Home :: DVD :: Horror :: General  

Classic Horror & Monsters
Cult Classics
Frighteningly Funny
General

Series & Sequels
Slasher Flicks
Teen Terror
Television
Things That Go Bump
The Bride of Re-Animator

The Bride of Re-Animator

List Price: $29.98
Your Price:
Product Info Reviews

<< 1 2 3 4 >>

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Jeffrey Combs is the Best
Review: I give Brian Yuzna tons of credit for taking on interesting projects. I cant wait to see how the Faust movie is going to look. Jeffrey Combs is a very overlooked actor. He has that B-movie spark of Bruce Campbell and a talent for playing loonies. The movie is worth watching just to see him rave and rant about. His performance in the frightners made the movie a ton more entertaining. I say you should watch every movie he is in but Bride is a good one to start with.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: All most an instant classic, Pure cheez
Review: I really liked the first Re-animator when it came out in the mid 80's. Saw it in the theater. (I'm really dating my self) This one I missed, but was glad to catch it on video. More of the same low budget horror with great gory FX and some jokes added in for fun. Some great monster FX. Very original. The DVD is great to watch with the actor's commentary. It sounds like they had a great time making the movie. If you like fun campy movies and are not an up-tight snob give this one a chance. Its good clean...well bloody fun. Oh and a bonus, it has that hot Italian girl from the first Austin Powers movie.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: One of the Two Best "B" Sequals Ever Made
Review: I thought that I saw it all in "Re-Animator", but director Brian Yuzna ("Return of the Living Dead 3" and "The Guyver") returned with the best script and cast that I have ever asked for for a sequal of one of the two best horror films ever made ("Re-Animator" and "The Evil Dead"), making this one of the two very best "B"-movie sequals ever made.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Jeffery Combs is great
Review: Jeff Combs is one of the greatest Cult actors up to date. this movie just proves my point.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: The beast with 2? heads
Review: Jumping from the first film in classic soap opera fashion by wordlessly reviving a dead character this sequel takes a much lighter and special effects heavy approach to the Re-Animator mythology. Gone is most of the brooding and tension of the first, bringing it's creepy black humor to the foreground instead.

As noted elsewhere the commentaries, especially the actor's comentaries are priceless, as they were on the Re-Animator LD, and the supplemental material is thourough if a bit anemic in structure and relevance, which is heartily disapointing given Sharpline Arts stunning history to date (Abyss, Alien Legacy, The Thing, Last Starfighter).

Printwise there are 2 films to review here. The theatrical cut is a great transfer and really does show off the special effects that make up the majority of the film to good effect. The Uncut version is much darker and mudier visually and sonically, but there is a bit more footage, particurlarly in the conclusion, where some of the extra shots really do flesh out the pacing and lend a lot of drama to one particurlar sequence, but nothing is changed with the plot or the narrative.

What I wish they'd done is to insert the extra footage into the cleaner theatrical cut. I know the quality of the prints would have been different and that doing that sort of edit takes a bit of work, but I honestly think it would have been a much more satisfying product in the end.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: "No, Hill didn't kill me...he didn't have the guts."
Review: OK, so Bride of Re-Animator isn't as good as the original, but as fans know, that was a pretty hard act to follow. I didn't really appreciate this movie as much until I rented this special edition DVD and was blown away! First of all, this movie has the second most hilarious commentary track (the one with Jeffrey Combs and Dan Abbott, as Dr. West and Dr. Cain) I have every heard (the funniest was Evil Dead 2, limited edition-I don't think anything can top that).

I should also point out here in all fairness that I'm a complete Re-animator geek, I saw it in the theater in 1985 and was hooked; I've probably watched it more than any other horror movie-at least 50 times in the last 15 years. I almost broke my legs in my haste getting to the video store when their copy of the sequel came in I was so excited. I was slightly disappointed, but I did have very high expectations. The last 20 minutes or so were pretty impressive, but the prologue I was so psyched to see (more on that later) was completely gone.

When I rented this DVD special edition, though, I decided to actually pick up a copy. Not only; was the commentary by the actors hilarious, but both of the actors, especially Combs, go into interesting details like how the scene was shot,; and even going into the character's motivations. Combs even remembers some of his lines (with the exact inflections he delivered them in), which didn't make me feel like such a geek. You can tell he had a blast making the movie and really enjoyed it. Lines that never struck me as especially amusing before such as Dr. West saying, "My God...they're using tools!" were hilarious when the actor made a few comments afterwards. Anyway, if you're a diehard Re-animator "superfan" (hey,it sounds better than "geek") like me, you HAVE to see this special edition. I can't say enough good things about the commentary-I realize I sound like a broken record now as well as a movie geek, but again, you have to see it for yourself to really appreciate it.

The disc is absolutely packed with cool-a$$ extras-it's one of the double-sided ones, so be sure to check out the other side. Some of the highlights include the unrated version- it doesn't have a whole lot of extra gore, less than a minute, but it's pretty jaw dropping (several more seconds of the climactic meltdown). It includes great behind the scenes footage, (you haven't laughed till you've seen a behind-the-scenes shot of David Hale as Dr. Hill in full make-up, casually playing poker with a pair of bat wings sewed to his head) and a breakdown of a sequence where the detective actually finds Dr. Hill in a sideshow where he's advertised as "The Talking Head From the Miskatonic Massacre" (apparently, he followed West's advice from the first movie).

