Throughout the month of October, horror fans celebrate by binging on our favorite tales of the macabre. We bust out our favorite Blu-rays, scour our collections and watch our old favorites from Romero, Craven, and Carpenter, while also checking out newer offerings. In my humble opinion, you really can’t have a proper Halloween season without the inclusion of H.P. Lovecraft. His stories made an indelible mark and influenced horror and science fiction for years to come. The genre wouldn't be what it is today without his work and the way he inspired other storytellers, and the inclusion of a Lovecraft story is essential in any October viewing schedule.
The Whisperer in Darkness is a classic entry in Lovecraft’s oeuvre (and one of my personal favorites). It was adapted for the screen in 2011 by Sean Branney (who also directed) and co-writer Andrew Leman. The story tells the tale of...
The Whisperer in Darkness is a classic entry in Lovecraft’s oeuvre (and one of my personal favorites). It was adapted for the screen in 2011 by Sean Branney (who also directed) and co-writer Andrew Leman. The story tells the tale of...
- 10/29/2017
- by Emily von Seele
- DailyDead
Re-Animator
Blu-ray
Arrow
1985 / 1:85 / Street Date August 8, 2017
Starring: Jeffrey Combs, Barbara Crampton
Cinematography: Mac Ahlberg
Film Editor: Lee Percy
Written by Stuart Gordon, Dennis Paoli, William Norris
Produced by Brian Yuzna
Music: Richard Band
Directed by Stuart Gordon
Released in 1985, Stuart Gordon’s Re-Animator remains the grandest of Grand Guignols, a viscerally entertaining comedy that is just grindhouse enough for fans of Blood Feast and arthouse enough for connoisseurs of Francis Bacon’s more grisly canvases.
Originally scripted for Chicago’s Organic Theater Company by Gordon and co-writers Dennis Paoli and William Norris, Re-Animator was based on H. P. Lovecraft’s short story, Herbert West – Re-Animator, first published in 1922. Set in the blandly generic college town of Arkham, Massachusetts, the action revolves in and around the classrooms of stately Miskatonic University’s medical school and the sterilized atmosphere of the academy’s dank morgue evoked so well by Mac Ahlberg’s lush cinematography.
Blu-ray
Arrow
1985 / 1:85 / Street Date August 8, 2017
Starring: Jeffrey Combs, Barbara Crampton
Cinematography: Mac Ahlberg
Film Editor: Lee Percy
Written by Stuart Gordon, Dennis Paoli, William Norris
Produced by Brian Yuzna
Music: Richard Band
Directed by Stuart Gordon
Released in 1985, Stuart Gordon’s Re-Animator remains the grandest of Grand Guignols, a viscerally entertaining comedy that is just grindhouse enough for fans of Blood Feast and arthouse enough for connoisseurs of Francis Bacon’s more grisly canvases.
Originally scripted for Chicago’s Organic Theater Company by Gordon and co-writers Dennis Paoli and William Norris, Re-Animator was based on H. P. Lovecraft’s short story, Herbert West – Re-Animator, first published in 1922. Set in the blandly generic college town of Arkham, Massachusetts, the action revolves in and around the classrooms of stately Miskatonic University’s medical school and the sterilized atmosphere of the academy’s dank morgue evoked so well by Mac Ahlberg’s lush cinematography.
- 8/8/2017
- by Charlie Largent
- Trailers from Hell
For those of you who grew up loving it as much as I did, you’ll be pleased to know that The Real Ghostbusters animated series is now streaming on Netflix. The Real Ghostbusters began its run in 1986, two years after the release of the first film, and aired until 1991, with 140 episodes in total airing over the course of seven seasons. With five long years between films, this series was a godsend to rabid Ghostbusters fans and became an immediate hit.
Compared to other cartoons produced at that time, the look of The Real Ghostbusters had distinct anime touches and boasted a variety of awesomely creepy ghost designs and atmospheric painted backgrounds. The show also featured writing talent like J. Michael Straczynski, whose wildly imaginative and ambitious storylines made this series arguably better than Ghostbusters II, and, in some ways, indirectly affected elements of the sequel, as the appearance of...
