Are you a horror film fan? Then you probably should just skip to the extras section. There isn’t a thing that I can tell you about Re-Animator that you don’t already know. You’ve seen the film before. You’ve probably purchased at least one of the previous two DVD releases of the film and you really just want to know what’s so fucking different that you should spend your crack money on this. Seriously, press Ctrl+F, type “extras” and hit Enter. 

For the rest of you who may not know about the brilliance that is Re-Animator I can sum it up in one sentence: 

It’s really fun.  

Dr. Herbert West (Jeffrey Combs) is a brilliant scientist who's convinced that the widely accepted theories of brain death are outdated and inaccurate. In fact he’s created a reagent that does reanimate dead tissue, but with the most grisly results. After the death of his mentor, and West’s failed grotesque attempt to revive him, Dr. West is forced to relocate from Switzerland to the States.  

Arriving at the Miskatonic University, it doesn’t take long for West to arouse suspicions about his past and current activities. He rents the basement of Dan Cain’s (Bruce Abbott) home and begins experimenting on his cat. He openly attacks his new professor, Dr. Hill (David Gale), over his inability to come up with his own theories. Soon things snowball out of control. Dr. Hill advises the Dean (Robert Sampson) of the school that Dan and Herbert are bad eggs, a fact that the Dean takes under heavy consideration since Dan is dating his daughter Meg (Barbara Crampton). Soon both the Dean and Dr. Hill become victims of West’s experiments. But Dr. Hill won’t be a victim, or dead, for long.  

In horror circles, Re-Animator has some seriously impressive legs. Now 22 years old, the film doesn’t seem like it’s aged a single day. Whether by accident or by design, the film steers clear of any actual technobabble or modern devices, so even though the film theoretically takes place in 1985, it could just as easily be 2007. But the real basis of Re-Animator’s staying power is the story itself, like a modern retelling of Frankenstein, Dr. Herbert West’s theories and motivations aren’t entirely unsound. He’s a doctor who wants to prolong life, make death a minor inconvenience instead of a final end. It’s the dream of all scientists, whether they are working on a cure for AIDS or for the common cold. In this film, the antagonists and the protagonists have a bit of a role-reversal. The motives of the recently deceased Dr. Hill are so much worse than Dr. West’s that almost all of West's macabre and maniacal reactions seem justified. 

But for the decade that made cynicism fashionable, the creative team behind Re-Animator brought all the dark humor they could muster and injected it in the films script. From dialogue such as “No one’s going to believe a talking head. Get a job in a sideshow!” to the visual pun of a severed head actually… giving head. Re-Animator’s goal isn’t simply to scare or to sicken, but to make you laugh. Just about every horror/comedy made since then owes a great deal to Re-Animator. Remember, this is before Evil Dead II and Dead Alive, so the combining of these elements with such a large gore quotient wasn’t quite as mainstream of an idea yet.  

The look of the film itself is fantastic, and considering the low budget the crew had to work with, it’s even more impressive. The most iconic image, the reanimation reagent and its incredibly sick color green that always seems to glow unnaturally, never fails to draw attention. The acting, while mostly being handled by then-unknowns, is great across the board. Everyone seemingly knew exactly how to balance the seriousness with the camp. None of the actors accomplished this better than Jeffrey Combs, who successfully made geeky look menacing, and David Gale, who delivers an incredibly creepy, almost Christopher Lee styled performance, as Dr. Hill. (See the extended scenes for even more of this awesome film presence)  

It’s really hard to critique the film, as I am more than a little biased in my love towards it. In reality, the plot has some logical missteps. Severed heads can’t survive. I mean even if you buy into the whole “special reagent” bit, it’s hard to fucking swallow that a severed head would need to breathe air. But if you let logic override how awesome everything else is – especially with the incredible break-neck pacing the film has, you probably just aren’t a lot of fun at parties.  

And a party is exactly what Re-Animator is. It’s a perfect beer and pizza film: hilarious, gory and wonderful. If you’ve never seen Re-Animator before, you simply HAVE to experience it. It’s one of the best examples of the genre for newbies, so go buy this movie right now. Don’t even rent it. Go to your favorite film purchasing locale and get this movie the day it comes out. 

The DVD Presentation
While this is Anchor Bay’s first release of Re-Animator on DVD, it’s actually the third time the film has spent time with the format. I’ve owned all three, but comparing it to the most recent DVD (Elite’s 2002 “Millennium Edition” release) I can’t see much visual difference. It’s still presented in anamorphic widescreen, and it truly looks great. The image is sharp and clear, yet there is still some film grain. It’s hard to discount the transfer quality for that, though. The film was made on a pretty slim budget, and for what it is, you really couldn’t ask for a much better transfer. The audio mixes also appear to be the same, with all three of them ported over. The DTS is great, but the improvement over the DD tracks is negligible aside from a few key scenes. As is typical with Anchor Bay releases, there are no subtitle tracks, which limits the audience greatly since the only audio tracks are in English. All of that aside, though, it’s a solid audio/visual presentation, I’ve just seen it done before – five years ago… 

And the Extras Are?
Audio Commentary with director Stuart Gordon – Both this and the cast commentary are carried over from the Elite discs. This is the much deeper of the two. Stuart Gordon has quite a bit to say about every part of the film. For Re-Animator newbies, this would be a great start, but again, a lot of this is duplicated in other features on disc two. If you are a fan of good detailed commentaries though, and are only going to rent the film, this would be the track to check out. It’s awesome!  

Audio Commentary with producer Brian Yuzna and actors Bruce Abbott, Jeffrey Combs, Barbara Crampton and Robert Sampson – This commentary is a blast! A complete party track, the cast, specifically, has a lot to say and poke a lot of fun at each other along the way. Even though this commentary is old now, it’s still great that all of these people were even able to get together at one time in order to record it. I’ve listened to this commentary several times over the years. It’s good stuff. 

