This is beyond Re-Animator.
Many fans of the series considered this the worst of the trilogy. However I am not one of those fans. If anything this one is my favourite of the series minus the first movie. Jeffery Combs once again returns as our lovable mad scientist Dr. Herbert West. The only downside which I will say early is the rest of the cast from Bride never returned. Unfortunately David Gale died in 1991 of complications of open heart surgery. This was just after playing the role of Fulton Barcus in the American B Adaptation of the hit Manga series Guyver. Which Combs cameoed in as a parody of his famous role, Dr. East. Let's just say Dr. East had about the same record as West, only his game was making Zoanoids instead of undead individuals. West would have been very disappointment in his parody working with what is essentially Guyver's version of Carl Hill. Bruce Abbot, who played Daniel Cain didn't appear as well, because he was busy with his film and television career and Fabiana Undenio was unavailable for the same reason. So needless to say there isn't gonna be a major follow up on what happened to Dan and Francesca, but hey, they got out, that's a happy ending all it's own.
The movie starts with yet another cold opening. Around an hour or so after the events of Bride. Two kids not too far from West and Cain's house near the Christ Church Cemetery in Arkham were spooking each other with ghost stories. One of which is a young Howard Phillips. For those that don't know Howard Phillips is also H.P. Lovecraft's first two names. So a nice nod to the guy. They go into the kitchen and find themselves surprised by Emily Howard's sister, however an unseen figure is scene stalking around the house with a particular interest in the carton of milk, that Emily left behind earlier. As the siblings and friend were horsing around the figure reveals itself as one of West's leftovers. A man with a missing jaw. In a panic Emily attacks the abomination, which causes it to kill her. Then proceed to steal the carton so he can drink it himself. In a way it's kinda sad for him too. Guy comes back to life, doesn't want money, revenge or anything others would kill for, other than the simplest of life's pleasures as a nice refreshing glass of milk. Oh and Howard's crying over his dead sister, begging her to come back. Anywho, the cops come storming in, presumably either called by Cain or hearing of noise complaints, they gun down the poor monster and take Howard out of the house so he doesn't witness further carnage. Howard then sees the titular Dr. West. Who again somehow survived an impossible situation, only to be arrested. In the fumble of things a syringe of his Re-Agent had been dropped near Howard. Who promptly confiscates it.Which of course cues the theme song:
This version along with the overall score was made by Xavier Capellas. Which has some similarity to the Richard Band Version. Band's score also returns at some points as well. This was a source of contention for many fans because it felt too serious and not campy enough for a B movie horror comedy series based on a short story horror comedy H.P. only did for money. I say fuck you, it's a good theme in it's own right and to me it gives me the impression that West has some new tricks up his sleeve. Not to mention a kickass remix made in it's name:
The movie starts proper 13 years after the events of Bride. Herbert West is in Arkham Prison (Not that Arkham, though he could give Joker and Scarecrow a run for their money. Fun fact. Combs played Scarecrow in The New Batman Adventures.). Judging by his larger build, he seemed to take the time to workout in the prison gym. Makes sense, since he doesn't have the luxury of melee weapons or his pistol to defend himself from his fellow inmates, so why not bulk up. Not to mention for once going on a proper diet as can be in prison conditions. That Re-Agent he injects himself with no longer in his system.
Just recently West had captured a rat and through a system jury rigged through the prison lights, he extracts what appears to be electrical energy from the rodent. He hides his contraband from the guard Sergeant Moncho. The thing I like about Moncho is that he seems to vary in intelligence. There are times when he is very sharp and quick witted. However there are other times when he gets stuck on a word like "Dubious". He shows up to give West order papers, informing him that he has a job in the medical wing of the prison. Afterwards Moncho breaks up a scuffle between two inmates. Moses, a known cannibal, overtly religiously remorseful for his crimes, despite his inability to stop himself. As well as Cabrera Rubio. An aggressive Latin American inmate, with a fondness of rodents. His beef is that his pet rat, named Ratty has gone missing and he thinks Moses ate him. Moncho however taunts Cabrera, inferring that West may have killed the rat. Putting West on Cabrera's shit list.