Compared to other cartoons produced at that time, the look of The Real Ghostbusters had distinct anime touches and boasted a variety of awesomely creepy ghost designs and atmospheric painted backgrounds. The show also featured writing talent like J. Michael Straczynski, whose wildly imaginative and ambitious storylines made this series arguably better than Ghostbusters II, and, in some ways, indirectly affected elements of the sequel, as the appearance of...
- 4/12/2017
- by Jason Alvino
- DailyDead
The Miskatonic Institute for Horror Studies—a.k.a. the horror fan’s Hogwart’s—first opened in Montreal in 2010, the brainchild of film writer and programmer Kier-La Janisse (House Of Psychotic Women). In 2015, it expanded with a branch in London, helpfully strengthening the metaphor we were admittedly reaching for in the previous sentence. Now the nonprofit institute, which offers “university-level horror history and theory classes for people of all ages,” is expanding into the U.S. with a pilot program in New York City this fall, hosted at the Morbid Anatomy Museum.
The institute’s namesake, Miskatonic University—or the college from Re-Animator, for the stubbornly lowbrow among us—recurs throughout H.P. Lovecraft’s work. So perhaps it’s appropriate that one of the four classes in Miskatonic’s initial NYC run deals with the particular challenges of adapting Lovecraft for the screen, as taught by ...
The institute’s namesake, Miskatonic University—or the college from Re-Animator, for the stubbornly lowbrow among us—recurs throughout H.P. Lovecraft’s work. So perhaps it’s appropriate that one of the four classes in Miskatonic’s initial NYC run deals with the particular challenges of adapting Lovecraft for the screen, as taught by ...
- 8/31/2016
- by Katie Rife
- avclub.com
All images in this post are taken from the DVD from this Arrow Video Release.
The Movie
Stuart Gordon’s Re-Animator is one of the greatest ‘80s horror movies of all time. No other horror flick up until that point successfully combined gore, horror, and humor quite like that movie did. There were horror movies that were intentionally funny (like Motel Hell for example), but what made Re-Animator special and original is that it took the fear of death and poked fun at it. Blood and guts are now funny thanks to director Stuart Gordon. The idea that something disturbing like a severed limb or a dead body could actually be funny still fascinates me. I have Re-Animator to thank for that.
Bride of Re-Animator has a cult fan base; if it didn’t, Arrow Video would not have wasted their time releasing it on Blu-ray. Unfortunately, the movie isn’t as good as the first. This is typical among most horror sequels. The thing that bugs me the most about Bride is the number of plot holes the filmmakers didn’t even try filling. What the sequel gets right is the gory goods that definitely deliver. What the sequel gets wrong is the story details.
Eight months after the events that took place in the previous movie, Herbert West (played by Jeffrey Combs) and Dan Cain (played by Bruce Abbott who now has a mid-90s Bruce Campbell styled haircut) are now doctors at the Miskatonic University Hospital where they are secretly still doing reanimation experiments. How both men are now employed as doctors at the same hospital in the previous movie makes no sense to me after everything that happened, not to mention Herbert West’s death scene. Both men (especially Herbert) are now more focused on reanimating body parts stolen from the Hospital’s morgue and combining these parts to create living freaks.
Dr. Hill (whose head is clearly seen crushed to the size of a grapefruit in the previous movie) is now back and reanimated to get his revenge on Herbert and Dan while they are in the process of completing a huge experiment. Using the body parts from the morgue and Dan’s dead girlfriend’s heart, Herbert and Dan create a whole living female. Other complications take place that jeopardize the experiment such as a detective who becomes suspicious of the missing body parts and Dan’s 2 love interests.
Not every movie needs a sequel. Re-Animator is perfect the way it is. If you feel you absolutely must see these characters again for one more movie, then here it is. Not everything about the movie is disappointing however. The special make-up effects from Knb Efx Group and Screaming Mad George (just to name a few) make up for the plot holes and are definitely worth checking out. I really feel that Bride of Re-animator is a success as a gory FX freak show, but a failure as a story. Sorry horror fans.