The remaining special features are all found on the second disc: 

Re-Animator Resurrectus – (68:41) The truly exciting addition to this set over the previous release is this brand new documentary. Interviews are included with nearly every cast member (except for David Gale – he’s dead, like really dead), nearly every important crew member, and other people that I’ve probably forgotten. Needless to say, if you love Re-Animator, this documentary will be fun. So much so that even though a lot of the information is already widely known from other features on this and past releases, you’ll still have a great time sitting through this well edited and entertaining documentary. 

Interview with director Stuart Gordon and producer Brian Yuzna – (48:38) A very long interview that's essentially a back-and-forth with the two subjects. Lots of reminiscing is included here, with quite a bit covered on every aspect of the production of this film. It’s good shit, but quite a bit of this gets covered in the featurette.  

Interview with writer Dennis Paoli – (10:40) A pretty thorough interview that covers everything you would want to know about the changes from Lovecraft’s original novellas and script variations. There is a lot of good background here. 

Interview with composer Richard Band – (14:43) The score to Re-Animator, which was very, very, very much inspired by Bernard Hermann’s score to Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho. In fact, the motifs are near duplicates, which led some people to believe that composer Richard Band intended to steal from one of the masters. Here, Band seeks to defend his score, the obvious inspiration behind it, why he chose to use it, and the truth to the controversy behind its release. 

Music discussion with composer Richard Band – (16:28) People who are into the scoring of films will be fascinated by this. Here, Band discusses specific scenes in question, the score tracks he lays over them, and why he chose what he did. It’s a great look at the process.  

Interview with Fangoria editor Tony Timpone – (4:35) The editor of the popular horror magazine discusses his memories of Re-Animator and the coverage the magazine provided. Specifically he talks about a make-up contest where they gave away the actual Dr. Hill’s head prop as the grand prize.  

Deleted Scene – (2:42) A dream sequence that is largely unnecessary, and understandably removed. Thankfully it is included here, because if for no other reason, it displays Barbara Crampton’s amazing body, sans clothes and very suggestively.  

Extended Scenes – (23:27) When Re-Animator initially came out on home video, there were Unrated and R-rated releases on VHS. The R-rated release, believe it or not, was actually considerably longer and much more leisurely paced. The bulk of that footage is here as extended scenes. Personally, as much as I love the unrated film, I think that this footage is exceptional and adds a great deal of depth to each of the characters. 

Theatrical Trailer – (1:58) The official trailer for the film is perfect. It advertises right upfront the wonderful humor and absurdity of the film while balancing the horror elements without giving too much away. 

Five TV Spots – These commercials all promote the same general theme and come complete with the classic warning, “This motion picture contains scenes of horror that may be too intense for anyone under the age of 18.” They really pushed the graphic nature of the film; obviously the distributors knew what to do to get asses in seats. 

Production Stills Gallery – Most of the photos here have all been used and reused in various trades. They are the images meant to sell the film, and quite a few of them are great iconic images. A nice collection of almost 50 images. 

Behind-The-Scenes Still Gallery – This is your standard collection. There are about 60 images; lots of setting up and test shots of effects. 

Fun On The Set Still Gallery – Just as described, this gallery is filled with nearly 50 images of the cast just goofing off. Some pictures are absolute classics, like a reanimated cadaver staring at a severed penis (dildo) in disbelief. 

Posters and Advertising Gallery – About 35 different images of various promotional items. From posters, to home releases, to model kits and comic books. I am a bit surprised that the VHS covers seem to be left off, though. Still, this is fun to flip through. 

Storyboard Gallery – Nearly 70 stills showing the planning of the final scenes of the film. It’s amazingly accurate to the final product. 

Stuart Gordon Bio – A twenty-page text feature that highlights Gordon’s career. It’s filled with interesting facts and a selected filmography.  

Re-Animator Screenplay and “Herbert West, Reanimator” by H.P. Lovecraft (DVD-ROM) –Awesome inclusions, we not only get the entire screenplay for the film, but also the short story that inspired it. Both of these are presented as printable PDF files. 

Anchor Bay Trailer Gallery – A staple on Anchor Bay DVDs, these trailers are auto-played the first time you put in the disc, or they can be selected from the Extras menu. This batch includes: a trailer for the Masters Of Horror episode, Dreams In The Witch House, which is appropriate since it too was directed by Stuart Gordon, Phantasm and the utterly stupid looking Night Of The Living Dorks.  

Last but not least, it should be mentioned that this release comes packaged with a kick-ass green highlighter made to look like a syringe filled with glowing reanimating reagent. AWESOME bonus! 

The Bottom Line
Re-Animator is a classic of its genre. It’s one of those films that you have to see in order to call yourself a horror fan. Wonderfully over the top, excellently paced, and simply a delight to watch and rewatch – I can’t think of an ill thing to say about it. 

If you haven’t yet made the plunge to purchase Re-Animator, now would be a great time to do so. Anchor Bay has created a fantastic release here, even if most of the material is ported over. You will have hours of fun diving into the extras (provided you love the film, of course), and the new Re-Animator Resurrectus documentary is as enjoyable as the film. If you already own Elite’s “Millennium Edition”, this is going to be a tougher sell since you already have everything important except the new documentary (and the pimp green reagent highlighter!). I have to judge this from a fan’s perspective, and I view it like this: If I didn’t get this screener, I’d still buy this release – and keep my old copy. The documentary is worth it, I dig the new art for the cover, and I’d keep the old release for the great isolated score track that’s conspicuously absent here.  

In a nutshell, every fan needs to buy Re-Animator, so go do it now! It’s a perfect film.