Lovecraft was racist. He was racist during a time when racism was considered normal, yet he was racist to a degree that horrified even the most dedicated of bigots. Comes at no surprise as his whole motif is taking things beyond the normal spectrum. Whether making shit 10x scarier than it'd usually be or going so far as to name his cat after the N word. But here's the thing you're all not getting. HE'S FUCKING DEAD!!! At this point if he wasn't cremated, his body had probably rotted away beyond bone and is probably dust at this point. It's 15 years away from this point, that he will have been dead for over 100 years. A fucking century. There is literally nothing you can do, that death, nature or his nightmares prior haven't done to him already. Stop wasting your energy on a dead guy and go after the still living assholes that constantly commit hate crimes while you're focused on a dead author. Move on. Personally, in my opinion I think the whole time he was trolling, very few people know Lovecraft to have a sense of humour as twisted as his horror. I wouldn't be surprised if he did or said what he did, to fuck with the local racists since even they got disgusted with him. I mean come on, even in a town where racism is common, how many people do you know personally to go so far as name a pet after a notorious racial slur. It's literally him and whoever Dam Busters was based off, you know that dog. With that out of the way, on with the review.
Stuart Gordon. A name some seldom hear of yet, at least someone in every generation has at least watched one of his works. One of the most prominent A-Listers being the Honey I Shrunk The Kids franchise, however most hardcore movie fans knew exactly where he got started. With a little film, called Re-Animator.
This movie was his directorial debut and a producer debut of his collaborator, Brian Yuzna. Both of which fans of Lovecraft's works. While there have been movies prior, it is also what put legendary actor Jeffery Combs on the map as the infamous Anti-Hero Herbert West. While also assembling an alumni that later worked with Gordon and Yuzna in other movies. Cast members such as Barbara Crampton and David Gale. It also became the starter of a cinematic universe that Gordon and Yuzna were trying to create based on Lovecraft's works. Movies such as From Beyond, Castle Freak and Dagon. The movie was funded by Charles Band. You may recognize him as the man of 1000 B-Movie Companies. The first simply being Charles Band productions. The second being Empire which this movie was produced by. The most well known being Full Moon Productions, which you may recognize as the creator of such infamous classics as Puppetmaster and Demonic Toys. His brother Richard Band also composed the score for this movie.
It also served as a template for the style many of Stuart Gordon's filming style as his career began to rise. Specifically the themes of balancing horror with some camp and comedy. As well as the Lovecraft specific cold openings he uses prior to any title sequence. Fun fact, that one was by accident because the producers were worried that if the audience didn't see something to establish the movie, that they'd lose interest. One of the few times Executive Meddling worked well.
The movie comes in three versions. The unrated cut that didn't skimp out on the gore and other things that went beyond the X rating. The R-Rated Cut which cut out some of the more explicit moments and replaced them with deleted scenes. And finally the Integral Cut which keeps the unrated violence while also adding the deleted scenes making the movie longer, yet more organic since it combines both story and gore. The latter of which was how I first watched it. So as a warning for those who hasn't watched that cut yet, spoilers.
The movie opens in Switzerland, at the University of Zurich. Two cops and members of the faculty attempt to break into the lab of one Hans Gruber (No not that one.) and find young student, known only as Mr. West, standing over the poor doctor's body. Watching him spasm in pain and caught with only a syringe in his hands. The cops restrain him, as all witness poor Dr. Gruber, suffering the effects of whatever that student injected into him. Causing him to suffer immense pain before his eyes explode killing him. Mr. West remarks that the dosage was too large for Dr. Gruber. When one of the faculty members accuses him of murder, he retorts by saying "No I did not. I gave him life."
The movie then opens properly with a title sequence that made me realize that this was the same guy that made the Honey Series. An animated sequence of various diagrams on the human anatomy. Specifically heads with details of the Human Nervous System. The one thing that really threw me off guard was as you can hear for yourself:
Sound familiar? In case you don't know here's another example:
That's right. Richard Band by his own admission, ripped off the opening tune of Bernard Herman's famous soundtrack, for Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho. Now before you complain two things. One. He's not the first musician to do something like this. Wild Thing ripped off Louie Louie for example. Two. He has since tried to make up for it in the later sequels by fine tuning the theme so it'd sound different every time.