Audio/Video
Arrow Video brings Bride of Re-Animator to Blu-ray for the very first time in America, and the results are satisfying. For this 3 Disc Limited Edition release, both R-rated and Unrated cuts of the film are offered in 1080p with a 1:78:1 Aspect Ratio. The transfers for both cuts look identical except the brief scenes added in the Unrated cut take a bit of a noticeable dip in quality. Added shots in the Unrated cut appear darker than the rest of the movie and show much less detail. The rest of the image however looks great and feels like a lot of time and care went into this restoration. A fine looking image that I feel fans will be pleased with. The Lpcm 2.0 Audio Track offers some real kick, especially during the final showdown. Dialogue is clear and the gooey sound effects are top notch.
Special Features
Disc 1 (Blu-ray) & Disc 2 (DVD)
Unrated Version of the film.
Director’s Commentary – Director Brian Yuzna discusses getting the cast to come back for the sequel, shooting on a short schedule, the make-up effects, low budget challenges, and comparisons to the first movie. Moderated by David Gregory.
Cast & Crew Commentary – Brian Yuzna, Jeffrey Combs, Howard Berger, Robert Kurtzman, Tom Rainone, Mike Deak, Screaming Mad George, & John Buechler all participate in this commentary. An FX heavy commentary with each artist detailing their work on the film during their scenes and the challenges of working under strict time constraints.
Cast Commentary – Actors Jeffrey Combs & Bruce Abbott deliver a funny and amusing commentary here. They spend most of the time making fun of the movie MST3K style. Pretty entertaining stuff.
Brian Yuzna Remembers Bride of Re-animator (10 minutes) – A lot that’s covered here is already covered in Yuzna’s Audio Commentary.
Splatter Masters: The Special Effects Artists of Bride of Re-animator (15 minutes) – FX artists Robert Kurtzman, Screaming Mad George, Tony Doublin, and John Buechler look back on the work they did on Bride. Pretty sweet stuff with some behind-the-scenes home video footage.
Getting Ahead in Horror (24 minutes) – An archive making-of piece composed of behind-the-scenes footage. Here, we get a great look at almost all of the special effects in the movie. My favorite extra on the disc.
Deleted Scenes:
– Meg is Re-animated (8 minutes) – Probably came from the workprint. We also see some behind-the-scenes footage on the making of this scene. Interesting to note that this deleted scene fixes one plot hole.
– Carnival Sequence (2 minutes) – Only shown in still photos with a filmmakers commentary.
Theatrical Trailer (2 minutes)
Disc 3 (Limited Edition Exclusive)
R-rated version of the film.
Behind-the-Scenes Reel (14 ½ minutes) – More home video footage of the special effects scenes and make-up
Other Goodies:
24 Page Booklet – Includes new writing by Michael Blyth and a few color photos.
Re-animator: Dawn of the Re-animator (Limited Edition Exclusive) – Full 1992 comic prequel to the original Re-animator. Booklet is glorious and thick!
See larger image Bride of Re-Animator (Director Approved 3-Disc Limited Edition) [Blu-ray + DVD] New From: $54.99 Usd In Stock
The post Blu-ray Review: Bride Of Re-animator appeared first on Destroy the Brain!.
The Movie
Stuart Gordon’s Re-Animator is one of the greatest ‘80s horror movies of all time. No other horror flick up until that point successfully combined gore, horror, and humor quite like that movie did. There were horror movies that were intentionally funny (like Motel Hell for example), but what made Re-Animator special and original is that it took the fear of death and poked fun at it. Blood and guts are now funny thanks to director Stuart Gordon. The idea that something disturbing like a severed limb or a dead body could actually be funny still fascinates me. I have Re-Animator to thank for that.
Bride of Re-Animator has a cult fan base; if it didn’t, Arrow Video would not have wasted their time releasing it on Blu-ray. Unfortunately, the movie isn’t as good as the first. This is typical among most horror sequels. The thing that bugs me the most about Bride is the number of plot holes the filmmakers didn’t even try filling. What the sequel gets right is the gory goods that definitely deliver. What the sequel gets wrong is the story details.
Eight months after the events that took place in the previous movie, Herbert West (played by Jeffrey Combs) and Dan Cain (played by Bruce Abbott who now has a mid-90s Bruce Campbell styled haircut) are now doctors at the Miskatonic University Hospital where they are secretly still doing reanimation experiments. How both men are now employed as doctors at the same hospital in the previous movie makes no sense to me after everything that happened, not to mention Herbert West’s death scene. Both men (especially Herbert) are now more focused on reanimating body parts stolen from the Hospital’s morgue and combining these parts to create living freaks.
