The Bride of Re-Animator

Rating:
Summary: Date. Mate. Regurgitate.
Review: Stuart Gordon's 1985 flick RE-ANIMATOR is one of the few genre flicks that successfully combines high-camp horror with bawdy sexual humor and comes out with a cult classic. But where Gordon's work triumphs, Brian Yuzna's 1990 sequel, BRIDE OF RE-ANIMATOR, proportionally fails. The gore, the nudity, and the sexual innuendo are blatantly gratuitous, and even strong performances from stars Jeffrey Combs (as mad scientist Herbert West) and Bruce Abbott (as Dan Cain, West's protégé) can't hide the fact that the humor is no longer as glib and flippant as in the first film and instead seems painfully contrived. And ardent fans of Gordon's film will be peeved when they see that Yunza has ignored basic plot points of the first, especially in the unexplained revival of a key character killed in the first (i.e., Herbert West himself) and the apparent demise of one saved at the first film's climax (i.e., Cain's girlfriend, Megan Halsey).

The FX work in BRIDE OF RE-ANIMATOR is a real mixed bag, and overall, FX fans will come away disappointed. But one make-up worth noting is the Frankenstein-ish body-suit work done for the re-animated character played by the attractive Kathleen Kinmont. The exposed muscles, tissues, and organs look gruesomely realistic and should delight gore fans and necrophiliacs alike.

The DVD from Artisan will disappoint even the most avid fans of this dreadful sequel. The original film was shot on 35mm film in a 1.33:1 aspect ratio, but the filmmaker's intentions were for the film to be "matted" and viewed at an aspect ratio of 1.85:1. Unfortunately, Artisan caters to the couch-potato mentality and presents the film on DVD in the 1.33:1 format in which the film was shot. While nothing is missing (it is 1.33:1 but NOT pan-and-scan), the film is still being presented contrary to the vision of its creators. And on top of that, Artisan doesn't offer any extra parts (i.e., bonus material)! Herbert West would be mortified.

Rating:
Summary: Don't Waste Your Time or Your Money
Review: The picture quality is decent, the audio horrible. It has this annoying hiss and when you put it in stereo the hiss just gets louder when the rest of the audio. The story itself is boring and been done before. I realize they were paying homeage to "The Bride of Frankenstein", but this movie is an insult to that classic horror film. Not only that, it is an insult to the first "Re-Animator" movie which is a modern classic. Skip this stinker.

Rating:
Summary: Good DVD, kind of misleading
Review: The uncut version is in pretty poor condition. The picture, particularly in dark areas is very pixelly, and the sound is so bad you have to crank it to even hear. This should just be seen as a curiosity because it's only 1 minute longer. The only difference I noticed was in the uncut version, I think the Luetenant swings the dog an extra time and shoves his stump into Francesca's face for an extra few seconds. That's it, really. If there is anything else, it's certainly not noticed. Also it should be noted that this film was shot in Super 35, because it went straight to video. Apparently Brian intended the picture to be matted, and this is an option that is provided. But understand that you are BLOCKING OUT A GREAT DEAL OF PICTURE! It is just as if you took two strips of black construction paper and taped them to your TV screen. The featurette is not narrated and is in fact home movies strung together. It's only about 10 minutes long, but I have to admit seeing David Gale with bat wings on his head playing cards with a zombified Johnny Legend is simply hilarious. The box also makes it sound like it has tons of stuff. Everything except the featurette is in one file titled "Casefiles", which is just a series of stills you step through. For example, "conceptual drawings". There are 2-3 drawings in this mix, as well as 2-3 paragraphs of text regarding the production. All these bloopers, behind-the-scenes, etc. are all part of the featurette, which I think is misleading. The highlight of this disc is the commentary. I have the 10th Anniversary LD for Re-Animator, and it has one of the best commentary tracks I've heard, so I was excited to get this DVD for that reason alone. Here's a case where the jacket doesn't do the disc justice. There are 2 seperate tracks, one with Brian, George, Tom, Howard, Greg, etc., and the other with the comedic stylings of Jeffry Combs and Bruce Abbot. They have a blast reliving the film and tearing it apart at the same time in the vein of Mystery Science Theater 3000. Buy this DVD for this feature alone. Although the featurette is pretty cool, it is way too short, and the other features are more or less a let-down.

