RE-ANIMATOR (1985)
Limited Edition 3-Disc 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray
Label: Second Sight Films
Region Code: Region-Free (4K Ultra HD), B (Blu-ray)
Rating: Cert. 18
Duration: 86 Minutes 3 Seconds (Theatrical), 104 Minutes 55 Seconds (Integral Version)
Audio: English PCM 1.0 Mono, DTS-HD MA Stereo and 5.1 Surround with Optional English Subtitles (Theatrical), English DTS-HD MA 5.1 Surround with Optional English Subtitles (Integral Version)
Video: Dolby Vision HDR10 2160p Ultra HD Widescreen (1.85:1), 1080p H Widescreen (1.85:1) (Theatrical), 1080p HD Widescreen (1.78:1) (Integral Version)
Director: Stuart Gordon
Cast: Jeffrey Combs, Bruce Abbott, Barbara Crampton, David Gale
Very few movies have scarred and formed my cinematic-mind the way Stuart Gordon's Re-Animator (1985) did with it's dark alchemy of horror, black humor and weird perversions, which my parents rented for me on VHS when I was far too young to be seeing it! The movie opens with a terrific pre-credit sequence by which we are introduced to the character of Herbert West (Jeffrey Combs, From Beyond) a bespectacled medical student at the Zurich University Institute of Medicine in Switzerland, where he's been studying with his mentor, Dr. Hans Gruber (Al Berry, Halloween III), whom died suddenly from reasons unknown. We are thrown directly into the fray as West injects Gruber's corpse with a strange, glowing-green liquid, which has miraculous properties that re-animate the dead man, but not without some truly grotesque consequences. The university staff and security break into the lab after hearing an awful commotion inside, witnessing the grotesque resurrection in shock and horror. It's great stuff and it's only a small taste of what's to come, there's plenty more exquisite 80's gore and madcap horror on tap!
Somehow West is not prosecuted for crimes against natural law following the events in Zurich and ends up in back in the U.S. in New England at Miskatonic University, where he studies under Dr. Carl Hill (David Gale, Rituals). The student-professor relationship is strained to say the least, made worse when West accuses Hill of poaching Dr. Gruber's theories of brain death very directly in front of the class. Shortly after West is introduced to promising medical student Dan Cain (Bruce Abbott, Bad Dreams) and the two become housemates, even though Cain's girlfriend, the daughter of the school's Dean, Megan (Barbara Crampton, From Beyond), is creeped out by the deeply weird West. She just might be onto something, too, for it's not long before before Dan awakens to the unearthly shrieking of his cat - following the sounds of the tormented cat-shrieking to West's basement laboratory, where he finds the dismembered feline newly resurrected and ravenous. In this scene Combs sells the rather corny stuffed feline prop as a menacing clawed demon-cat, it's great schlocky stuff, and a testament to Combs heightened acting style in this flick. While Dan's unnerved by the ghastly affair West wins him over with the miraculous glowing-green re-agent fluid, as it has already been established that Dan's has a deep-seated need to save lives, and he joins in on West's mad quest for life after death, leading to more death and tragedy.
Jeffrey Combs' turn as the mad-scientist is a performance for the ages, he's playing it for the cheap seat in the back, it;s very heightened, but it's perfect for this flick. His is nemesis Dr. Hill is just as fantastic, he's camping it up like a hammer mad-scientist on steroids, too. Hill manages to turn the school's Dean Halsey (Robert Sampson, Robot Jox), against West and Cain, using an under explained form of mind-control he displays from time to time, he loathes West and is a total perv for Dan's girl Megan. In the aftermath West and Cain are barred from the med-school, but that doesn't stop them from breaking into the morgue and administering re-agent on cadavers which not so unexpectedly goes horribly wrong, resulting in the death of the Dean. West doesn't skip a beat and takes advantage of the freshest corpse in the room, injecting the Dean with the re-agent who becomes a brainless zombie, he ends up committed to the psychiatric ward under the watch of Dr. Hill who connects the bizarre incident to West's research into brain-death. When confronted by Hill in his laboratory West responds by decapitating the professor with a shovel, still incapable of curbing his macabre curiosity he uses his re-agent to resuscitate his disembodied head, causing even more problems.
