Re-Animator (1985)

User Rating:

7.3/10   

Director:

Stuart Gordon

Writers:

H.P. Lovecraft (story)
Dennis Paoli (screenplay) ...
(more)

Release Date:

18 October 1985 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Horror | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

H.P. Lovecraft's classic tale of horror

Plot:

A dedicated student at a medical college and his girlfriend become involved in bizarre experiments centering around the re-animation of dead tissue when an odd new student arrives on campus.

Plot Keywords:

Student | Experiment | H.P. Lovecraft | Death | Scientist

Awards:

4 wins & 2 nominations

Cast

Jeffrey Combs	...	Herbert West
Bruce Abbott	...	Daniel 'Dan' Cain
Barbara Crampton	...	Megan Halsey
David Gale	...	Dr. Carl Hill
Robert Sampson	...	Dean Alan Halsey
Gerry Black	...	Mace (Miskatonic security guard)
Carolyn Purdy-Gordon	...	Dr. Harrod
Peter Kent	...	Melvin the Re-Animated
Barbara Pieters	...	Nurse
Ian Patrick Williams	...	Swiss professor
Bunny Summers	...	Swiss doctor
Al Berry	...	Dr. Gruber
Derek Pendleton	...	Swiss policeman #1
Gene Scherer	...	Swiss policeman #2
James Ellis	...	Psycho Ward guard #1
James Earl Cathay	...	Psycho Ward guard #2
Annyce Holzman	...	E-R patient corpse
Velvet Debois	...	Slit wrist girl corpse
Lawrence Lowe	...	Failed operation corpse
Robert Holcomb	...	Motorcycle accident corpse
Mike Filloon	...	Facial bullet wound corpse
Greg Reid	...	One-armed man corpse
Jack Draheim	...	Tall skinny guy corpse
Robert Pitzele	...	Bald O-R corpse
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Kim Deitch	...	Bald doctor

Directed by
Stuart Gordon

Writing credits
H.P. Lovecraft		(story "Herbert West, Re-Animator")
Dennis Paoli		(screenplay) &
William Norris		(screenplay) (as William J. Norris) &
Stuart Gordon		(screenplay)

Produced by
Michael Avery	....	executive producer
Bruce William Curtis	....	executive producer
Bob Greenburg	....	associate producer
Charles Donald Storey	....	associate producer
Brian Yuzna	....	producer

Original Music by
Richard Band

Cinematography by
Mac Ahlberg
Robert Ebinger		(uncredited; replaced by Mac Ahlberg)

Film Editing by
Lee Percy

Casting by
Anthony Barnao

Art Direction by
Robert A. Burns

Costume Design by
Robin Burton
Robin Lewis-West

Makeup Department
Everett Burrell	....	special makeup effects artist
Anthony Doublin	....	special makeup effects
John Naulin	....	special makeup effects
Gerald Quist	....	assistant makeup effects artist
John Carl Buechler	....	special makeup effects artist (uncredited)
Drex Reed	....	special makeup effects crew (uncredited)

Production Management
Dennis Murphy	....	executive in charge of production
Michael Muscal	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Tim Minear	....	assistant director
Robert Roda	....	first assistant director

Sound Department
James Bailey	....	foley artist
Gordon L. Day	....	sound re-recording mixer
John Kwiatkowski	....	sound editor
Dean Okrand	....	sound re-recording mixer
Steve Sollars	....	boom operator
Don Summer	....	sound mixer

Special Effects by
Bret Culpepper	....	special effects
Richard N. McGuire	....	special effects: EFX Lead

Stunts
Dan Bradley	....	stunt coordinator
Scott Alan Cook	....	stunts
Mike Filloon	....	stunts
Ray Lykins	....	stunt double: Dean Halsey/Dr. Hill
Ray Lykins	....	stunts
George P. Wilbur	....	stunts (as George Wilber)

Camera and Electrical Department
Robert Ebinger	....	additional still photographer (as Robert Fredric Ebinger)
R. Michael Givens	....	assistant camera
David Morton	....	electrician
Tim Morton	....	best boy
Philip Sloan	....	dolly grip
Rick A. West	....	electrician

Music Department
Tom Villano	....	music editor

Other crew
Barrie Bergman	....	production associate
Rick Berman	....	production assistant
Martin Bernholtz	....	production associate
Misty Carey	....	production coordinator
John Criswell	....	effects assistant
Richard Davison	....	effects assistant
Robert Dawson	....	title designer: main titles
Dana Ginsberg	....	effects assistant
Lisa S. Girolami	....	set manager
Cleve Hall	....	MMI crew
Bob Johnene	....	double
Hans Jonnason	....	body double: David Gale
Paul Madoff	....	production assistant
Julie Mauger	....	effects assistant
Kenny Myers	....	effects assistant (as Ken Myers)
Steve Patino	....	effects assistant
Greg Rose	....	body double: David Gale
Jeffrey Lyle Segal	....	effects assistant (as Jeff Segal)
Therese Shirley	....	effects assistant
Desiree Vaughn-Soto	....	MMI crew
Chris Witherspoon	....	MMI crew
Cathy Yuzna	....	production associate (as Cathy Cherry Yuzna)

