Just the Ticket #214: Re-Animator

Article by Sean Wilkinson,

Re-Ticketmaster.

Over the past two years of Just the Ticket's history, there have been many recurring elements to my reviews, like my sarcasm, the Jaws beach-closure joke, subtlety, and unorthodox cops. But the two that come to mind as we conclude Wester Week are H.P. Lovecraft and the moon. And by the moon, I mean Full Moon, and by Full Moon, I mean Charles Band, and by Charles Band, I mean your internal organs. Yes, I know Charles Band isn't Tom Cruise, but I had to go there because you really don't want Herbert West (or Tom Cruise) anywhere near your internal organs.

Given life a year after me, in 1985, Re-Animator is a loose adaptation of the "Plague-Dæmon" (if you count the first chapter recap as well), "Horror From the Shadows" (in part), and "Tomb-Legions" chapters of Lovecraft's original story, directed by Stuart Gordon (Honey, I Shrunk the Kids) based on a script he co-wrote with frequent collaborator Dennis Paoli and Re-Animator: The Musical scribe William J. Norris, with Full Moon composer Richard Band doing an uncredited "homage" to the Psycho theme and Jeffrey Combs getting an "and" credit as the title character like he's Godzilla in a Godzilla movie.

Here, Miskatonic is a teaching hospital where the established Herbert West enrolls after studying under (and failing to Re-Animate) Dr. Hans Gruber in Sweden.

His assistant is named Dan Cain in this version (not to be confused with Dean Cain, and played by Bruce Abbott, The Last Starfighter), has a compelling reason to attach himself to West (emotional investment in the survival of patients), and is romantically involved with Megan Halsey (Barbara Crampton, From Beyond), daughter of Miskatonic's Dean Alan Halsey (Robert Sampson, City Of the Living Dead). If you couldn't tell, Dan and Megan were likely merged into one character for Zenescope's telling, which I reviewed on Wednesday.

We also get an original character here in creepy rival Dr. Carl Hill (David Gale, The Guyver), who fills the same role Dr. Stein did in the Zenescope comics but takes a rather non-consensual, abrupt, and otherwise wrong turn at Albuquerque in the third act when the adaptation of Mr. Two Titles Eric Pretentious Hyphenate-Lee's Re-Animation kicks in, and the film adds the mechanic that he can psychically control any undead who have been lobotomized of their free will, making Hill not just an evil, snooty sex pest because Full Moon movie (back when they were Empire Pictures), but a terrifyingly cerebral threat to our heroes (and Dr. Herbert West).

Re-Animator suffers from the same pacing issues as any short story being adapted to feature length (and any horror production operating on a budget): boring padding and nearly extraneous characters that drag the beginning of the film down so the cool stuff can be saved for the end. Thankfully, Jeffrey Combs' mannerisms and line delivery are like an enjoyably awkward blend of Christopher Walken, Bruce Campbell, and Vincent Price, and he has the chops to capture every aspect of West's psychological journey in his performance. And as for that "cool stuff," the makeup and practical body horror effects are a load of campy fun and well worth the hour of collegiate drama and predictable zombie jumpscares I had to endure leading up to them.

B+

I went back and forth about whether or not to review the sequels here, and because I spent most of my days off doing yard labor that left me dead tired (puns!), I decided to cut them for time (puns?) and my own sanity because it's more important that I catch up on Re:ZER0 for Monday. There are a few sequels I planned to review this year before I decided to make Goj-Year-ra a thing, so I think I'll push Bride Of Re-Animator and Beyond Re-Animator to next year and make a sequel-itis theme of it.

Until AniMonday, please Stay Tuned and remember to Become A Ticketholder if you haven't already, leave a comment at the bottom of this post and any others you have opinions about, help out my ad revenue as you read so I can cheat death with my online presence, and follow me on BlueSky, Tumblr, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube, and LinkedIn to like what you see and receive the latest news on my content.

75

Re-Ticketmaster,

Out.