Review by Roger Carpenter
Earlier this summer I wrote a review for Arrow’s release of The Bird with the Crystal Plumage. I didn’t review the film itself because I assumed the readers who might click on the review already knew the film well and were mostly concerned with whether or not it was worth picking up another copy of the film. I’m going to make the same assumption about Re-Animator, perhaps the only film in the history of cinema to ask the MPAA to surrender its R-rating so it could be released in unrated form (actually, re-released).
The film itself is a horror-comedy classic based on one of H.P. Lovecraft’s lesser known works entitled Herbert West: Re-Animator. At the time of its theatrical release it was considered cutting edge in the area of gore as well as altogether outrageousness. I suspect Lovecraft, who was so adept at avoiding explicit descriptions of monsters and the heinous acts they committed, probably rolled over in his grave upon the release of this graphically violent film some would describe as being in bad taste.
The film launched the movie careers of several major genre players including producer Brian Yuzna, director Stuart Gordon, and actors Bruce Abbott, Barbara Crampton (already a successful soap star), and especially Jeffrey Combs. Thirty years on the film is still incredibly gory and features some outrageous set pieces, but it is also really funny and extremely witty in places. Some of the funny bits are obvious, especially the verbal gags, but there are a number of visual puns the viewer may or may not catch. The film is simply a rollicking good time.
So we’ve established Re-Animator is a genuine cult classic. As with most cult classics, it has been released and re-released on a number of occasions. Some of those releases have been prestige releases that include a veritable ton of special features. Chances are readers of this review probably own a copy or two of different versions of the film. I still own Elite Entertainment’s Millennium Edition, the ultimate R1 standard DVD release. Several years later Elite Entertainment released the Millennium Edition on Blu-Ray, dropping the “Millennium Edition” moniker. For many years this would be the Gold Standard of R1 Blu-Ray releases though I never felt the need to upgrade. Hard core fans may have also sought to own various other releases as well such as the German 3-disc special edition or the special edition from Australia. So the natural question is, simply, is Arrow’s new version worth purchasing?
Arrow’s release features 4K restorations of both the original unrated version of the film as well as what has become known as the “integral version,” essentially a longer version using deleted and extended scenes that were cut from the original version but used later to pad out both the R-rated and television (!) versions of the film. This may be important for completists so they have the longest edit of the film possible, restoring a great deal of footage that didn’t make it into the initial theatrical cut. Personally, I don’t really care to have the integral version as many special editions—Arrow’s as well—includes this footage in an extended special feature. So I’ve seen it. Granted, I haven’t seen it edited into the film, but there was a reason it was cut out, and the filmmakers were right—much of this stuff simply bogs down the film. The original theatrical cut moves like a Bullet Train. But the integral version is much slower though additional footage does help explain some scenes left in that show Dr. Carl Hill glaring hatefully at various characters (an entire subplot concerning Dr. Hill’s ability as a hypnotist was dropped during the editing process).
All of the special features from Elite Entertainment’s Millennium Edition and Blu-Ray edition are ported over: a director audio commentary as well as a cast/crew commentary; a 68-minute making-of/retrospective documentary, Re-Animator Resurrectus; a 48-minute feature with director Stuart Gordon and producer Brian Yuzna reminiscing about the film; an 11-minute interview with writer Dennis Paoli; a 15-minute interview with music composer Richard Band; and a 5-minute interview with former Fangoria editor Tony Timpone. There is also a second featurette with composer Richard Band who discusses four key sequences in the film, which lasts just short of 17 minutes; 26 minutes of extended and deleted scenes; the theatrical trailer; and five television spots. None of this is new and it can all be found on earlier releases.
So why bother with purchasing another version of the film, even if Re-Animator is a genuine horror classic? That’s a fair question, so I’ll try to answer it now.
Disc one contains everything mentioned above as well as new featurettes: a 36-minute discussion and career retrospective on Barbara Crampton; a 16-minute updated interview with director Stuart Gordon; a new interview with musical lyricist Mark Nutter, a major player in the very successful Re-Animator: The Musical; and three multi-angle storyboard scenes.
But there’s another disc, this one containing the 4K restoration of the integral version of the film as well as a couple of significant extras. The extras include a 54-minute discussion of Lovecraft in film as well as Jeffrey Combs reading the original Lovecraft Re-animator stories out loud, a 98-minute extravaganza. Sold yet? But wait…there’s more!
Arrow has outdone themselves with the packaging for this 2-disc edition. The package contains a booklet featuring new writing on the film by Fangoria veteran Michael Gingold as well as a reprint of the original, 92-page 1991 comic book adaptation of the film. That’s pretty nice, huh?
So, in a nutshell, the answer to the question, “Should I bother with another release of this film?” is an unequivocal, “Yes!” This is one of the nicest packages Arrow has yet produced, which is saying something coming from a company who has released several extremely nice packages of other genre staples. The film has just been released and can be purchased through Amazon or directly from Arrow at http://www.arrowfilms.co.uk/category/usa/.
