Rent Re-Animator (1985)

Mad Science, Messy Fun - Re-Animator review by griggs

Some films make you laugh when you probably shouldn’t, and Re-Animator is proudly one of them. Stuart Gordon’s cult splatterfest is 1980s as shoulder pads—a lurid blend of horror, humour, and headless hysteria. The story of medical students who can’t stop playing god is simple enough, but the tone veers between mad science and gory slapstick with gleeful abandon.

There’s plenty of gore but not much real violence, which somehow makes it easier to grin through the carnage. The acting is serviceable at best, overcooked at worst, yet it fits the film’s cheerfully deranged energy.

A Stop Making Sense poster makes a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo—a neat touch of era-appropriate cool. Re-Animator isn’t great art, but it’s gloriously self-aware: a B-movie that knows exactly what kind of monster it’s made of.

Discover this - Re-Animator review by CP Customer

Re-animator is one of those rare films that prospered on video and laserdisc, slowly gaining appreciation through word of mouth. The cast seem to have a great time with the outrageous script (inspired by H.P. Lovecraft), plentiful gore and strange predicaments they find themselves in. It is far from art, but unlike most of the video nasties it sat alongside, there is a real charm and persistent strand of humour here. The censors and director, reigning in the boundaries of taste when it overstepped the mark, have cut the film at times to ribbons. Whatever version you find, it is clear this fast paced film is above average horror fare, with solid performances and some solid effects.