Meanwhile Howard Phillips, all grown up and now a medical doctor, has applied for a job in the prison. His reason, being that he can improve on institutional medicine. He is taken on a tour of the prison, before he meets Brando. The Warden of the group. A man who rules the prison with an iron fist and a lust for beautiful women. One of which, a reporter named Laura Oliney. Whom both Howard and Brando are attracted to. Brando questions why Howard would want West of all people as his assistant, warning him that his radical ideas can corrupt and infect those around him. However before questions can be answered, an emergency occurs. Moses suffers a heart attack and Howard tries to help him, Moses in his delirium thinks Howard is a priest and tries to confess his sins. Even with West's help, he couldn't save Moses so he orders the staff out. Leaving him and West alone. Howard then reveals his true intentions. He confesses to West, that he witnessed his arrest and followed his work for years. Telling him about the Re-Animate that killed Emily. Pleading him to let him help continue his research. He also gives West back the serum he left behind 13 years ago as an incentive. West despite noting that the serum may have destabilized and deteriorated all the years, tests the serum on Moses and it doesn't work at first. However, Moses springs back to life. Howard and West try to restrain him, but the guards arrive to help. Prompting Moses to revert to his cannibal ways and attack them, before Brando subdues him with fear. West then reveals that Dan turned states evidence against him. Expecting Howard to do better. He gives Howard the supplies needed to make more Re-Agent and Howard strikes up a romance with Laura. At home, he talks to her about West's work and his sister's death, even saying that Laura reminds her of Emily. Aww....wait a minute....actually eww.....eh. Don't get me wrong, Incest creeps the fuck out of me, but compared to what I've seen in Dagon, this is tame. Anywho, talks about West, prompt Laura to drop her initial story on the prison and focus it more on West's exploits.
A montage ensues where Herbert and Howard prepare to make more formula, using the medical centre's basement as their lab. All the while Laura is finding more about West. The montage ends with yet another sex scene making it three for three in total. It would have been a Hat Trick if Dan was the one doing it. No not that way. Howard was mainly boning Laura and Laura's questioning him about West in hopes it improves her story. After some hilarious banter between Howard and the prison druggie, Speedball, Laura returns to the prison. All while West is being threatened by Cabrera and Speedball over the whereabouts of Ratty. West later informs Howard that today's the day to test the newly made Re-Agent. It is then and there that West reveals his new tricks. He did kill Ratty, but the rat he captured earlier was merely a test rat for the newest addition to his project. During the 13 years in prison, West was trying to figure out a way to bring rationality back to even the most decayed of subjects. Which he just figured out. He found that all human beings have a bio-electricty within them called NPE. Nano-Plasmic Energy. Which is located in the brain and once extracted could theoretically make the Re-Animates less crazy.
All this kinda sounds far-fetched even in a Yuzna film. What do you think S.T.?
S.T.: Well it may seem ridiculous on the surface, but there are a few factors. For starters, the theory that started this whole franchise, was neither originated by Herbert West, H.P. Lovecraft, Stuart Gordon, Brian Yuzna, or Mary Shelly. It was actually even mentioned in the original story. The theory itself was originated by Ernst Haeckel. He was most famous for promoting and popularizing Darwin's work. This specific theory was that all life is a physical and chemical process. So if one were to recharge said process, then you have Re-Animation. While I cannot explain how the Re-Agent works...yet, I can however explain this one. An extension of said theory involves what is known as the Human Chemical Composition. In which for centuries, scientists tried to find out what chemicals make up a human being.
S.T.: According to this chart, 99 percent of the body is comprised of the elements of Oxygen, Hydrogen, Carbon and Nitrogen. The other elements such as Potassium, Sulphur, Sodium, Chlorine and Magnesium only make up for about 0.85 Percent. Meaning that despite having the greatest minds over the past centuries figure it out up until now, they only managed to figure out 99.85 Percent of the human body. There is still 0.05 percent left to figure out. Most people believe the missing part is the soul. Myself I'm not to sure, but I believe it is actually the electrical energy that keeps us alive. On average a healthy human being can theoretically generate 100 watts of electricity at rest and 300 - 400 watts when active. Enough to power a single light-bulb. So on top of proving this one I've accidentally proved the existence of Fester Addams.