Turns out that Hill can telepathically control his headless body which knocks the distracted West unconscious, stealing the re-agent and then kidnapping Megan to perform a bizarre act of disembodied cunnilingus - one of cinema's most-tastelessly glorious moments in my opinion, its a real howler. We get loads of gore effects, a gorgeous face-peel, a brain exposed after having the skull removed, oodles of intestines, a decapitated head and a dismembered cat that gets it's brains smashed against the wall - those seeking the grotesque shall not be disappointed by Re-Animator - it holds up quite nicely, and has a pitch black streak of red humor that I adore.
This film is a true masterwork of horror cinema loaded with macabre atmosphere, blood-soaked gore and delicious black humor - it really stands the test of time, and if you are not familiar with the works of the sadly gone-too-soon Stuart Gordon do yourself a favor and remedy that right quick, the man is a twisted genius of horror cinema, and is still somewhat under appreciated in my estimation.
Audio/Video: The theatrical cut of Re-Animator arrives on 4K UHD and Blu-ray from Second Sight Films in 2160p Ultra HD Widescreen (1.85:1) with Dolby Vision HD10, sourced from a new 4K scan and restoration, approved by producer Brian Yuzna. This is the same 4K master used by Ignite Films their U.S. 4K UHD, and I would say that the images are identical. It looks terrific, offering a more stable and refined image, better resolved grain structures than the previous 2017 Arrow Blu-ray release, which had a green-lean to the color-timing that is not present here. Textures and finer details in close-ups are pleasing, throughout, and depth and clarity are noticeably superior with the 4K resolution. The Dolby Vision/HDR10 upgrade offers deeper, more nuanced black levels with superior shadow detail, and colors are freshened up with the WCG color-grade, skin tones looks both warmer on the living and the make-up effects of the dead and resurrected are more dialed-in, it's a significant upgrade, and the greenish hue that was pervasive in the Arrow release is not present here, offering crisper whites and truer looking colors throughout. Of course, the glowing green re-animation serum looks terrific, it's eerie iridescence has never looked better on home video, the same can be said for the red highlights of blood and gore. The accompanying region B locked Blu-rays offer both the Theatrical and longer 108-min Integral Cut of the film in 1080p HD widescreen, the Integral Cut framed in 1.78:1, which does not appear to be be sourced from the same 4K new restoration as the Theatrical cut, which is framed in 1.85:1, and looks to my eyes to be the version on the previous Arrow Blu-ray.
The Theatrical cut on UHD and Blu-ray gets three audio options, we get English PCM 1.0 Mono, and both DTS-HD MA 2.0 Stereo and 5.1 surround with optional English subtitles. All three tracks are clean and well-balanced, dialogue sounds terrific and Charles Band's tasty Psycho-copping score thrills, the uncompressed tracks each have their strengths, though i will say I prefer both the mono and stereo tracks, over the surround track, with the stereo track offering the most direct and robust experience for me, but it's great to have options. The sole audio option on the Integral Cut is DTS-HD MA 5.1 with optional English subtitles.
This release is well-stocked with archival and new extras, some of which appeared on the Ignite Films 4K UHD, and some of which are exclusive to the Second Sight release. Among these we have the 15-min Re-Animator at 40: A Conversation with Jeffrey Combs, Barbara Crampton, and Brian Yuzna, the 15-min Piece By Piece: Cutting Re-Animator – A New Interview with Editor Lee Percy, the 18-min The Horror of It All: The Legacy and Impact of Re-Animator, a talking heads appreciation featuring Mick Garris, Joe Lynch, Mike Mendez and other, plus the 14-min Suzie Sorority and the Good College Boy: An Interview with Carolyn Purdy-Gordon. Both the 10-min The Cosmic Horror of HP Lovecraft: Video Essay by Mike Muncer and the Audio Commentary with Eddie Falvey look to be Second Sight exclusives.
