The 1985 cult classic horror film Re-Animator pushed the boundaries of the genre with more blood and gore than any film could offer at the time, and it deserves to be remade. Films that feature a doctor re-animating a corpse always proves to be a popular story line. The most well-known example is the iconic Dr. Frankenstein and his monster. Mary Shelley’s 1818 story first appeared in film in 1931 starring Colin Clive as the doctor and Boris Karloff as his monster. Over the years, the story continues to receive the star treatment while other re-animators are left in the past.
Directed by Stuart Gordon (Body Snatchers), the film is loosely based on H. P. Lovecraft’s 1922 story Herbert West – Reanimator. The film follows the titular character Herbert West played by Jeffrey Combs (Suburban Gothic) as a medical student who has just discovered a reagent that has the ability to re-animate the dead. The film was a success among audiences, possibly in part due to the popularity of Lovecraftian films such as Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead preceding it. Re-Animator’s popularity spawned two follow-ups, Bride of the Re-Animator (1990) and Beyond Re-Animator (2003).
With cult status and H.P. Lovecraft's unique story of Herbert West, an inexperienced medical student, Re-Animator is long overdue for the remake treatment and now is the time. The film pushed the envelope of average horror and offered a different take on a classic story line.
Why There Should Be Another Re-Animator Movie
Re-Animator focuses on the aftermath of Herbert West giving a very large dose of the reagent to his deceased professor. As he experiments with dosages and finds success in reanimating animals, word begins to spread of the serum. When a jealous colleague, Dr. Carl Hill, discovers the invention, he attempts to blackmail Herbert into surrendering it so he may take all of the credit. Herbert murders and re-animates Dr. Hill only to discover that the reagent has side effects that allow for the living dead to communicate telepathically. As a result, Herbert injects Dr. Hill with a lethal injection of the reagent, causing him to mutate. In the concluding moments of the film, the mutated entrails of the corpse drag Herbert West to an uncertain end.
If Frankenstein’s monster became a cannibal and gained telepathic powers, he would be Herbert West’s monster. Re-Animator introduces a new plot device to both zombie and re-animator films, putting the two together. This leads to a gory story that has the ability to make Evil Dead's Deadites look approachable in comparison to West’s re-animated corpses. The modern zombie film has yet to see a re-imagining of how the virus comes to life, making it rather predictable. By remaking the films, it will reinvigorate the genre with new and exciting methods of re-animation. Not to mention, Lovecraft is making a comeback in a major way with releases such as Underwater (2019) and Color Out of Space (2019).
Out of all of Lovecraft's tales, Herbert West - Reanimator reigns supreme in the top ten film adaptations of his work and with good reason. It is a total reinvention of the zombie trope and deserves a remake now more than ever. While fans may be hesitant of the possibility, modern horror directors have already proven themselves worthy of handling some of the most beloved cult classics, for example Andy Muschietti's 2017 film IT. Since Re-Animator was such a hit in the 1980s horror genre with such a tiny budget, imagine all it could accomplish with the horror directors and special effects of today.