Re-Animator (1985)

Hard to believe that this is my first time on this blog reviewing a film based on literature I'd read beforehand. Specifically, "Herbert West--Reanimator" was one of about eight H.P. Lovecraft short stories that I tried. Like most, it did very little for me. I was left to wonder why people called it comical. It turns out that neither Lovecraft nor contemporary critics were at all fond of that one, so I get the impression that "fans" just like to mock it.

After a little-discussed incident in Switzerland, med student Herbert transfers to Miskatonic University in Arkham, MA. He moves into the house of slightly more focal student Dan, who frequently wheels bodies to the morgue. After Dan stumbles on Herbert's progress at bringing dead animals back to life, he gingerly agrees to help in some less ethical efforts to try it on humans, despite what Dan's girlfriend, Megan, would say.

Sound like Frankenstein to you? Well, these corpses aren't mixed and matched. For the most part, Herbert wants them as close to healthy as possible before he begins. (Come to think of it, there is something a little humorous about that notion.) The difficulty is twofold: in measuring just the right dosage of serum to awaken people but not kill them again, and in acting soon enough that their new existence doesn't agonize them to the point of immediate violent insanity. These zombies aren't cannibals, but they are at least as formidable as physically healthy maniacs.

While I don't remember the original story very well, I could tell that that movie deviates quite a bit from it. The first sign is its setting in the '80s, not the '20s. It even has a main villain whom Lovecraft never wrote: Dr. Hill, a professor hostile to Herbert, not least because the latter implicates him in plagiarism. (Appropriately, he and the arguable graverobbers aren't the only thieves around here: The score is a blatant Psycho ripoff.)

If the zombie gore doesn't turn you away, know that it's not the only reason for the R rating. Indeed, R-A started with an X, and not for the brief sex scene between Dan and Megan. You see, Dr. Hill also has eyes for Megan, even after his own hideous fate. Never mind Hellraiser's Frank-type courtship; what happens to her is depicted a bit more graphically than what happens to Sheila in Army of Darkness.

Does the movie ever get funny? Just barely. I can appreciate Herbert's cold, calculating demeanor as part of his overall geekiness. I could picture someone chuckling at the morgue guard both cracking wise and having no idea what's going on. The revived cat looks unconvincingly cheap. And a moving beheaded man, even while relatively "together" by zombie standards, provides slapstick. It helps a little that most of the characters (including the cat) who die in the course of the story, as opposed to being already dead, are hard to like. Only at some late points does it take a decidedly tragic turn -- and exciting, if you choose to see it that way.

I can't count myself part of the R-A cult, any more than I can count myself a Lovecraft fan. I guess it improves on the story overall, if only because I kinda cared about it. It packs some punch as a splatter fest. But I can think of better recommendations to introduce someone to the horror pioneer.