But the real gem is the deleted original sequence where Dan re-animates Meg (hint: it doesn't go real smoothly). It's sort of a rough cut, but very satisfying- I read about the opening in Fangoria before the movie came out and thought, "man, I can't WAIT to see that-perfect!", so I was really disappointed when it was cut. In fact, it's worth the price of the DVD just to finally get to see Combs as Dr. Herbert West utter the immortal line: "No, Hill didn't kill me...he didn't have the guts." YEAH BABY! I waited over 10 years to hear Jeffrey Combs say that line, and by God, it was worth it. Why they cut the opening, I have no idea. Ah, the invention of the DVD special edition -one of technology's greatest achievements (for us movie fans anyway).

So, if you're a big Combs fan, a big Stuart Gordon fan, a hard-core fan of the first movie, or all of the above like me, this is a must-add to your collection. Even if you weren't that blown away by the first movie, you'll love this special edition- trust me on this. Much, much better than I expected.

Date. Mate. Re-animate.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: "IT'S ALIVE"!!
Review: Rather dissapointing sequel, but not totally a bad film. 'Bride of Re-Animator' (Re-Animator 2, in UK) has the standard gore and blood-soaked humour of the previous film.
I thought David Gale (Dr.Hill) died in real life after 'Re-Animator' came out? Did I read wrong? Anyway if you liked the original, you may as well view this. I'd also like to see if the much rumoured 'Beyond Re-Animator' emerges in 2002.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A Pleasant Surprise For Fans Of Re-Animator!
Review: Re-Animator is probably the greatest cult-classic horror/comedy ever made. It simply outdoes every other horror comedy because it understands the basic rule of horror films... too much comedy turns the film to garbage. There are countless horror films that blatantly stick humor in with very bad results. Either the horror becomes nonexistant or the whole picture looks like one really bad comedy. Re-Animator is a perfect example of a film that masterfully mixes comedy and horror, hence making it the greatest film ever made (well... in my opinion anyway).

Which brings us to the long awaited (and highly anticipated) sequel... BRIDE OF RE-ANIMATOR! Of course, taking the above into account, you don't need two guesses to figure out that this film will probably get mixed results. Sequels usually lack the originality of their predicessors and sequels to highly impressive films are usually worse. However... Bride of Re-Animator is a pleasant surprise for fans of Re-Animator... but only if you look at the film a certain way.

Bride of Re-Animator takes place some time after the first film finished. Miskatonic University has never been the same since the famous "massacre" and our two favorite mad scientists, Herbert West (Jeffrey Combs) and Dan Cain (Bruce Abbott), are still experimenting on dead bodies. However... there has been a new element added to the mix. Instead of just re-animating bodies, West and Cain now experiment with body parts, and conspire to create the perfect human being.

Of course, the film can't really be compared to Re-Animator... that film was a landmark of cinema. However, viewers will find a lot to be happy about in this great movie. First off, the story is much more complex. There are plenty of different subplots occuring at the same time (as other reviewers have mentioned, it does feel like a deranged soap opera at times). The special effects are actually more graphic and impressive than the first film. The acting is equally inspired (Jeffrey Combs gives his usual tour-de-force performance as the insane Herbert West).

The comedy is dark and morbid, and there is much more of it, but this is part of the real reason why some fans hate this film. The comedy does feel a little forced at places, instead of the subliminal humor that was so hilarious in the original. However, this comedy is often very hilarious and basically elevates the film to the point of it being sheer camp. That being said, the film is great fun to watch and it's obvious that the filmmakers were having a blast making this film.

Taking all that into consideration, Bride of Re-Animator remains a stand-out in the sequel parade. With it's great mix of extremely gruesome (and nasty) violence, high camp value (with funny one-liners), and familiar (but complex) story line, Bride of Re-Animator is a must buy for fans of the original.

P.S. As noted in Maltin's Review, this film can be seen as a homage to BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN. I actually think that the whole bride subplot is a great edition to the film. The last 30 minutes of the movie (THE NIGHT OF RE-ANIMATION!!) are extremely suspenseful and very well done. Brian Yuzna (taking over for Stuart Gordon in the director's chair) does an exceptional job.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: One thing really bugged me about this movie
Review: Reanimator could have been a better movie than it was. One thing that really bugged me was the scene in the mortuary where they reanimate that naked guy. When the naked guy gets drilled through by a surgical instrument you can see it's obviously fake...just watch the bottom of the screen...it's hilarious, but it also spoils this otherwise great movie for me.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Excellent sequel!
Review: Set after 9 months since Herbert West ( Jeffery Combs) have conducted his gruesome experiments and caused a massacre at the Mistaktonic university, he is back to do a different kind of experiment of making living parts into one body to create life. He does have Dan ( Bruce Abbot) to still help him, Dr. Carl Hill ( David Gale) is also back to get revenge on Herbert West.
Highly exciting sequel loaded with gore, a wicked sense of humor, good direction by the original's producer Brian Yuzna and Combs is great as West again.
If you love the original, your going to love this too!


<< 1 2 3 4 >>

© 2004, ReviewFocus or its affiliates