s a multitiered approach that is breathtaking to watch. I can even picture what he’s doing when he’s not on screen. The character is very funny and often comic relief but without sacrificing an ounce of formidability in his own right.
I need to get deeper into what transpires before I can go much further. As I mentioned, Dr. Hill is infatuated with Megan Halsey. He’s also facing a challenge to his place in the university and in medicine by Herbert West’s arrival. I need to mention all of that because it all comes to a head in the most famous scene of this movie. To the uninitiated, the scene in question features Dr. Hill’s body holding his disembodied (but still fully animated) head and attempting to perform sexual acts on Megan. That’s the most erudite way I can think of to illustrate the “head giving head” scene that the movie is most famous for. It also may be the reason for the breakup of the actor playing Hill’s marriage but that’s just the common speculation. I felt like I had to get all that out there because of the fame (or infamy) of that part of the movie. I can’t say it’s not a good scene. I can’t say it doesn’t serve to bring the movie to its climax. I can’t even say that it couldn’t be considered a crystallization of the film in a certain way. I can say however that the film is more than that one scene. Hell, the climax is more than that scene. Everything comes to a head, both literally and figuratively on an almost epic scale.
I feel like this is the ideal place to note that I’ve never felt that effects artist Tony Doublin has received enough credit for his work on “Re-Animator”. I actually had to look him up. He’s not a Rick Baker, a Rob Bottin, or even a Chris Walas. However, everything in this film takes place in a heightened Lovecraft reality and until the very end, it mostly feels pretty real. Very little seems like typical horror movie effects. Especially of the era and of the budget. Throughout the film, the effects are realistic and disgusting in a way you’d want them to be in a film that takes place primarily around dead bodies and I don’t think enough credit is paid to how hard that must have been to pull off and the skill involved in doing so. Wonderful work.
Anyway, yes, the climax. The effects, the writing, the acting…all of it comes together and it’s marvelous to behold. I’m not going to say exactly what happens but there’s a veritable army of reanimated zombies, some Lovecraftian tentacles (of course), a headless main villain, and a few actors made to look like standard-issue college students just trying to escape intact (spoilers: they’re not completely successful). I’ve read probably more than my fair share of Lovecraft and I’d describe much of his work as beautiful madness, with no adaptation that I can recall feeling quite so perfect as here. The fact that things feel totally insane while also never feeling chaotic enough that you can’t follow what’s going on is a credit to not only Stuart Gordon but to all involved.
I was always going to write about “Re-Animator”. When I was thinking of movies I wanted to write about, this was always near the top of the list. I truly feel it’s close to a perfect film. It’s not only one of my favorite horror movies, horror comedies, etc. It’s one of my favorite movies. It’s something I can point to when trying to make people understand my taste. I enjoy most of Gordon’s work and especially his adaptations of Lovecraft stories but “Re-Animator” is legitimately in a class by itself. It’s a film that has stood the test of time and I’m hoping will keep proving to be timeless. I’m sad at the prospect of not seeing any more work from Stuart Gordon but what he left behind is staggering in the best possible way. In that, he lives forever.
To find out where this film is available to stream, click here: Just Watch