A savagely funny mix of humor and horror, Re-Animator is quintessential viewing for any tried and true genre fan.

Based on the series of stories Herbert West: Re-Animator from the mind of author H.P. Lovecraft, the movie follows young medical student Dan Cain (Bruce abbot) as he rents a room to Miskatonic University's newest young star Herbert West (Jeffrey Combs, in a career making turn.) Cain has no idea that West has but one goal in mind - to test a chemical he has developed (which he calls re-agent) on the human dead. The purpose? To bring them back to life!

There are zombie films and then there's this movie. Reanimator has the most original, twisted, violently crazed pack of bloodthirsty ghouls ever put to film. Once the horror starts, it builds into a frenzy, until the two heroes are completely overwhelmed by undead chaos and carnage.

Bruce Abbot is really convincing as Dan Cain, a good hearted young man who finds himself smack in the middle of the clusterfuck of all time. Barbara Crampton is equally engaging ( and easy on the eyes) as Cain's love interest and the late David Gale is spot-on as egotistical scientist Dr. Carl Hill, proving once and for all that you don't have to have a good head on your shoulders to be a great movie villian.

But the standout is Jeffrey Combs, who was still a relative unknown upon the release of this film and who achieved much deserved cult status after. Combs' doggedly cold and clinical pursuit of perfection in his experiments is the driving force of the film, the demented soul of Reanimator which propels it from being just a really great horror opus and into classic status. Every delivery, every mannerism Combs demonstrates in this film is exactly as it should be. Here, ladies and gentlemen, is a young man who actually becomes his character.

That said, blood flows freely and there is gore to spare in the unrated edition of this off the wall splatterfest. From the myriad zombie effects to malevolent intestinal tracts, Re-Animator paints the walls red, and does so with a wink and a smile.

Stuart Gordon was the director responsible for bringing Re-Animator to the big screen. He went on to successfully adapt the Lovecraft inspired films Dagon and Castle Freak, thus earning him my personal designation as the Speilberg of low budget horror. Reanimator is the film which clearly illustrates that Gordon is a force to be reckoned with behind the camera, and it is an absolute must-own for any horror fan.

Ten out of ten times Barbara Cramtpon had me wishing I was a decapitated head.

Re-Animator is one of those movies that instantly claims a high rung in the splatter movie hall of fame. An instant classic the moment it hit the rental shelves, gorehounds at the time waited like rabid pit bulls that had a steak dangled just out of reach of their snarling mandibles. Luckily I had an "in" at my local video store, and had the clerk set a copy aside for me.

This horror gem from the mind of H.P. Lovecraft, and brought to us on screen by Brian Yuzna and Stewart Gordon breathed a new life into the horror genre and hasn't met its match since as far as I'm concerned. This movie had everything, nudity, amazing gore effects, some humor, and a really cool story.

Jeffrey Combs plays Herbert West, an ingenious medical student who enrolls at Miskatonic University after the mysterious death of his mentor, Dr. Hans Gruber during and experiment while working on a revolutionary re-animating serum.

West wastes no time in making enemies by discrediting his professor, Dr Carl Hill by accusing him of plagiarizing Dr. Gruber's work. West then finds himself in the University's morgue with plenty of willing corpses to experiment on. Hilarity ensues as West tries to re-animate anything that DOESN'T have a pulse.

Filled with totally creative manglings, dismemberments, impalings, splatterings, and a total re-defining of the term, "getting some head!" If you haven't seen this movie yet, put on your loincloth, grab your club, crawl out from under that rock and go BUY it, this movie deserves much more than an overnight rental. Extremely recommended!!!

10 out of 10 vials of glowing green serum

Re-Animator is a wonderful film. Whilst that is in itself a full review of a film this good, here are the reasons it's such a staple in any horror fan's collection.

Firstly, it's the finest adaptation of any of Lovecraft's works (with the possible exception of Dagon). Even though it is hardly true to the actual tone of the story, it is surprisingly faithful to Lovecraft's vision. Considering the humour of the film, it's also surprisingly gory, with several scenes (West being attacked by an undead cat, for example) being both hilarious and grotesque. Not many films can manage this successfully. The gore is usually too excessive in such sequences. But Re-Animator, mainly thanks to the brilliant team of Producer Brian Yuzna and Director Stuart Gordon, gets it right.

The film is primarily set either in Miskatonic State University or the home of Herbert West. He and his reluctant partner Dan (the much under-rated Bruce Abbott) set about bringing the dead back to life and find slight success every time. Herbert's belief that fresh corpses make the best subject eventually leads him to re-animate the evil Dr. Carl Hill, who goes on to wreak a terrible revenge that allows Re-Animator one of the most gruesome finales in horror movie history.

Everything, from the opening scenes of a man's eyes exploding, to the oddly downbeat ending, tells any viewer this is an instant classic. Re-Animator proves that you don't need a huge budget to have great FX, horror can be funny and still be horror, sex and graphic violence DO make films good, and Jeffrey Combs is possibly the finest character actor of all time. 10 out 0f 10.