Re-animator (1985)
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A medical student's invention to re-animate the dead leads to a violent and gruesome nightmare.
The story
At the University of Zurich Institute of Medicine, Herbert West successfully re-animates his dead professor, though the results are horrific. Seeking to further his studies, West moves to Miskatonic University in Arkham, Massachusetts, where he rents a room from fellow student Daniel "Dan" Cain. West converts the basement into a laboratory and demonstrates his reagent on Dan's dead cat. However, after being barred from the school, West and Dan sneak into the morgue to test the reagent on a human subject to salvage their medical careers. The experiment goes awry when the corpse returns to life in a violent, zombie-like state, leading to a series of gruesome consequences.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
Herbert West, a medical student, successfully re-animates his dead professor in Switzerland before moving to Miskatonic University in Massachusetts. He shares his laboratory with classmate Dan Cain, demonstrating his reagent on Dan's cat. After being barred from the school, they sneak into a morgue to test the reagent on a human corpse. The corpse reanimates violently, killing Dr. Halsey and subsequently re-animating her. Dr. Carl Hill, a researcher, discovers the reanimation and attempts to blackmail West for the reagent. West kills Hill and re-animates his head and body separately. Hill's body, capable of telepathic control via laser lobotomy, enslaves other corpses to kidnap Dan's fiancée, Megan. During a violent confrontation in the morgue, West injects Hill's body with a lethal overdose, causing it to mutate into a monster. In the chaos, Dan and Megan escape, but Megan is eventually strangled by a reanimated corpse. In a final act of despair, Dan injects the deceased Megan with West's reagent as the scene fades to black.
- First release year
- 1985
- Runtime (minutes)
- 86
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English; German
- Directors
- Stuart Gordon
- Writers
- Dennis Paoli · screenplay; William J. Norris · screenplay; Stuart Gordon · screenplay
- Cast and characters
- Bruce Abbott · Daniel "Dan" Cain; Barbara Crampton · Megan Halsey; David Gale · Dr. Carl Hill; Robert Sampson · Dean Alan Halsey; Jeffrey Combs · Herbert West; Al Berry · Dr. Hans Gruber; Carolyn Purdy-Gordon · Dr. Harrod; Ian Patrick Williams · the Swiss Professor
- Genres
- science fiction; comedy; horror
- Themes
- resurrection; mad science; body horror
- Tone and mood
- horror; comedy; dark; surreal
- Premise and plot tags
- zombie; mad scientist; medical student; body horror
- Source material / true-story basis
- Herbert West–Reanimator by H. P. Lovecraft
- Franchise connections
- Re-Animator film series
- Content notes
- gore
- Reception
- The film was well received by critics, earning mostly positive reviews and becoming a cult classic. It was praised for its mix of humor and horror, and for its faithful adaptation of Lovecraft's work.
- Reported review scores
- Rotten Tomatoes · score: 88% · review count: 134; Metacritic · score: 73 · scale: 100 · review count: 14
- Awards and nominations
- First Prize · Paris Festival of Fantasy, Science Fiction, and Horror · win; Special Prize · Cannes Film Festival · win
- Production trivia
- The 'reanimating agent' used in the film was the chemiluminescent agent luminol.; The film was originally devised as a theatrical stage production and a television pilot before becoming a feature film.; The morgue set was based on the Cook County morgue.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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