Director: Stuart Gordon
Screenplay: Dennis Paoli, William J. Norris and Stuart Gordon
Starring: Jeffrey Combs, Barbara Crampton, Bruce Gale and David Gale
Country: United States
Running Time: 86 min (unrated) 105 min (Integral Cut)
Year: 1985
Last year, I had the pleasure of checking out one of Stuart Gordon’s horror classics From Beyond for this site. It was a first time watch and I was blown away, as I typically am when it comes to Gordon’s work. It was a gooey, Lovecraftian blast, not too dissimilar to the film that originally put him on the radar of most horror aficionados – Re-Animator. I feel like when it comes to Re-Animator, it’s like discussing Dawn of the Dead, The Evil Dead or most other horror films from the 80s. Everybody knows it, everybody (for the most part) loves it and rightfully so (there’s no contrarian takes from me today, don’t worry).
The film, for those who haven’t seen it, follows Herbert West, a mad medical student who believes that he can re-animate the dead. Initially starting with animals before moving on to human corpses, West is one of the most charismatic nutcases in horror history. Played to perfection by cult icon Jeffrey Combs, West is one of those protagonists that you can’t help but love, even when he’s being a lunatic. Alongside West, we have his classmate and landlord Dan Cain, played by Bruce Abbott, the antagonistic doctor Carl Hill (David Gale) and Cain’s girlfriend, Megan Halsey, played by scream queen Barbara Crampton.
Every cast member in Re-Animator gets their time to shine, thanks to the excellent direction of Stuart Gordon, who began his career in the theatre. His direction of the actors embodies this theatrical, over-the-top and at times, camp approach to horror that few other filmmakers were pulling off effectively at the time. The screenplay is golden too, with countless quotable lines of dialogue (“Cat dead, details later” is a personal favourite) that fans have come to adore over the years.
When it comes to the horror aspects, the film delivers in spades. There’s plenty of jaw-dropping and gooey practical effects that you’d expect from Gordon and his producer Brian Yuzna, who’d go on to direct one of the gooier movies of all time, Society, alongside the next two Re-Animator films. It’s one of those films that was released at the perfect time. Evil Dead 2 would take the world by storm two years later, but for my money, Re-Animator is just as deserving of the acclaim when it comes to great horror-comedies.
It’s a classic for a reason. If you’re in the mood for 87 minutes of Lovecraftian horror, with a comedic twist, there’s no better place to look than Re-Animator. It’s one of my favourite horror films from the 80s and seeing it make its UK 4K UHD debut has made me extremely happy. If you haven’t seen this before, check it out!
Film: 
Re-Animator released on 15th December via Second Sight Films in both standalone 4K UHD and Blu-ray releases, alongside a Limited Edition dual format release. I viewed the UHD and it looks fantastic. The older Blu-ray releases of Re-Animator looked good, but never this good. Image clarity is phenomenal, the Dolby Vision HDR grade makes the colours pop and it’s a worthy upgrade over those older releases. Audio wise, there’s three tracks, all DTS-HD MA options in 5.1, 2.0 and mono variants. I tested them all out and think the 2.0 track sounded the best, but the 5.1 and mono tracks are great options too. It’s a great A/V presentation, which should be no surprise given Second Sight’s excellent track record. The following extras are included:
New 4k restoration approved by Producer Brian Yuzna
UHD Presented in HDR with Dolby Vision
Dual format 3 disc edition including 1 UHD and 2 Blu-rays with main feature and bonus features on both discs
Includes the Integral Version in HD
New Audio Commentary by Eddie Falvey
Audio Commentary with Director Stuart Gordon
Audio Commentary with Producer Brian Yuzna and Actors Bruce Abbott, Jeffrey Combs, Barbara Crampton and Robert Sampson
The Cosmic Horror of HP Lovecraft: a video essay by Mike Muncer
Re-Animator at 40: conversation with Actors Jeffrey Combs and Barbara Crampton, and Producer Brian Yuzna
Piece By Piece: Cutting Re-Animator: an interview with Editor Lee Percy
Suzie Sorority and The Good College Boy: an interview with Actor Carolyn Purdy-Gordon
The Horror of it All: The Legacy and Impact of Re-Animator
Barbara Crampton in Conversation
A Guide to Lovecraftian Cinema
Re-Animator Resurrectus
Interview with Director Stuart Gordon and Producer Brian Yuzna
Interview with Writer Dennis Paoli
Interview with Composer Richard Band
Interview with former Fangoria Editor Tony Timpone
Extended Scenes
Deleted Scene
Theatrical Trailer
TV Spots
Still Gallery
Limited Edition Contents
Rigid slipcase with new artwork by Krishna Shenoi
120-page book with new essays by Sean Abley, Becky Darke, Lindsay Hallam, Josh Hurtado, Michelle Kisner, Justin LaLiberty, Phil Nobile Jr and Heather Wixson
6 collectors’ art cards
An alternate cut of the film, known as the Integral Version is included as an extra, although it’s only available in HD. This version runs around twenty minutes longer than the unrated cut, and features sequences of dialogue that were exclusive to the R-rated version of the film (which at the time of release, was missing much of the gore and violence). It’s a fascinating watch, although it runs a tad longer than it needs to. Still, it’s great to see this version ported over from the previous Second Sight Blu-ray, and this time, with English subtitles!