Dr. Hill (whose head is clearly seen crushed to the size of a grapefruit in the previous movie) is now back and reanimated to get his revenge on Herbert and Dan while they are in the process of completing a huge experiment. Using the body parts from the morgue and Dan’s dead girlfriend’s heart, Herbert and Dan create a whole living female. Other complications take place that jeopardize the experiment such as a detective who becomes suspicious of the missing body parts and Dan’s 2 love interests.
Not every movie needs a sequel. Re-Animator is perfect the way it is. If you feel you absolutely must see these characters again for one more movie, then here it is. Not everything about the movie is disappointing however. The special make-up effects from Knb Efx Group and Screaming Mad George (just to name a few) make up for the plot holes and are definitely worth checking out. I really feel that Bride of Re-animator is a success as a gory FX freak show, but a failure as a story. Sorry horror fans.
Audio/Video
Arrow Video brings Bride of Re-Animator to Blu-ray for the very first time in America, and the results are satisfying. For this 3 Disc Limited Edition release, both R-rated and Unrated cuts of the film are offered in 1080p with a 1:78:1 Aspect Ratio. The transfers for both cuts look identical except the brief scenes added in the Unrated cut take a bit of a noticeable dip in quality. Added shots in the Unrated cut appear darker than the rest of the movie and show much less detail. The rest of the image however looks great and feels like a lot of time and care went into this restoration. A fine looking image that I feel fans will be pleased with. The Lpcm 2.0 Audio Track offers some real kick, especially during the final showdown. Dialogue is clear and the gooey sound effects are top notch.
Special Features
Disc 1 (Blu-ray) & Disc 2 (DVD)
Unrated Version of the film.
Director’s Commentary – Director Brian Yuzna discusses getting the cast to come back for the sequel, shooting on a short schedule, the make-up effects, low budget challenges, and comparisons to the first movie. Moderated by David Gregory.
Cast & Crew Commentary – Brian Yuzna, Jeffrey Combs, Howard Berger, Robert Kurtzman, Tom Rainone, Mike Deak, Screaming Mad George, & John Buechler all participate in this commentary. An FX heavy commentary with each artist detailing their work on the film during their scenes and the challenges of working under strict time constraints.
Cast Commentary – Actors Jeffrey Combs & Bruce Abbott deliver a funny and amusing commentary here. They spend most of the time making fun of the movie MST3K style. Pretty entertaining stuff.
Brian Yuzna Remembers Bride of Re-animator (10 minutes) – A lot that’s covered here is already covered in Yuzna’s Audio Commentary.
Splatter Masters: The Special Effects Artists of Bride of Re-animator (15 minutes) – FX artists Robert Kurtzman, Screaming Mad George, Tony Doublin, and John Buechler look back on the work they did on Bride. Pretty sweet stuff with some behind-the-scenes home video footage.
Getting Ahead in Horror (24 minutes) – An archive making-of piece composed of behind-the-scenes footage. Here, we get a great look at almost all of the special effects in the movie. My favorite extra on the disc.
Deleted Scenes:
– Meg is Re-animated (8 minutes) – Probably came from the workprint. We also see some behind-the-scenes footage on the making of this scene. Interesting to note that this deleted scene fixes one plot hole.
– Carnival Sequence (2 minutes) – Only shown in still photos with a filmmakers commentary.
Theatrical Trailer (2 minutes)
Disc 3 (Limited Edition Exclusive)
R-rated version of the film.
Behind-the-Scenes Reel (14 ½ minutes) – More home video footage of the special effects scenes and make-up
Other Goodies:
24 Page Booklet – Includes new writing by Michael Blyth and a few color photos.
Re-animator: Dawn of the Re-animator (Limited Edition Exclusive) – Full 1992 comic prequel to the original Re-animator. Booklet is glorious and thick!
See larger image Bride of Re-Animator (Director Approved 3-Disc Limited Edition) [Blu-ray + DVD] New From: $54.99 Usd In Stock
The post Blu-ray Review: Bride Of Re-animator appeared first on Destroy the Brain!.