How does this pertain to the NPE? Well going back to the soul theory. If that missing 0.05 percent is our natural electricity expiring after death. Now this was back when computers were just showing us what more they can do. Which includes computer accessories. Specifically the Flash Drive.
Now when you take away the coding, the factory manufacturing details and all the complicated shit that goes into these things then what do you get. Basically data stored on a device that requires electricity to run it.
Now if that's not amazing enough, back then you'd only be able to store a few Megabytes of Data on those things. Nowadays, 1 small stick can store up to 1 Terabyte of Data. That is 1000 gigabytes. Enough to have an entire library, media centre, hell, even if you're good enough your computer OS and all could be put on this thing. Of course you're still wondering "WHAT THE FUCK DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH NPE!?" I'm just getting to that.
Since despite it being extracted from a big brain, the NPE and the container it's stored in, is a small as the average Flash Drive. Small enough that that 0.05 percent being our bio-electricty may probably be fact if one can extract it. However if it's anything like how West did it, it's best not to try unless you can bring yourself to kill a person. However until Straight Up gets to it, I won't explain further yet.
Straight Up: I see....on with the review.
To test this, Herbert and Howard use Cabrera's Rat Ratty, whom West did kill as well as a donor rat as test subjects. After Re-Animating Ratty, they use the donor rat's NPE to restore rational behaviour in the rat. Just when Cabrera is about to shank West, West gives him Ratty back. Prompting him to call it off in thanks. Things seem to work out well so far. However, Cabrera notices some bizarre changes of his beloved pet. After sweet talking Brando and bribing Moncho, Laura manages to get in Moses' private cell so she can find out what West did to him. Unfortunately before he could say anything, Brando comes in, pissed off at being fooled. Moses in a fit of mania bites off Brando's ear, prompting him to beat him to death with his cane. When he realizes he did it while Laura witnessed, he humiliates her by making her bark like a dog, then strangles her to death so that she doesn't talk. As West and Howard argue the ethics of putting Ratty's NPE into Moses, to restore what sanity he had left, Moncho arrives with Laura's body, claiming that Moses killed Laura and the Warden killed him in self defence ordering Howard to make Death Certificates to boot. Naturally seeing the corpse of a woman whom he earlier mentioned reminded him of his dead sister, put Howard in total devastation. West in a bid to get a new test subject and "help" Howard, hands him the Re-Agent to bring her back to life. Surprisingly unlike the other Re-Animates she didn't attack them upon awakening. Instead, she merely relived the last moments of her life. However she still wasn't stable enough, so West again offers to test the NPE out on her, but Howard is against it. Believing that transferring what he believes is the Soul, of a rat to a human might complicate matters. However before they could settle things, the Warden arrives with his ear in a bag. They hide Laura and the Warden finds the two in the basement lab. When he discovers the Re-Agent, he threatens both West and Howard over it. However he gets distracted, by seeing the now re-animated Laura, whom he killed earlier. Her look of fear, is more than enough to paint a picture of what really happened. West knocks Brando out with the Microscope. While all this is happening, Moncho and the guards search Moses' cell to find him gone. Cabrera tries to re-introduce Ratty to the cell, only for Moses to try to eat the rat. A fight ensues between the two, prompting Moncho to come in and break it up only for Moses to spit Ratty into his direction. Biting his face and eventually going down his pants. Once out, Moncho tries to kill Ratty, only for Cabrera to beat him and steal his keys. As Moses fights off the other guards, Cabrera finds the main switch to the prison cells and a full scale riot begins. When he tries to kiss Ratty to celebrate, Ratty goes into a moodswing and bites Cabrera. Realizing, that West may have messed with Ratty some way, he is out for blood once again.
Using a full scale version of the device he used on both rats before, West hooks up the still alive Brando into it. He explains that in order for this to work, he has to be alive upon extraction and dead so that the NPE can only be directed into the containers he uses to store it. He specifically says he is gonna use 2000 volts of electricity to do it. Since S.T. and I don't know and are afraid to know if this could happen in real life I'm not gonna have him explain that part. With one exception.
