Very loosely based on H.P. Lovecraft's story "Herbert West: Re-Animator"
Herbert West (Jeffrey Combs) is new at Misketonic University in the (fictional) town of Arkham MA. He rooms with nice guy Dan (Bruce Abbott) but Dan's girlfriend Meg (Barbara Crampton) doesn't trust him. And evil Dr. Hill (the late David Gale) hates him. It seems West has a glowing green/yellow potion that brings the dead back to life...but they always come back in a foul mood. But he hasn't tried it on humans...yet...
Boy, do I miss the 80s! Back then they could make extremely gory, sick, violent, unrated films like this and get them to play at mainstream theatres. I saw this opening night in Boston back in 1985--it was unrated and no one under 18 was allowed in the theatre. The audience was quiet at first, but as the violence and gore escelated and the black humor kicked in, the audience came alive. People were screaming, yelling, laughing...just about everything! Especially during a sequence between Crampton and Gale which just went way over the boundaries of good taste. It was just great! The movie is fun on its own, but with the right type of audience it really comes alive.
The film has extreme gore...probably the goriest movie of its decade. It also has huge doses of black humor and the whole cast blessedly plays it straight...it they had winked at the camera once it would have destroyed the film.
The film also has a tight, well-written script (it runs 86 minutes), is well directed by Stuart Gordon and has a great cast--David Gale (sadly no longer with us) was fantastic as the evil Hill. Jeffrey Combs plays West just perfect--we see his obsession with the potion but Combs never overplays it. Abbott is somewhat bland but plays a very good hero. Crampton is just excellent as Meg--sexy, smart and very brave. Also Robert Sampson adds strong support as Meg's father.
Basically a must-see for any horror fan. Also a great score and I LOVE the ending! Don't miss this one!
Try to see the Special Edition DVD--it shows deleted scenes that flesh out the story more.
Herbert West (Jeffrey Combs) is new at Misketonic University in the (fictional) town of Arkham MA. He rooms with nice guy Dan (Bruce Abbott) but Dan's girlfriend Meg (Barbara Crampton) doesn't trust him. And evil Dr. Hill (the late David Gale) hates him. It seems West has a glowing green/yellow potion that brings the dead back to life...but they always come back in a foul mood. But he hasn't tried it on humans...yet...
Boy, do I miss the 80s! Back then they could make extremely gory, sick, violent, unrated films like this and get them to play at mainstream theatres. I saw this opening night in Boston back in 1985--it was unrated and no one under 18 was allowed in the theatre. The audience was quiet at first, but as the violence and gore escelated and the black humor kicked in, the audience came alive. People were screaming, yelling, laughing...just about everything! Especially during a sequence between Crampton and Gale which just went way over the boundaries of good taste. It was just great! The movie is fun on its own, but with the right type of audience it really comes alive.
The film has extreme gore...probably the goriest movie of its decade. It also has huge doses of black humor and the whole cast blessedly plays it straight...it they had winked at the camera once it would have destroyed the film.
The film also has a tight, well-written script (it runs 86 minutes), is well directed by Stuart Gordon and has a great cast--David Gale (sadly no longer with us) was fantastic as the evil Hill. Jeffrey Combs plays West just perfect--we see his obsession with the potion but Combs never overplays it. Abbott is somewhat bland but plays a very good hero. Crampton is just excellent as Meg--sexy, smart and very brave. Also Robert Sampson adds strong support as Meg's father.
Basically a must-see for any horror fan. Also a great score and I LOVE the ending! Don't miss this one!
Try to see the Special Edition DVD--it shows deleted scenes that flesh out the story more.