Re-Animator (1985)

4 Stars (out of 4)

Heads over Squeals

By Jeffrey M. Anderson

A clever, madcap mid-80s cult classic combining sinister comedy with bloody horror: an intense young scientist Herbert West (Jeffrey Combs) invents a glowing green formula that can resurrect the recent dead, but with horrible side effects -- the victim goes completely insane. This doesn't stop him and his roommate Dan Cain (Bruce Abbott) from using the formula over and over again, on a cat, a future father-in-law, and a professor's severed head.

Though the film has its share of gory thrills, the emphasis is squarely on the laughs. Completing the mood, composer Richard Band blatantly rips off Bernard Hermann's Psycho score, and gets away with it (it works beautifully). The film is obviously based on the Frankenstein concept that man who creates life (as opposed to woman) is monstrous. But Re-Animator goes one further by giving us the villain Dr. Hill (David Gale), an ineffective scientist unable to grasp the true nature of life and death, and an ineffective lover, whose advances toward cute student Megan Halsey (Barbara Crampton) are seen as pathetic. That's the film's biggest joke: we actually identify with the monsters and not with this "ordinary" loser.

Director Stuart Gordon and many of the cast and crew came from a Chicago theater troupe notable for performing early David Mamet plays. The 1985 theatrical release ran 95 minutes, but Gordon's director's cut -- presented here -- actually runs shorter, at 86 minutes. (The DVD includes all the outtakes and "extended scenes" for completists.) Gordon's next film was, From Beyond (1986), based on another H.P. Lovecraft tale.

Anchor Bay Entertainment has basically re-released Elite Entertainment's superb 2002 two-disc set for 2007. The digital transfer and audio are, as far as I could tell, exactly the same, as are the commentary tracks and most of the extras. However, here are a few crucial differences. Anchor Bay's new set includes a brand-new (not very interesting) documentary, close captioning (neither set comes with optional English subtitles) and a green highlighter pen inside the box. The only thing it doesn't carry over from the previous set is the music-only audio track featuring Band's score. It's a close call, but I'm choosing the new set over the old one.

In 2012, Anchor Bay issued an essential new Blu-ray release. It contains most of the extras from the DVD, except the DVD-Rom goodies (the story and the screenplay).

In 2025, Ignite Films released the film for its 40th anniversary, available in an Ultimate box set, a Deluxe box set, a 4K edition, and a two-disc Blu-ray edition. (It's exclusively available via Ignite Films.)

The Blu-ray comes with the 86-minute director's cut and the 105-minute "Integral" cut, which I had never seen before. (I might be biased but I prefer the shorter cut.) The set includes an insane amount of extras, including all of the stuff included on Anchor bay's earlier release. The director's cut includes a commentary track by director Gordon (who passed away in 2020); a second track with Gordon, producer Brian Yuzna, actors Combs, Crampton, Abbott, and Robert Sampson; and a third track with Gordon and actors Graham Skipper and Jesse Merlin (of Re-Animator: The Musical). We also get a new 45 minute discussion between Yuzna, Combs, and Crampton, "The Horror of It All: The Legacy and Impact of Re-Animator" (18 minutes), a new interview with editor Lee Percy (15 minutes), an interview with actor Carolyn Purdy-Gordon, Stuart Gordon's widow (14 minutes), a look back at Re-Animator: The Musical (28 minutes), a restoration demonstration (2 minutes), a 1972 documentary about the Organic Theater Company of Chicago (featuring a young Stuart Gordon), a new trailer, and an isolated score.

The Integral Cut disc includes several bonuses from earlier releases: the documentary "Re-Animator: Resurrectus" (68 minutes), a conversation with Gordon and Yuzna (49 minutes), an interview with writer Dennis Paoli (11 minutes), an interview with composer Richard Band (15 minutes), an interview with former Fangoria editor Tony Timpone (5 minutes), and a music discussion with Band (17 minutes). We also get another short featurette on the Organic Theater (13 minutes) and another on the musical (12 minutes), an interview with Crampton (36 minutes), a documentary about H.P. Lovecraft movie adaptations (54 minutes), an audio recording of Combs reading the original Lovecraft story, extended scenes (23 minutes), deleted scenes (3 minutes), trailers, TV spots, and a. still gallery. Whew. Needless to say this is Highly Recommended.