S.T.: The closest you can get to finding out about that is probably the most tragic. Stay by a dying loved one and pay close attention to their ECG machine. ECG detects electric pulses generated by the heart. If it can't detect any pulses, (Flatline), then the heart is no longer producing the kinetic energy that generates the bio-electrical energy that requires us to live. If the brain is both the battery and the computer of our bodies, the heart is our power plant. It's why unlike the rats earlier, West put an extra connector into the warden's hand. He was extracting both the pulse energy in the heart, using the pulse point and the remaining charge inside the brain. Which once the heart stops has 6 to 12 minutes to live.
Anywho, they extract the NPE and after some reluctance, Howard and Herbert generate it into Laura's body. It seems to work at first as she barely remembers even being dead. However before they could explain what happened, something changes. Her body moves in inhuman ways, as if something else is controlling her from within. She gets into a mood swing and to top it off, starts to sound like Warden Brando, with both sides fighting for control. She runs off, with West and Howard giving chase only for them to be cornered by Cabrera and an inmate friend of his, who initially wanted West's head, but upon seeing Laura, is interested in her instead. Before he can do anything though, the warden side kicks in again and slaps Cabrera prompting him to give chase with Howard following behind. However the remaining guards pull him out of the main wing and try to seal off he area, despite his protests regarding Laura. Cabrera and his friend corner Laura, but before they could get in her pants, she decides to go inside them a better way. The Warden side kicks in and in a frenzy she kills them both. Cutting Cabrera in half with his own knife.
Meanwhile West, tries to make his own escape. As he packs his notes, Re-Agent and tools, he finds Ratty's NPE. You can tell ideas are turning just from looking at it. He brings Brando back to life, both out of revenge, but also to do what he wanted to do before. After watching what happened when Brando's NPE also somehow transferred his consciousness to Laura, West thinks if he gives Brando Ratty's NPE, he'll become more Rat like. He puts Ratty's NPE into the Warden and leaves him for the rioters to find him. Ok S.T. Explain.
S.T.: Well like I mentioned before with the Flash Drives. If it's possible to put data. Which is essentially nothing, into a piece of plastic and metal that requires electricity to preserve and store said data, then any form of data through any electrical current would do the same thing. Take the NPE for example. On top of the raw electrical energy extracted, pieces of Warden Brando's personality may have also been downloaded onto it too. Albeit accidentally.
As more cops converge onto the escalating prison riot, Howard uses the opening the SWAT Team uses to get back into the prison to find Laura. Speedball and another inmate, start raiding the dispensery for every drug they could get their hands on. Brando gets free and knocks West out. Brando steals his bag and goes to the dispensery. Reasserting his authority on Speedball's friend. Moncho, who had just recovered from his earlier beating, isn't spared either as Brando beats him to death and brings him to life as undead muscle. An action that Speedball witnesses. Because Speedball has no idea what the hell The Re-Agent is, he sees it as his coveted ultimate high. Laura regains herself, realizing what she did, as Brando's consciousness takes more control over her. West regains consciousness himself and discovers his serum is stolen. Brando finds Laura and somehow knows his NPE is in her, since he seems to switch between lusting after her and stroking his own vanity. Not missing an opportunity, he takes her to the execution chamber so he could literally go fuck himself. All while boasting his plans to use the Re-Agent to pro-long inmate's prison sentences. Executing them, then bringing them back to life so he can torture them again. Turning his prison into the closest thing to Hell a science fiction movie could ever come up with prior to Doctor Who's "The Satan Pit". However much like Laura he has trouble controlling the foreign NPE in his body. Acting more rat like. While they are distracted, Speedball steals two syringes of the Re-Agent. Now in the extended version of the first movie, it has been shown that the Re-Agent has been used as a medicinal/recreational drug before. West himself created a weak solution that would forgo hunger and fatigue and keep his brain sharp. However if you're like anyone that seen this movie when it came out, you haven't seen that scene yet. So to the mainstream audience, this would be the first time you seen someone living use the Re-Agent as a drug. At full power to boot. Needless to say, Speedball enjoyed every moment of his first dose. But due to it causing his body to go out of control, he's having trouble using the second one.