The movie opens proper at Miskatonic Univeristy in the town of Arkham Massachusetts. Both recurring locations for many of Lovecraft's work. We see a young medical student/hospital orderly named Daniel Cain played by Bruce Abbot, desperately trying and failing to save the life of an Obese woman who died of heart failure. Upon moving her corpse to the morgue, Dan witnesses another man testing a surgical laser on a cadaver. Dean Alan Halsey, played by Robert Sampson accidentally Startles Dan, while introducing him to the student we seen in the opening. The student? Herbert West. Whom somehow managed to evade the Swiss Authorities and decided to continue his schoolwork in Arkham. West is also introduced to the laser man, Dr. Carl Hill played by David Gale. While West was courteous to Halsey and indifferent to Dan (at first.), he is downright nasty to Gale. As he finds out, that Gale's patented theory on the location of the will of the brain, is derivative of Gruber's earlier work in the 1970s. So derivative that in Europe, it is legally considered plagiarism. He also mentions that Hill's theory on the 6 - 12 minute, window the brain lasts after death is outdated. To make sure this professional argument didn't devolve into a fist fight, Halsey plays peacekeeper. Inviting Hill to dinner while distracting West by giving him a tour of their Pathology department.
Meanwhile Dan Cain has his own problems. He seeks a roomate to keep up with the rent of his recent home, while trying to pop the question (Which isn't the only thing he popped.) to Meg Halsey, played by Barbara Crampton. Who is not only Dan's girlfriend, but Dean Halsey's daughter. Making said relationship complicated. After a night of fooling around, they stumble upon Herbert West at their door. Who has come to ask about the room for rent. While Meg is initially suspicious of him, Dan accepts after some pressure from West. Much of the scene isn't really different on all the cuts except for one thing. In this one, the sex scene was filmed more differently. By that I mean the post-coital conversation was a lot longer and in my opinion made it more believable that Dan and Meg were a couple that loved each other rather than two College Students fooling around. Making it all the more tragic for what comes next.
Herbert and Dan attend a class hosted by Hill, who teaches the students how to extract the human brain. Using a cadaver as the lesson subject. Things seem to go well at first until Hill talks about the very outdated and plagiarized concepts that earned West's ire. Prompting West to disrupt the class, by breaking pencils loudly in front of him to piss him off. An action that causes Hill to dismiss the class early in frustration. They come to blows again, before Hill controls himself, boasting that he'll enjoy failing West.
Later that night, Hill and Halsey attend the dinner, while Megan gets ready to visit Dan. In the theatrical cut, he merely warns Halsey about West living with Cain while giving a not so subtle toast to Meg. Implying that he wants her to himself. In the integral cut, which I have watched, he waits until both are out of the room and outright hypnotizes Halsey into believing that Dan is dating Meg for the letter of recommendation and that West is helping him. When I first heard that this was an H.P. Lovecraft movie, I thought it was bullshit, because bringing the dead back to life through mad science, seemed beneath him. It wasn't until I read an article, that H.P. himself admitted to ripping off Mary Shelly's Frankenstein and just making the story for money, that I was proven wrong. However, I do believe the out of nowhere ability Hill has to hypnotize people, fits right in making this horror movie very Lovecraft like. Something that was missing in the theatrical cut.
Meg and Dan struggle to maintain their relationship more than ever as they can't get intimate with each other. Meg's reasoning being that West makes her uncomfortable and suspicious of him. Mainly because, he spends most of his time alone in his room. Another reason because Dan's cat Rufus is terrified of West. That is when they realize, Rufus has been missing for quite a while and go around looking for him. Based on a hunch, Meg goes into West's room and discovers Rufus' corpse in his Mini-Fridge. Along with a flask full of glowing green liquid. West comes in scaring Meg, enraged that she violated his privacy, but when Dan finds the dead cat, he too questions him. While Meg insists that Herbert killed him, Herbert claims that the cat was already dead when he found it and he was gonna let Dan know after he got home from work. It's up to the viewer to decide whether or not he's lying as we see nothing that proves it one way or another. When Dan questions him about the flask, West dismisses it as none of Dan's business. Threatening to blackmail Dan about his affair with Meg. Now in the theatrical cut the scene stopped then and there, but in the cut I watched, Dan almost physically harmed West, before Meg persuades him off. Later stating that she'll do a background check on West so that they could have leverage against him. Later that night, Dan is awoken by a noise, coming from the basement. He stumbles upon West, fighting some kind of black furry monster. Dan kills it and finds out that said monster was actually Rufus his cat. West explains to him that his formula, which he calls Re-Agent, brought Rufus back to life. Dan disbelieves him at first, but West proves it to him, by bringing Rufus back to life a second time. Meg walks in on them, watching in horror. Dan tries to tell Meg what happened, but despite what she saw, she didn't believe him. However she does inform Dan that after the events of the opening, West was in psychiatric care for months. West defends himself by saying that he was trying to save Gruber. As he looked up to him. Dan vows to tell Halsey, but Halsey doesn't believe him. Now in the original cut, the scene simply moved from bringing Rufus back to life, Halsey disbelieving Dan, then Dan and West going to the morgue to prove it to Halsey. Making it seem like that he simply thought Dan was nuts. Here however, as a follow up to the other deleted scene, Halsey is still under hypnosis and at first was confronting Dan over what Hill told him. When Dan explained it, he suspended Dan and West from the university. Meg tries to reassure Dan, even agreeing to marry him, but West ruins the moment, by trying to persuade Dan to help him. Against Meg's protests, Dan informs West of his suspension and West immediately deduces that Hill influenced him. After a verbal tug of war between Meg and West, Dan agrees to help West. Causing Meg to warn Halsey.
