Repertory Screening • 40th Anniversary! New 4K Restoration!

Actor Barbara Crampton in Person, Moderated by Michael Gingold

Stuart Gordon’s Re-Animator was not exactly an instant classic upon its release in 1985, but the first time I saw it at the ripe old age of 13, I knew I had seen something special. Yes, the film is over-the-top, gory, and puerile by my own admission, however, these things are features, not bugs. It’s easy to imagine director Gordon and producer Brian Yuzna cackling to themselves over what they could get away with. While Re-Animator’s cult credentials came to the film over time, only the truly demented denizens of psychotronic cinema were the early adopters of a movie that would come to shape the horror-comedy genre as we know it today.

Taking its narrative from one of H.P. Lovecraft’s lesser-loved works, we are introduced to Dr. Herbert West as he is attacked by the re-animated corpse of his mentor Dr. Hans Gruber (no relation). We meet up with West sometime later here in the Bay State, having matriculated to Miskatonic University in the famous fictional town of Arkham. He shacks up with down-and-out med student Dan Cain and his girlfriend Megan, who is the daughter of the Miskatonic Dean. Things devolve from there relatively quickly, packing a whole lot of violence and humor into a tight 86-minute runtime.

It’s hard to parse out who the MVP of this picture is. The acting is perfect. Jeffrey Combs, Barbara Crampton, Bruce Abbott, and David Gale all understand the assignment. Their line deliveries are played straight and sincere despite the increasingly ridiculous dialogue. Gordon directs with a deft hand, and cinematographer Mac Ahlberg’s camera fluidly captures the escalating insanity created by VFX creator John Naulin’s severed heads and buckets of blood. As Re-Animator hurtles toward its deranged crescendo, we are treated to a scene of sexual assault so tasteless, shocking, and outrageous, that it has only become more controversial as the years go on. True testament to the tired cliché, “They just don’t make them like this anymore.”

– Kevin Monahan

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