As the Swat Team starts to regain control of the prison, Nurse Vanessa finds Moses. Who attacks and strips her at first, but then mistakenly thinks that she is the Virgin Mary, once again begging for forgiveness. Vanessa in both a smart and dumb move, plays into his delusion and tries to forgive him, hoping it would calm him down, but he instead bites her tit while she's still topless. Howard finds Herbert and when he explains Laura's behaviour, Herbert admits he theorized that it could happen. Howard confronts him over this and West offers a chance to help save Laura, also revealing he brought Warden Brando back to life. That they are most likely in the execution room. As they give chase, the SWAT Team arrives in time to save Vanessa from Moses. After one last fit of cannibalism and religious ecstasy, Moses is mercifully gunned down.
As West and Howard get closer to finding them, The Warden advances on Laura forcing her to kneel down. Naturally Laura's reluctant, while the Warden side seems into it at first. However rather than get the vain blowjob he wanted, Laura briefly changed her name to Lorena Bobbit. Biting his Dick clean off and spitting it in the direction of the Re-Animated Ratty who seems to just spend the rest of his screen time playing with it for dark comedy. Upon hearing Laura scream Howard grabs a knife and rushes off to save her. West on the other-hand is now being challenged by the resurrected bisected Cabrera. Whom despite being killed by Laura and ressurected by Brando, still has killing West on the brain. Despite being half the man he used to be, Cabrera puts up a decent fight, but West overpowers him and knocks him out. Using him as a human hammer throw after.
Why Herbert West didn't try out for the Olympics is a mystery to me, but if they were to check his piss for steroids, the first thing the testers would say is "WHAT THE FUCK!? WHY IS IT GREEN AND GLOWING!!?"
All the while Speedball is still struggling to use the second dose.
Dude, this stuff is like the Covid Vaccine, you really shouldn't take
two at once. What makes it funnier is that he has multiple tourniquets
on each limb. Both to hold him still and find a vein to use. Gotta admire his determination. Howard finds Laura and she pleads for Howard to get the Warden's NPE out of her, for it seems like the Warden has begun to fully dominate her body. She takes the Warden's cane, knocks out the Warden, who at this point is on all fours and acting more like a rat than a human. A handicap match between a doctor and his split persona'd lover begins. West catches Speedball with the Re-Agent, but Speedball keeps it away from him. Thinking that West is the ultimate Drug Maker and has been holding out on him the whole time. West tries to warn him away, but he manages to inject himself again. Only instead of the high he was looking for, much like one's first shot of Heroin, his next dose made things worse. By exploding every part of his body. Leaving him a skeleton and hollow husk of skin covering him up. Yet even then, he wants more of it, before asking for other drugs. In a rare turn of events, West tells him he's had enough and just steals his eyeball on the way to the execution room. Laura/Warden Brando, continues to fight Howard, with Laura begging him to just get it over with and kill her. The Warden joins in on it, taunting him that he can't do it. West looks for TheWarden/Ratty, with Cabrera in hot pursuit. He finds the Warden and they fight, with West demanding his bag back. He finds it, but Cabrera surprise attacks him. Prompting West to finish him off for good, with a cane beating. However the Warden's Ratty instincts kick in, prompting Brando to attack West, but West manages to fight him off and place him in the electric chair. Both West and Howard kill their foes at the same time. With West throwing the switch and Howard cutting Laura's head off. When West comes across him, Howard is broken at having to see his lover die twice, that he doesn't care what it takes, he wants her back. West steals his I.D. Tag, but in a bit of pity, gives Howard a syringe for the Re-Agent. He later uses the card to pose as Howard, stealing a corpse so he can make a getaway as a doctor taking a patient to ER. He passes by Moncho, who seemed to have finally figured out what "Dubious" means.