Rating:
Summary: This movie is Awesome.
Review: This film is a great motion picture. Bruce Abbott, and Jeffrey Combs do a fine performance. Pretty much the plot is the same concerning the liquid green formula that brings dead people alive once again. The sex scenes are okay. Bruce Abbott makes love to a nice slender voluptuous Chilean Girl who looks quite hot. The theme song is really quite nice. This movie is very good, and I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to see quality acting, and a great plot. This is the only review you need to read, all others are just not as enthusiastic as this one.

Rating:
Summary: More luminous serum into dead people and body parts.
Review: This is the sequel to Re-Animator (1985) made five years later. Jeffrey Combs returns as the mad doctor, Herbert West. With his colleague Dr. Dan Cain (Bruce Abbott) they are now in Peru, set eight months later after the massacre they created at Miskatonic Medical School. They go back to Miskatonic Hospital where Dr. West is once again testing his luminous serum on dead people and dismembered body parts. Dave Gale returns as the without-a-body Dr. Hill. DVD contains no extras or bonusus. Just "Play" and "Scenes". Followed by BEYOND RE-ANIMATOR (2003).

Rating:
Summary: More luminous serum into dead people and body parts.
Review: This is the sequel to Re-Animator (1985) made five years later. Jeffrey Combs returns as the mad doctor, Herbert West. With his colleague Dr. Dan Cain (Bruce Abbott) they are now in Peru, set eight months later after the massacre they created at Miskatonic Medical School. They go back to Miskatonic Hospital where Dr. West is once again testing his luminous serum on dead people and dismembered body parts. Dave Gale returns as the without-a-body Dr. Hill. DVD contains no extras or bonusus. Just "Play" and "Scenes". Followed by BEYOND RE-ANIMATOR (2003).

Rating:
Summary: paging dr. west
Review: this movie is really gorey and really funny at times. Combs has never been better and he gets inside his character well but theres a lot of things that I really felt that this movie was gonna suck and some of that was true. now with a cut off head with bat's wings and the finale which was really dumb, i'd say Yuzna smashed the cult hit off its throne but he didnt. later in beyond re-animator he does. in this one its cool to watch Abbott being pushed around by Combs and the spark they have is cool. others beware some of the lameness

Rating:
Summary: Mediocre sequel to a excellent original
Review: This tepid,disappointing sequel is far better than Beyond the Re-Animator but dosen't equal a good sequel to the excellent original. Dr.Herbert West and his friend Dan re-animate dead bodies and when Dan's girlfriend is dying she is re-animated just like Bride of Frankenstein. The gore effects are good including the crawling eyeball but the movie becomes tedious and more predictable as it goes along. The new director Brian Yuzna does a good job taking over Stuart Gordon but this movie fails to entertain and make watchable that this looks like a Sci/Fi channel movie that would debut on TV and the movie is just disappointing compared to the first with a new cast(Except Jeffrey Combs and Bruce Abbott),lower production values and lower budget,and tepid to atrocious acting. If you seen the first your not missing much but for some reason you can recommend this instead of Beyond the Re-Animator.

Rating:
Summary: The idea was there, but nothing else.
Review: What a great idea-bring the dead back to life. Actually, they are 'REANIMATED'. With one little shot to the head all dead things can be reanimated. With: a BETTER script, BETTER acting, BETTER filming, BETTER effects, this COULD'VE been a good film. It looks like a rush job fresh from the 1-hour place.

Rating:
Summary: Tiresome sequel to a classic...
Review: When I saw BRIDE OF RE-ANIMATOR, I thought it to be awful, and thought it made absolutely no sense. The original is a classic, one of the best horror films ever made, but this sequel just couldn't live up to it. My confusion with BRIDE OF RE-ANIMATOR could be due to the fact that I viewed that one before RE-ANIMATOR. Maybe, just maybe, I would rent it again- just to see it a second time around- but I wouldn't count on it. Of course, the performances are great, but the pace is definately uneven and it seems sloppily made. Tons of gore, which is not a bad thing, but I would only recommend it to fans of the original. Also, you will, like the original film, need a strong stomach to handle all of the violence. Maybe I will give it another go... you never know.