Suggested Viewing
from
Jim's Real Detroit Column
7/29/99
In 1985, the horror genre had been turned into a formula factory, where the main products were rehashes of successful horror franchises. Jason was already making his 5th appearance, there were countless attempts at the Halloween-style slasher, and clones of George Romero’s Living Dead zombies were being dug up all over. Luckily, that same year marked the emergence of director Stuart Gordon and his over-the-top reworking of H. P. Lovecraft’s serial novella, Herbert West---Reanimator.
Gordon’s background was in theatre (Chicago’s Organic Theatre, whose alumni include Joe Mantegna), where he directed works such as David Mamet’s Sexual Perversity in Chicago and the famous Warp trilogy. When one watches Re-Animator, Gordon’s theatrical roots are very evident. The film’s feeling of intimacy--derived from its stagnant lighting and exaggerated performances--combined with its abundant use of low-tech splatter effects, make for an on-screen experience that is as close as can be to the Grand Guignol.
Re-Animator tells the story of med student Herbert West (played to perfection by Jeffrey Combs), who, like any self-respecting mad scientist, is obsessed with bringing the dead back to life. As an experiment, he tries out his re-animating formula on a dead cat in the basement, and remarks to his roommate, “Don’t expect it to tango, it has a broken back.” Unfortunately, the cat becomes extremely violent, so to refine his experiment, West decides that he must have “fresher meat.” Enter Dr. Hill (Robert Sampson), who tries to steal both the formula and credit for inventing it, and as a result, winds up losing his head. When West re-animates Dr. Hill (his freshest subject yet), one dead thing leads to another, and a thoroughly exciting splatterfest ensues.
If there is a flaw to be found in Re-Animator, it has to be Richard Band’s music, which is the most blatant rip-off of Bernard Hermann’s score for Psycho that I can think of. Gordon credits co-writer Dennis Paoli for coming up with the notorious “head” scene (unrated version only), arguably the most incredible--and depraved--visual pun ever filmed. It’s hard to believe that the man responsible for Re-Animator also wrote the script for Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. He continued to develop family films for Disney, but has returned to the horror genre by making such films as 1995's Castle Freak.
Archives
Comments or Questions?
Send Jim an E-mail