The movie ends when Swat team makes it to the execution room and finds poor Howard cradling Laura's head. Having completely lost his mind. Saying that he gave her life. It was as if Herbert had fully corrupted him into insanity. However what really takes the cake, is in his mania he not only asks Laura's head to tell them he saved her, but switches back between calling her Laura and Emily. Just as the Swat team was about to restrain him, Laura's head comes back to life and they both share an insane laugh. All while West leaves the prison a free man, throwing Speedball's eye away so he doesn't see where he's going. However the Eye seems to move on it's own and look anyway. The last scene we see, is mid credits. A battle between Ratty and Warden Brando's Dick. The latter not only coming back to life, but gaining the upperhand and chasing Ratty off.
After watching this movie I had no idea why people hate it among the three. I think it was a decent balance of horror and comedy. Combs slays is as always playing West. While Howard's actor Jason Barry, has had moments of overracting, he is a decent actor and compared to Combs, his Overracting is acting. With that said, Barry has more hits than misses in his career that this would stain him. For starters, before Beyond Re-Animator, he gained promience as poor Tommy Ryan, a friend of Jack Dawson's that got shot on Titanc. As well as an IRA member in Sons of Anarchy. Surprised he didn't use the time on that show to try to get Stephen King's number. Laura was the definition of Lovecraftian tragedy even if this movie has nothing to do with the man himself save for Herbert West. Elsa Pataky, who plays her, had to juggle between playing her own character and her physical acting as the Warden personality too and for a B movie, she did a great job on that. You may know her now as Hobbs partner Elena Neves, in the Fast in The Furious movies. Simon Andreu does a brilliant job as Warden Brando. Balancing the sadistic authorative side as well as the hidden darkness and lust. Plus I don't know how much of it was make up and how much of it was his physical acting, but he does make a convincing rat in a human's body. From what I've read about him, the man was doing movies since way before Combs was even born. So it's interesting to see how a veteran actor matches wits with one that at the time has just achieved Veteran actor status, yet makes up for it in just how insanely dedicated he is to his work. Fun fact. Before this movie, Simon was also in another franchise. 007 Die Another Day, the last Bond film to ever feature Pierce Brosnan as the title character. So that's two franchises he may have witnessed an end to.
The effects even nowadays still workout well. Save for a few CGI moments with the NPE, most of the effects were practical. Yes, including the dick.
As for the overall story, as part of a trilogy, it does make a good conclusion. It doesn't fall back on the older movies, by having him conveniently die again like the last two. It shows that West did have some development. Being able to fight his battles by himself directly without needing aid or the element of surprise. Not to mention, he seems to try to sort out some of his flaws. Before, he seldom restrained the Re-Animates. Now he knows better and not only tries to provide better restraints but also sedatives. And while his NPE experiment needs some kinks to work out, he is one step closer to achieving his main goal. Defeating Death. Yet it's left on a note that asks us whether or not he'll succeed or create another frenzy. Not only that, but while Lovecraft is no slouch, nor did he really have any care for his story other than making a quick buck at the time, Yuzna and Gordon before him, have enough care for their version of the story, that they were actively looking for ways to expand on the lore, the character and his methods. All while providing over the top gore and comedy we know and love.
Now before Gordon died, there was talks about a fourth movie. Originally this was gonna be the sequel, but later became a concept, which was originally gonna be called "House of Re-Animator". Long story short, West and Cain were recruited by The White House, to bring a recently deceased president back to life. Needless to say, I think it would have been similar to the other movies, but political jokes galore. Gordon also seemed to have caught on to that and originally it was meant to be against the George W. Bush administration, he scrapped it, when Bush was out and an opportunity wasted. Not helped by the fact that Stuart Gordon passed away around the same year Donald Trump was voted out. So that makes two missed opportunities. Still hopefully Combs, Yuzna and others interested may make something to give the character a proper sendoff. The closest we have is a 6 part miniseries dedication to the Gordon/Yuzna/Lovecraft series, called "The Resonator". The title and main story based off From Beyond, but adds elements of the other movies to it. Band pretty much did what Gordon dreamed and Richard Stanley failed to do so far, create a Lovecraft universe. Granted it's from a B company, but hey close enough.
Stay safe and be careful. Dead isn't always dead.
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