Movie Review: H. P. Lovecraft's Re-animator (1985)

H. P. Lovecraft's Re-animator (1985) co-written and directed by Stuart Gordon

Medical student Herbert West (Jeffrey Combs) leaves his Switzerland school when his professor dies under mysterious and gory circumstances. He joins Miskatonic University's medical school in Massachusetts. He has the ambition and arrogance to start up his European experiments in reviving dead tissue with a reagent (glowing green goo) that he developed with the Swiss professor. West rooms with Dan Cain (Bruce Abbott) who is dating the daughter of the medical school dean. Cain finds out about West's experiments when the house cat dies and West brings it back to life. They are noticed by Doctor Carl Hill (David Gale), who wants to claim the reagent as his own invention. He has plenty of other nefarious ambitions. Things spiral out of control as they experiment on recently deceased human at the school morgue.

While the movie is based on a Lovecraft story, the execution is much more like the standard 1980s low-budget horror films that avoided getting an MPAA rating so they could max out the gore (like Dawn of the Dead or The Evil Dead). The gore is extreme, with many dead bodies (some naked) running around with parts burnt or hanging out. One major character is decapitated. Both the severed head and the headless body are revived and keep on going to the end of the movie. The story holds the scenes together but it goes only for gross outs rather than the moody Lovecraftian atmosphere and insanity. There's a bit of gratuitous female nudity and sexual abuse too. These cons aren't balanced out by intriguing or creative ideas or a humorous tone to take the edge off.

I found the movie very unenjoyable, though obviously others did and two sequels were made. I will not be watching them.

Not recommended.