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RE-ANIMATOR

West soon figures this out for himself though, as he realizes that his regenerated test subjects are more than a little difficult to control once they're revived, violent and mindless as they are. And when West's dean is accidentally killedand subsequently re-animatedthe situation begins to spiral out of control very quickly for West and Dan Cain (Bruce Abbott), his straight-arrow roommate and de facto partner. Meanwhile, another professor, Dr. Hill (David Gale), learns of West's serum and decides to co-opt it for his own purposes, with fame and fortune in mind. But the tables are turned on Hill, and soon he becomes the latest, headless test subject for young West. A battle of witsand ghoulsensues as the single-minded West and the disembodied head of Hill vie for the re-animating agent, with Cain's comely young girlfriend (Barbara Crampton) stuck in the middle between the two competing madmen.

Out of all this, what you wind up with is a fun exercise in low budget horror moviemaking that is macabre despite its levity. Director Stuart Gordon's dependence on bloody effects and gross-out imagery is balanced by a humorous, wink of the eye style that went over well when the film was released in 1985. Re-Animator was Gordon's directing debut, but the cult success of the picture guaranteed him a following that would allow the filmmaker to further pursue similar fare for years, utilizing gory effects and twisted humor all the way. Like its brethren of the '80s (the Evil Dead films for example), Re-Animator and its ilk took the gravity out of horror and instilled in it a much-needed comedic spin that audiences couldn't (and still can't) get enough of.

This DVD reissue from Elite Entertainment is quite nice. With a digitally remastered transfer from a new 35mm print, the disc offers the widescreen "unrated edition" of the film along with Dolby Digital mono audio. Two audio commentaries are included, the first from Gordon and the second from producer Brian Yuzna along with cast members Combs, Robert Sampson, Crampton and Abbott. Both are quite good, with the latter offering some fun and laughs and the former providing more concrete "facts" about the film.

16 deleted scenes are also included, taken from the R-rated version of the movie. Originally meant to pad out the toned down version of Re-Animator, since it lost much of its running time when the gratuitous blood and nudity were cut, these scenes are interesting in that they help explain certain small plot points that are otherwise left up in the air in the unrated version. There's also a deleted dream sequence here that was cut because it was felt that it gave away the ending of the film too early in the proceedings (which it does). Other supplemental materials include trailers and TV spots.

H.P. Lovecraft has never really gotten his fair shake on film, and that might be because of the very nature of his work. A film like RE-ANIMATOR probably makes the author roll over in his grave, for it is about as far from his style and interests as you can get. Regardless, this film is the most successful of Lovecraft film adaptations, and it's also quite an entertaining movie at the same time. So while the connection to Lovecraft might be tenuous, that shouldn't keep horror fans from revisiting RE-ANIMATOR over and over again.