Archival extras include Interviews with producer Brian Yuzna and director Stuart Gordon, actress Barbara Crampton, screenwriter Dennis Paoloi, composer Richard Band, Fangoria Editor Tony Timpone, plus the feature-length doc Re-Animator: Resurrectus (2007), the 54-min A Guide to Lovecraft Cinema by Chris Lackey, host of the H.P. Lovecraft Literary Podcast, provides a comprehensive look at the many cinematic incarnations of Lovecraft's work, plus 23-min of Extended Scenes, a 3-min Deleted Scene, plus the
Trailer, TV Spots and Still Gallery.
This set includes two region-B locked Blu-rays, the first features the restoration of the Theatrical Version in 1080p HD, and with the same set of extras as the UHD disc minus the Integral Cut, and a third Blu-ray contains the Integral Cut in HD with English DTS-HD MA 5.1 Surround audio, with no extras.
For the sake of comparison, I also own the standard 2-disc US 4K UHD/BD edition from Ignite Films, both releases have some exclusive content, so what's missing? Not present on the SS release is the Audio commentary with director Stuart Gordon and actors Graham Skipper and Jesse Merlin of Re-Animator: The Musical, the 2-min Re-Animating a Horror Classic: The 4K Restoration of Re-Animator, the 28-min The Organic Theater Company of Chicago: A 1977 documentary featuring Stuart Gordon, the 1-min 40th Anniversary 4K UHD Trailer, the option to listen to the Isolated Score, the 13-min The Catastrophe of Success: Stuart Gordon and The Organic Theater, the 12-min Theater of Blood - Re-Animator: The Musical lyricist Mark Nutter on adapting the cult classic for musical theater, and the 98-min Doug Bradley's Spinechillers: Herbert West, Re-Animator actor Jeffrey Combs reads H.P. Lovecraft's original classic story. As with the Ignite Films version Second Sight does not carry over every extras from the multitude of releases the film has had in various territories, just off the top of my head I know we do not get the 17-min 1995 Q/A with Barbara Crampton that was an easter egg on the Arrow release.
The A/V is pretty much a draw when comparing the Ignite and Second Sight releases, each has it's own shared and exclusive extras, so I will leave that choice up to you, either way, you're getting re-Animator in 4K looking better than ever on home video. I only have the standard release version of the Ignite release, so i have a preference for the Second Sight release because it's a gorgeously packaged release and I love the artwork.
The 3-disc Limited Edition 4K UHD/Blu-ray arrives in a Rigid Slipcase with stunning new artwork by Krishna Shenoi, inside there is a massive 120-page book with brand new essays by Sean Abley, Becky Darke, Lindsay Hallam, Josh Hurtado, Michelle Kisner, Justin LaLiberty, Phil Nobile Jr and Heather Wixson, writings that tackle the film from a myriad of interesting angles, I am a slow reader and have not read all of the essays, but so far Hurtado makes the case for Herbert West as hero of the story, Kisner compares and contrasts Gordon's Re-Animator to it's spiritual body-horror sequel From Beyond, while LaLiberty from Vinegar Syndrome looks at other mad scientist film of the 80s, and all of them have been delightful reading. There are also Six Collectors' Art Cards featuring more of Shenoi's artwork tucked away inside. The disc themselves are housed in a six-panel, fold-out digibook with clear plastic trays holding the discs, the digibook is adorned with more of the Shenoi artwork.
