You would think Re-Animator, another Lovecraft adaptation from director Stuart Gordon (Dagon), would be a hard movie to like. It is intensely gory and loaded to the gills with horribly disfigured naked zombies, cats being brought repeatedly in and out of life, and a severed head interacting with one young lady like something from a Cannibal Corpse album cover. To say it's politically incorrect is to way understate things. But if you're a horror fan and you have a sense of humor, you'll no doubt agree with me - it's just so danged fun!
When eager, idealistic Miskatonic University med student Dan Cain takes on a roommate in the brilliant but unhinged Herbert West, Dan's life becomes a wide-awake nightmare in a matter of days. He soon finds his cat dead, re-animated, re-killed, and re-re-animated. This is just the beginning of the downward spiral of horror that sees the revocation of his student loan, a fight with a super-strong zombie, his future father-in-law's death and re-animation as a mindless monster, mind-controlled zombies, and the awful discovery that West's serum works on body parts as well as whole bodies. It's an eye-popping, bone saw-whirring, head-squashing tarantella of death and un-death.
Smug, cruel, manipulative, and mean, the title character of Herbert West would be repugnant and unlikable if it weren't for the talents of lead actor Jeffrey Combs. He brings an intensity and enthusiasm to the character that makes him not only a palatable screen presence who drives the plot forward, but a delightfully devilish protagonist you can really root for despite the horrible things he does. The whole movie lives and dies (and lives again!) by Combs' performance, and he carries the movie easily.
If you are squeamish, subscribe to Cat Fancy, or can't take a joke, you should give this one a pass. If you like H.P Lovecraft's stories and think buckets of gore can be pretty funny, then Re-Animator is the movie for you. It is absolutely one of the best zombie movies of the 80s and among the funniest gross-out horror movies ever.
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