bride of re-animator

bride of re-animator picks up the story of herbert west eight months after the events shown in the first film (which i reviewed here). west and fellow medical student dan cain have fled the country and are helping out as volunteers in a south american civil war, which gives west the perfect cover to continue testing his reanimating serum. when cain is injured they decide to return home in the hope that the heat from the miskatonic university massacre has died down, but they soon discover that the full consequences of that adventure are still to come.

producer of the first film, brian yuzna, takes directing duties on the sequel and there is a noticeable shift in tone and focus. yuzna, of course, is no stranger to directing bizarre movies and made the insane and squelchy horror film society in the same year he made this film. while the effects in re-animator were wonderfully excessive and suitably disgusting, here they are taken to a new level with added weirdness as west becomes obsessed with joining random body parts together. yuzna clearly loves this element of the film and makes the most of it, particularly in the finale.

jeffrey combs is as awesome here as he was in the first film. it seems odd to describe any performance as understated in such a flamboyant film but combs delivers his lines with a subtlety that actually adds a contrasting layer of reality to the story. all the genuinely funny moments in the script come from combs too, mostly because of the perfect timing of his deadpan delivery.

the focus on the bizarre effects does take a toll on the story, which doesn't feel as focused as that of the previous film. west wants to continue his experiments and needs cain's help, so in order to get his friend on board he offers to resurrect cain's ex-girlfriend, megan halsey (barbara crampton's character in the first film), using her heart and body parts from other corpses. this is where things become a bit complicated story-wise, because of course it's not really about the bride of re-animator but in fact the bride of his friend and sometime assistant. in fact, you could argue that the title is completely misleading because the bride isn't going to be cain's lover at all, it's a child. stick with me on this...

there are three key factors that have lead me to this conclusion. first of all, from the moment west tenderly helps a wounded cain to his feet in the opening sequence it becomes clear that this is most definitely a bromance. the film doesn't give us any solid reason for west to need cain's help. in the first film west is presented as being completely asexual, and while the same could be true here, he expresses definite frustration in the scene where he hears cain having sex in the room above as he works. he also disfigures the dog belonging to cain's girlfriend and shows her the results in a clear attempt at driving her away. when you put all this together it seems obvious that west only wants cain around because he's in love with him,

secondly, cain doesn't care about megan all that much, certainly not enough to risk jail to bring her back from the dead. cain has two female love interests in this film, which suggests he's not all that torn up over the death of his ex. west's plan to get cain onside by resurrecting also megan seems like a typical closeted movie homosexual subplot - gay guy convinces straight guy to like him by offering access to the woman he's in love with. however, the fact that cain doesn't seem too bothered by megan's return and yet helps west anyway suggests that perhaps cain also has feelings for his friend.

finally, there is a strong sense of west and cain being social outcasts because of west's experiments, and west mentions a few times that they have to act in secret because no one will understand what they are trying to do. two men experimenting in secret in a basement because they feel 1989 society at large will not understand them if they come out. that's why i think the bride is more representative of a child, because it's a story of two men finding a non-biological method of human reproduction.

if you follow that reading of the film there's actually a really touching moment when west is about to inject his serum into the bride and cain takes the syringe from him so he can do it himself. it's the first time cain injects the serum into anyone so it's a huge moment and west clearly feels it. there's probably a deeper reading involving serum and penetration, but i think you get the general idea.

whether you're with me on the above or not, bride of re-animator is a really imaginative film with an amazing and subtle central performance from jeffrey combs. it is also worth seeing for the special effects, particularly as it shows off some of the early work of effects giants k.n.b. and maverick genius screaming mad george. the film looks great on blu-ray and there are some great special features including a fascinating interview with yuzna and three commentaries.

arrow films release bride of re-animator on dual format blu-ray and dvd on monday 11th april

re-animator

based on the short stories by h.p. lovecraft, re-animator follows a brilliant medical student, herbert west (jeffrey combs), who has discovered a way to bring the dead back to life. west finds the perfect accomplice in fellow student dan cain (bruce abbott) but things soon spiral out of control when the two of them decide to perfect west's serum via the use of increasingly more ambitious test subjects.

i have always been a little bit in love with jeffrey combs. he's such a striking presence onscreen, particularly in this film, and he manages to make west seem intelligent and brilliant simply from the expression on his face and the way he moves. at the same time, he portrays west like an alien, curious about human behaviour but not understanding it himself. i always thought he would make a great sherlock holmes. it's a fantastic, understated performance and one of the finest in horror movie history. in a way it's a shame that the film isn't really about herbert west.

this is a story about dan cain and his frustration with the limits of human capability, as well as his girlfriend, megan (barbara crampton) who acts as his conscience. it's kind of like dr. frankenstein has been split into three people, west, cain and megan, but really it's cain's story. he's the character who goes from someone who has a problem to stepping into a strange new world with herbert west, and in the end we see exactly how it has changed him.

re-animator also works as a kind of splatter slap-stick comedy. in the making-of documentary on the blu-ray director stuart gordon and producer brian yuzna both talk about how the opening scene was added later to set the tone of the film and it really works. the gore is so over-the-top it's hilarious, but still manages to be disgusting at the same time. there's some great physical humour from the actors too, particularly in the scene in which west and cain are trying to catch a re-animated cat. the final sequence is a wonderful mix of extreme gore and chaotic silliness that strikes the balance between horror and comedy just right. there are also some more subtle jokes, like the fact that cain has a huge 'stop making sense' poster above his bed and later has to contend with a villainous talking head.

for a film from 1985 re-animator still holds up and for me the only part that is really dated is the rather uncomfortable sexual assault in the final scenes in the movie. gordon and yuzna set out to push boundaries and the fact that they did so is party why the film remains so fondly remembered today, but that one scene is pretty distasteful, not because of what we're watching but because it's played for laughs. it's hard to imagine that it would be approached in the same way today, and part of what makes it stand out so badly is that the rest of the film gets the tone so right.

i've owned several versions of re-animator over the years, but the blu-ray is definitely worth picking up. the film looks better than it ever has, plus as well as the unrated version there's the 'integral' cut of the film which includes all the deleted scenes. to be honest, as with most deleted scenes they were clearly cut for good reason, but it is interesting to see the full cut of the film with these scenes included. overall, this is a fantastic release of a horror classic that for the most part improves with age.

second sight released re-animator on blu-ray on 14 march 2016.