Second Sight’s release includes three audio commentaries, two archival tracks featuring the cast and crew and a new track from Eddie Falvey. The new track is a good analytical listen, with Falvey clearly knowing his stuff when it comes to Re-Animator, Stuart Gordon and the history of horror in film. It’s packed full of factoids about the production and if you’re after a treasure trove of information about the film, it’s an essential listen. The second track, with director Stuart Gordon is decent too, although it’s a little dry for my taste. Gordon discusses how he made the film after a friend convinced him to make a horror picture, as they were cheap to produce and the easiest to get financed. Finally, the ensemble track with Brian Yuzna, Bruce Abbott, Jeffrey Combs, Barbara Crampton and Robert Sampson is a great time. The group are clearly having a blast revisiting the film and almost riffing over it. It’s the least serious track of the bunch but might actually be my favourite. The best thing about this assortment of commentaries is how varied it is. There’s an academic piece, a director’s track diving into the production and the producer and cast goofing off for 90 minutes. What more could you ask for?
The Cosmic Horror of HP Lovecraft is a brand new video essay by Mike Muncer, running for 9 minutes and featuring Muncer diving into the film adaptations of Lovecraft, primarily with the Gordon-directed adaptations Re-Animator and From Beyond. It’s an enjoyable essay.
Re-Animator at 40 is a brand new conversation with Jeffrey Combs, Barbara Crampton and Brian Yuzna reflecting on the film 40 years later. It runs for 45 minutes and similar to the audio commentary, it’s an enthusiastic, entertaining piece where the group recount their time making Re-Animator, the legacy of the film and the impact that it had on their careers.
Piece By Piece: Cutting Re-Animator is a brand new 15 minute interview with Re-Animator’s editor Lee Percy. In this fun piece, Percy chats about his time editing the film, his admiration for director Stuart Gordon, Yuzna’s contributions to the edit and more. A great interview.
Suzie Sorority and The Good College Boy is a brand new 14 minute interview with Carolyn Purdy-Gordon, Stuart Gordon’s wife who worked with him on many of his productions. She has a role in the film as Dr. Harrod and in the interview, she discusses how she met Stuart, starting out as phone pals. It’s a delightful little interview that’s worth your time.
The Horror of it All: The Legacy and Impact of Re-Animator is a fun new 18 minute piece with Mick Garris, Joe Lynch, Rob Savage, Nicolas McCarthy and Mike Mendez discussing their love for Re-Animator, the impact that it had on them as filmmakers, discovering the film through Fangoria, television and radio advertisements. One of my favourite newly commissioned extras on the release.
Barbara Crampton in Conversation is an archival discussion, running for 35 minutes with Alan Jones and Barbara Crampton, discussing her legacy as a horror scream queen, offering an overview on her work in film and of course, her work with Stuart Gordon. It’s a fun, laid back piece that offers a great look at Crampton’s career.
A Guide to Lovecraftian Cinema is a 54 minute piece with Chris Lackey diving into the world of Lovecraft film adaptations. A solid companion piece to Mike Muncer’s video essay on this release, it offers a lengthy overview of Lovecraft adaptations, from The Haunted Palace to Re-Animator and From Beyond.
Re-Animator Resurrectus is a great archival documentary that’s been included on most home media releases of the film since 2007. Running for 69 minutes, it features interviews with every main player and there’s a treasure trove of information about the film’s production, anecdotes about the shoot and much more here. It’s a documentary that I’ve watched a handful of times over the years and can easily recommend it to anybody who’s a fan of the film.
A series of four archival interviews are included, the first with the film’s director Stuart Gordon and producer Brian Yuzna, the second with writer Dennis Paoli, the third with composer Richard Band and the fourth with former Fangoria editor Tony Timpone. The first three were filmed in 2002, while the Timpone interview is from 2000. The Gordon and Yuzna interview is the lengthiest of the bunch, running for 49 minutes and featuring the pair recalling their working relationship, their time making Re-Animator and more. It’s a great interview that feels like two friends catching up. The Paoli interview runs for 11 minutes and dives into his contributions to the screenplay. It’s a tad dry, but it’s worth a watch if you’re a die hard fan. The Band interview, running for 15 minutes highlights Band’s initial reactions to the film, the notorious controversy about Re-Animator’s theme sounding eerily similar to Hitchcock’s Psycho and more in this fun interview. The Timpone interview runs for 4 minutes and features him gushing over the film for a few minutes. It’s nice to hear the perspective of a horror fan, although the interview’s a little too brief to offer anything super substantial, outside of how Fangoria promoted the film around the time of its release.
23 minutes of extended scenes are included, as well as a three minute deleted scene.
2 and a half minutes of TV spots are also included, alongside a still gallery with over 100 pages.
Second Sight Films provide Stuart Gordon’s outrageous horror-comedy classic with a fantastic 4K release, packed with enough extras to keep you busy for hours. The new transfer is gorgeous, the physical goodies look enticing and any fans of Lovecraft adaptations, the work of Stuart Gordon or 80s horror comedies should be pleased by this excellent release.
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