Thanks
Albert Band	....	special thanks
Charles Band	....	special thanks
Debra Dion	....	special thanks
Peter Manoogian	....	special thanks

Production Companies

• Empire Pictures
• Re-Animator Productions

Distributors

• Empire Pictures (1985) (USA) (theatrical)
• Re-Animator Productions (2001) (worldwide) (all media)
• Eurogroup (1986) (France) (theatrical)
• Re-Animator Productions (1995) (worldwide) (all media)
• Anchor Bay Entertainment (2007) (USA) (DVD) (widescreen)
• CMV Laservision (2008) (Germany) (DVD)
• Elite Entertainment (2001) (USA) (DVD) (widescreen)
• Elite Entertainment (????) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)
• Emerald (2008) (Argentina) (DVD) (re-release) (improved edition)
• Firebox (2007) (Finland) (DVD)
• Image Entertainment (????) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)
• Starz Home Entertainment (2007) (Australia) (DVD)
• Stormovie (2005) (Italy) (DVD)
• Sunfilm Entertainment (2008) (Germany) (DVD)
• Vestron Video International (1986) (Belgium) (VHS)
• Vestron Video (????) (USA) (VHS)
• Vestron Video (????) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)

Runtime:

86 min (unrated version) | USA:95 min (R-rated version)

Country:

USA

Language:

English | German

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:K-18 | West Germany:18 (video premiere) (heavily cut) | West Germany:Not Rated | Singapore:(Banned) | UK:18 (re-rating) (2007) (uncut) | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Belgium:16 (video rating) | Australia:MA (re-rating) (2007) | Australia:MA (2007 re-rating) | South Korea:18 | Italy:VM14 (re-rating) | New Zealand:R16 | Australia:R | France:-12 | Italy:VM18 | Norway:18 | Sweden:15 (Banned) | UK:18 (cut) | USA:Open (rating surrendered: 1986) | USA:R (cut version: 1986) | Iceland:(Banned) | Germany:BPjM Restricted

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Empire Pictures

Trivia:

Stuart Gordon and Dennis Paoli originally intended to be faithful to H.P. Lovecraft's story, but the film ultimately has little in common with the story, which was intended to be a parody of "Frankenstein".

Goofs:

Continuity: When Dr. Halsey is killed, two of the fingers on his right hand are bitten off by a re-animated corpse. Later in the film in the padded cell, Dr. Halsey places his right hand on a wall, and all his five fingers are showing.

Quotes:

Dan Cain: [Dan's cat has died and been found in Herbert's refrigerator] You can call, or write a note.
Herbert West: I was busy pushing bodies around as you well know and what would a note say, Dan? "Cat dead, details later"?

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Re-Animator: 1942 (2008)

The Greatest of All Lovecraft Interpretations

After learning all he can learn in Switzerland, Herbert West comes to America to study life and death. Can death be overcome? West thinks so, and with his reagent serum he might just prove to the world how right he is.

"Re-Animator" ranks at the very top of my all-time favorite horror movies. For a guy who has seen probably one thousand horror films, that's quite the accomplishment. For me, the film is paced perfectly, has plenty of gore, a fair amount of nudity (and a scene of sexuality you won't find elsewhere), some black comedy and a simple plot premise (a variation on the Frankenstein story).

This is the film that gave Jeffrey Combs his place in cult film history. On the basis of this movie alone, he is sought after to appear in other horror films and appear at horror conventions. Sure, some of his other films are pretty good, and he had an impressive run on both "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" and "The 4400". But he will always be known as Herbert West. None of the other stars (David Gale, Bruce Abbott, Barbara Crampton) has gone on to such a level of recognition.

The film has some flaws. The score, which is supposed to be an "homage" to "Psycho" sounds more like a blatant ripoff. And my biggest pet peeve is trying to find a complete copy of the film. I owned the longer, R-rated version on VHS. Now I own the shorter, unrated version on DVD (the Millennium Edition). I have yet to find one that combines the gore of the uncut version with the plot of the R-rated one (which I think really drives home the story and fleshes out the motives and power of Dr. Hill).

But the sheer fun of the film makes up for the flaws. Jeffrey Combs is clearly having plenty of fun, and the way they approach such things as the reanimated cat and the use of the reagent as an intravenous drug tells me they knew that the key was just letting a good time fly.

The people involved with this film (Combs, director Stuart Gordon and producer Brian Yuzna) went on to make a variety of other Lovecraft-inspired films. So I guess I have to thank the success of "Re-Animator" for giving them the chance to pursue these other projects (even the less wonderful ones like "Necronomicon" or "Dagon" (which many people like but I wasn't impressed)).

If you're a horror fan and haven't seen this, shame on you. You simply cannot have an in-depth conversation on horror without this film coming up. I urge you to check it out and decide for yourself. Can thousands of horror fans be wrong on this one? When have they steered you wrong before?