Special Features:
Disc 1: Theatrical Cut + Extras (4K Ultra HD)
- UHD Presented in HDR with Dolby Vision approved by producer Brian Yuzna
- NEW! Audio Commentary by Eddie Falvey
- Audio commentary with Stuart Gordon
- Audio commentary with producer Brian Yuzna, actors Jeffrey Combs, Barbara Crampton, Bruce Abbott, and Robert Sampson
- NEW! The Cosmic Horror of HP Lovecraft: Video Essay by Mike Muncer (9:23)
- Re-Animator at 40: A Conversation with Jeffrey Combs, Barbara Crampton, and Brian Yuzna (44:32)
- Piece By Piece: Cutting Re-Animator – A New Interview with Editor Lee Percy (14:57)
- The Horror of It All: The Legacy and Impact of Re-Animator (18:19)
- Suzie Sorority and the Good College Boy: An Interview with Carolyn Purdy-Gordon (14:07)
- Integral Version (105 mins)
- Re-Animator: Resurrectus - Feature-length documentary on the making of the film featuring extensive interviews with cast and crew (68:36)
- A Conversation with Director Stuart Gordon and Producer Brian Yuzna (48:47)
- Interview with Dennis Paoloi (10:41)
- Interview with Richard Band (14:43)
- Interview with Fangoria Editor Tony Timpone (4:34)
- Music Discussion with Composer Richard Band (16:31)
- Extended Scenes (23:05)
- Deleted Scene (2:40)
- Trailer (1:57)
- TV Spots (2:36)
- Still Gallery
- Barbara Crampton In Conversation: The Re-Animator star sits down with journalist Alan Jones for this career-spanning 2015 interview (36:05)
- A Guide to Lovecraft Cinema: Chris Lackey, host of the H.P. Lovecraft Literary Podcast, provides a comprehensive look at the many cinematic incarnations of Lovecraft's work. (54:02)
- Disc 2: Theatrical Cut + Extras (Blu-ray)
NEW! Audio Commentary by Eddie Falvey
- Audio commentary with Stuart Gordon
- Audio commentary with producer Brian Yuzna, actors Jeffrey Combs, Barbara Crampton, Bruce Abbott, and Robert Sampson
- The Cosmic Horror of HP Lovecraft: Video Essay by Mike Muncer (9:23)
- Re-Animator at 40: A Conversation with Jeffrey Combs, Barbara Crampton, and Brian Yuzna (44:32)
- Piece By Piece: Cutting Re-Animator – A New Interview with Editor Lee Percy (14:57)
- The Horror of It All: The Legacy and Impact of Re-Animator(18:19)
- Suzie Sorority and the Good College Boy: An Interview with Carolyn Purdy-Gordon (14:07)
- Re-Animator: Resurrectus - Feature-length documentary on the making of the film featuring extensive interviews with cast and crew (68:36)
- A Conversation with Director Stuart Gordon and Producer Brian Yuzna (48:47)
- Interview with Dennis Paoloi (10:41)
- Interview with Richard Band (14:43)
- Interview with Fangoria Editor Tony Timpone (4:34)
- Music Discussion with Composer Richard Band (16:31)
- Extended Scenes (23:05)
- Deleted Scene (2:40)
- Trailer (1:57)
- TV Spots (2:36)
- Still Gallery
- Barbara Crampton In Conversation: The Re-Animator star sits down with journalist Alan Jones for this career-spanning 2015 interview (36:05)
- A Guide to Lovecraft Cinema: Chris Lackey, host of the H.P. Lovecraft Literary Podcast, provides a comprehensive look at the many cinematic incarnations of Lovecraft's work. (54:02)
- Disc 3: Integral Cut (Blu-ray) (104:55) DTS-HD MA 5.1 Surround with Optional English Subtitles
Limited Edition Contents:
- Dual format three-disc edition including one UHD and two Blu-rays with main feature and bonus features on both discs
- 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
- Six collectors' art cards
Second Sight's 3-disc Limited Edition 4K UHD/Blu-ray set of Stuart Gordon's madcap and macabre Re-Animator is really quite a wonderful, we get a gorgeous restoration in 4K with Dolby Vision/HDR10, loads of new and archival extras, and the limited edition packaging and artwork just adds that extra veneer of class to it that I love, this gets a high recommend for this one.