- 5/4/2016
- by Joshua Lightfoot
- Destroy the Brain
By Kevin Scott
MoreHorror.com
Re-Animator is one of those films that has risen above the sum of its parts to become an eclectic and in many ways, untouchable classic. Trying to replicate it would be as much of a fool’s game as anyone could expect it to be. Let’s face it, casting, special effects, and a general visceral, gut wrenching quirkiness made it unforgettable.
That lead in was necessary to transition as smoothly as possible to its sequel Bride of Re-Animator. Much debated as to its worthiness to the original. My feeling has always been that much like the sequel to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, “Re-Animator” become self -aware, and went into the direction of camp by capitalizing on the captivating weirdness of Jeffrey Combs, and some seriously amped up gore by a militia of special effects power players.
The story begins with our anti-heroes, Dr. West (Jeffrey Combs) and Dr.
MoreHorror.com
Re-Animator is one of those films that has risen above the sum of its parts to become an eclectic and in many ways, untouchable classic. Trying to replicate it would be as much of a fool’s game as anyone could expect it to be. Let’s face it, casting, special effects, and a general visceral, gut wrenching quirkiness made it unforgettable.
That lead in was necessary to transition as smoothly as possible to its sequel Bride of Re-Animator. Much debated as to its worthiness to the original. My feeling has always been that much like the sequel to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, “Re-Animator” become self -aware, and went into the direction of camp by capitalizing on the captivating weirdness of Jeffrey Combs, and some seriously amped up gore by a militia of special effects power players.
The story begins with our anti-heroes, Dr. West (Jeffrey Combs) and Dr.
- 4/13/2016
- by admin
- MoreHorror
Veteran composer Richard Band discusses his score for Stuart Gordon’s Re-animator. From the second we fade in on the Miskatonic University, as an intense, marching troupe of medicos and suits storm their way into a locked laboratory to surprise wild-eyed student Herbert West as he administers a green-goo to a screaming, bleeding Dr. Hans Gruber,…
The post Interview: Composer Richard Band on the Music of Re-animator appeared first on Shock Till You Drop.
The post Interview: Composer Richard Band on the Music of Re-animator appeared first on Shock Till You Drop.
- 3/18/2016
- by Chris Alexander
- shocktillyoudrop.com
1985. Horror was going through a sea change on the film front, as slashers were shown the door and creature features became the cool kids on campus again. People lined up to see vampires (Fright Night) and werewolves (Silver Bullet) and zombies (Day of the Dead), oh my—but my favorite subgenre, the Mad Scientist, came roaring back to life with director Stuart Gordon’s (From Beyond, Dagon) manic masterpiece debut, Re-Animator.
Released in October, Re-Animator proved once again that when properly executed, horror and humor are delightful bedfellows, co-conspirators with the noblest of intentions: to entertain. Horror, while certainly not easy to do well (scroll through Netflix on any given day), has it made in the shade compared to comedy. Humor is more subjective, and what rubs me as funny may chafe you as stupid or insipid. Most people will agree that The Exorcist is terrifying, but not everyone likes...
Released in October, Re-Animator proved once again that when properly executed, horror and humor are delightful bedfellows, co-conspirators with the noblest of intentions: to entertain. Horror, while certainly not easy to do well (scroll through Netflix on any given day), has it made in the shade compared to comedy. Humor is more subjective, and what rubs me as funny may chafe you as stupid or insipid. Most people will agree that The Exorcist is terrifying, but not everyone likes...
- 10/18/2015
- by Scott Drebit
- DailyDead
This week, Guillermo del Toro’s gothic-horror-romance Crimson Peak will haunt movie theaters across the land. It joins the unique crowd of del Toro projects that makes it to the screen instead of vanishing into development oblivion. Del Toro is always cooking something up, and his name is frequently being thrown around for various films that never quite materialize: he’s been working on-again/off-again on a Haunted Mansion film; then there’s the DC Comics adaptation Justice League Dark. Pacific Rim 2 keeps jumping back and forth between being in development and being put on hold. The filmmaker was even going to direct the first of The Hobbit films before things changed, and we ended up with a bloated trilogy filled with nonsense. But the holy grail of unmade Guillermo del Toro films is his adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft’s At the Mountains of Madness.
Lovecraft’s stories were, in general,...
Lovecraft’s stories were, in general,...
- 10/15/2015
- by Chris Evangelista
- SoundOnSight
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