Re-Animator (1985)

“I gave him life!”

Re-Animator is a Frankenstein x Lovecraftian horror movie about a very motivated medical student who’s a little too obsessed with death (or life???). It’s gorey, it’s creepy, it’s goofy, it’s a little gay — everything you need in a campy, classic Halloween movie! Re-Animator is the reason we have horror icons like actors Barbara Crampton and Jeffery Combs (who plays the titular Herbert West), as well as writer-director Stuart Gordon, who passed away in early 2020. The final act is deliciously revolting and sleezy, and the crew used 24 gallons of fake blood to create the final sequence.

This was Gordon’s first feature film, though he’d been writing and directing plays in Wisconsin for 15+ years, earning himself a reputation as a controversial storyteller. His initial idea was to adapt H.P. Lovecraft’s short story “Herbert West — Reanimator” into a play but the story shifted into a TV series, then eventually to a feature film, since there wasn’t much of a market (yet) for horror tv shows. He had a modest budget of roughly $1M, which made creating all the necessary special effects a challenge for VFX supervisor Bret Culpepper.

Re-Animator always impresses me in its second half, where everyone’s theatre skills really get to shine. The way everything just goes completely off the rails is a disgusting surprise, and the blood soaked finale is sure to stick with you. There is no other mad scientist quite like Herbert West.