Initially Dan suggests they just get a lab animal, but West fears that Halsey would dismiss it as an artificial stimulus response. So they head for the morgue with West posing as a corpse. Once they get past security, they search for the freshest body. West intending on the Re-Animate to have conscious reaction. They find one with no damage save for heart failure. Fun fact, this particular corpse is played by Peter Kent, Arnold Schwarzenegger's stunt double, both of whom were fresh off the success of The Terminator. They fail at first, while Halsey is pursuing them. However the body springs to life and goes on a rampage. At first it seemed like it worked, as he responded to West's demand to stop. However it wasn't enough to stop him from killing Dean Halsey, before West destroys him. Taking an opportunity to save their skins, West decides to bring Halsey back to life. Naturally it goes about as well as the last one, as Halsey immediately starts strangling the two, but as soon as Meg walks in, he cowers into the nearest corner, in fear of looking like a monster to his daughter. Halsey, you're not a monster, you simply look like an undead Archie Bunker. Not even kidding. West was able to cover for Dan and him by claiming that Halsey went nuts. Prompting Halsey to get committed, while West helps Dan cope with shock.
Now here's the part that has often been the most debated. With some claiming it helps flesh the movie out more and others hating that it ruined some ambiguity. This particular scene takes place not long after they leave the hospital. Herbert offers Dan a sandwich to cope with the shock, while he tries to make future plans. He considered Halsey's reaction to Meg as a success, as his reaction was conscious thought as opposed to Peter Kent's animal like response. However while they are in the clear for now, something seems to be wrong with West. Prompting him to go to his room. Dan, much to his further horrified reaction, sees that Herbert is shooting up. But it's not Heroin or Morphine or even the more dangerous Fentanyl. No. Even as bad as they are, they are normal compared to what he does inject himself with. His Re-Agent. Specifically a weaker version of it, which negates hunger and sleep, while keeping his brain sharp. At first Dan is reluctant to help him, but in a tearful display of emotion, West begs for it. Once it kicks in, he's back to his arrogant insane self. Now, Combs and Gordon hated this scene, because they felt that it'd be more terrifying that no one knows how Herbert became mad. However, that said I respectfully disagree. I offer a different take. When you get right down to it, Narcotics, despite being physically dangerous are not inherently responsible for one's behaviour. When in fact all they do is enhance the things that are inside you good and bad. In this case, West has already been nuts and the Re-Agent simply made it worse. However that's not the only reason, but I'll explain later.
Meanwhile, Meg has her father committed to Dr. Hill's care, who explains that he plans to do exploratory surgery on him to find out what made him crazy. All the while trying to put the moves and hypnosis on Meg. Only for a random act of violence from Alan that distracts her long enough to leave. When Hill investigates Alan up close he realizes that the injuries Alan sustained should have kept him dead. He then uses his surgical drill on Alan so that he could control him directly, through lobotomy.
Dan reveals the truth to Meg, but won't turn himself in until he can prove to the authorities that Alan is undead. First he and Meg infiltrate Hill's office. Dan discovers an obsessive collection of everything on Meg. Revealing his lecherous intentions for her. While both discover that Alan has been lobotomized. Hill invades Dan's house and confronts West. Using his hypnosis he was able to subdue West and force him to hand over his notes. Giving West the praise he wanted, while insulting his mentor Gruber. He also tries to suggest to West that Dan disappears. So that he can have Meg all to himself along with stealing credit from West. West distracts him with a test of the formula, prompting him to break out of Hill's hypnosis and brutally slaughter Hill by taking his head off with a shovel. Due to a peak in his curiosity, West decides to test the serum to see if it worked on parts of the human body rather than just a whole. Injecting Hill's headless corpse and later his head with the Re-Agent. West got what he wished for the hard way. A conscious reaction from Hill upon reawakening. His first words? "YOU BASTARD!!!" before the headless corpse knocks West out and steals his serum. When Dan comes home to inform him of what he discovered, he sees West in the middle of a breakdown. West reveals that he killed Hill and brought him back. Prompting Dan to shake him, telling him he has to stop. West justifies himself and said that he did it to protect them both. Revealing Hill's intentions with Dan. Dan realized what Hill was up to and they wait in hopes he's pissed off enough to want to come back to them.
