Re-Animator released October 18, 1985

Re-Animator is a 1985 science fiction horror film directed by Stuart Gordon and based on the H. P. Lovecraft story “Herbert West: Reanimator” and first of the Re-Animator series. It stars Jeffrey Combs as Herbert West, a medical student who transfers from a school in Switzerland to the medical school of Miskatonic University to continue developing a formula to revive the dead. His testing of the agent leads to unintended consequences for West and his new roommate, Dan Cain. The movie has since become a cult film, driven by fans of Combs, extreme gore, and successful combination of horror and comedy.

Tagline:  H.P. Lovecraft’s classic tale of horror

Trivia:

• Cameo: [James Cameron's father] The man sitting next to Meg with his jaw bandaged up is James Cameron’s father.
• The first man who is re-animated at the morgue (who goes on to kill the dean) is Arnold Schwarzenegger’s body double.
• Very loosely adapted from H.P. Lovecraft’s “Herbert West – Re-Animator”.
• Stuart Gordon and Dennis Paoli originally intended to be faithful to H.P. Lovecraft’s story, but the film ultimately has little in common with the story, which was intended to be a parody of “Frankenstein”.
• The special effects department went through 25 gallons of fake blood during the shoot.
• The “brains” in the severed head were made up of steer meat by-products, ground beef and fake blood and when they shot the scene in the autopsy room with the severed head being thrown out the door and then smashing onto the hallway wall, the crew were all behind the cameras with garbage bags over their clothes because no one knew just how much the brains would splatter.
• A poster for the Talking Heads documentary Stop Making Sense (1984) is visible above Dan’s bed.
• The bald, bearded doctor at the foot of Megan’s bed who gets shoved away as Dan tries to revive her is underground cartoonist Kim Deitch (“The Boulevard of Broken Dreams”), son of legendary Jazz-era cartoonist Gene Deitch (“The Cat”).
• David Gale was made to shave his head and wear a toupee, as this was found to be in keeping with Dr. Hill’s character.
• Director Trademark: [Stuart Gordon] [shovel] A shovel is used as a weapon.
• The opening theme borrows heavily from the Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho (1960) opening theme by Bernard Herrmann.

Filed under: GoreMaster 100 Films

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