Hill goes back to his office to retrieve fresh blood to sustain his head and to recover Alan so he can use him as muscle. He then infiltrates the morgue and starts lobotomizing every corpse in there before injecting Re-Agent in them. Dan realizes that Hill will come after Meg before coming after them and tries to go to warn her. Just when they are gonna reconcile, Alan busts in and drags Meg away, knocking out Dan. West finds him and they both head to the morgue to confront Hill.
Hill on the otherhand had much sinister intentions. Having Alan strap Meg to a table and strip her before doing what is now the most controversially iconic scene of the movie. Let's just say it's a whole new definition of giving head. However, before he could even reach, West interrupts. Distracting Hill so Dan could get Meg out. Hill however, has a plan of his own as he wakes up every one of his Re-Animates to attack all three. Restraining west so that he could lobotomize him and attacking Dan and Meg. Reasoning that if he kills Meg in the crossfire, he could always bring her back. However Meg was able to get through to Alan, who breaks his brainwashing, attacks the other Re-Animates going after Meg and saving West from Hill, by fighting his headless corpse and breaking the connection he has with his controlled Re-Animates, by crushing his head. Herbert, decides to finish the job with the corpse, by giving it an overdose. Hoping it'd die, like it killed Gruber. Instead, the corpse mutates, causing each individual organ to gain sentience. Including Hill's intestines which double as tentacles that ensnare West. Dan tries to save West, but his efforts are in vain. So West tosses Dan his bag full of Re-Agent and notes, hoping he'd continue where West left off. In their attempt to escape, one of the Re-animates strangles Meg. Dan disarms it, but it was too late. He rushes Meg to the emergency room and tries to lead the doctors in reviving her, but their efforts much like the first patient he tried to save, were for nothing. Meg Halsey is dead. They leave Dan alone with her to say his final goodbyes and after a few minutes of grieving, Dan takes out the Re-Agent. Hoping to bring her back. The movie fades to black as we hear her screams.
This movie had everything, horror, gore, humour. It even garnered praise from Siskel and Ebert, who rarely praises horror movies. The acting was superb. Not just Jeffery Combs being the subdued yet hammy Herbert West. David Gale had a sinister performance as Hill and a damn good evil laugh to boot. Bruce Abbot, was good at playing the doormat with a heart. He cares about Meg, cares about saving lives, but is easily convinced to help Herbert with his work. Then you have Barbara Crampton as Meg Halsey. Many people going in see her as nothing but T & A, but there was more to her than that. She was a kind, sensitive and an all around loving person. That said, there were a few character traits I began to notice. For starters, despite being college aged, she acts like a teenager. Throwing fits when she can't convince Dan or her father her side of things. Breaking down in almost baby like sadness when she hears about her father's demise. Not to mention damn near ready to rip West's head off when she believes he killed Rufus the cat. However that could just be part of the campiness of the movie. The other however, seems to be played more seriously. Whenever Hill complimented her, despite her trusting him as a friend of her father, she always had this look of unease on her face. As if she's been hearing that from him all his life. It's implied that Hill and Halsey were friends and Co-Workers since Meg was a child. Which means he at the very least was around when she grew up. While his lustful feelings for Meg were quite clear, I get the feeling he's been courting and possibly grooming her since childhood. All culminating in the infamous Head scene. If that was intentional then bravo Crampton.
The movie itself went off to make sequels as well as comic book tie-ins and crossovers featuring Combs' variation on West. Combs himself even narrated the audiobook version of Lovecraft's original story. With him as the unnamed Narrator that became Dan Cain in the movie. Giving a slight role reversal he experienced in From Beyond. Which I will get to soon. It launched the Careers of Gordon and Yuzna. The latter of which who directed the sequels "Bride of Re-Animator" and "Beyond Re-Animators" there used to be talks of a fourth movie, however they were put on the shelf after the unfortunate passing of Stuart Gordon. Whom sadly died 2 years ago this coming march. Not only did it allow him to create more movies of a Lovecraftian persuasion, from From Beyond to Dagon. It also gave him enough capital and reputation to fund and greenlight his other works. From "Dolls", a horror movie that became the pioneer for killer doll movies. To "Honey I Shrunk The Kids" a movie he made solely to tide his own kids over until they were old enough to watch his other works. To even lesser known movies like RobotJox. Which showed with the right practical effects, you could have your very own Gundam knock off and still be cool.
Re-Animator has become a cult classic for a good reason and I'm glad I was able to watch it. Until next time, be wary of those carrying glowstick fluid in their syringes. Cat dead, details later.
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