DVD Reviews

Beyond Re-Animator

Whenever I see Jeffrey Combs’ name in the credits I always know that I have at least something to look forward to. His bizarre, neurotic characters are usually the highlight of any film. Fortunately, he has recently reprised one of his best characters, Dr. Herbert West, in the third film in the delightfully gory Re-Animator series titled Beyond Re-Animator.

This time around Herbert West continues his experiments in the science of death while serving a life sentence in prison for the crimes of the first two films. When the new prison doctor arrives he informs West that they have met before and he wishes to help him continue his research. Needless to say, as the experiments develop the living start dying and the dead start living. Director Brian Yuzna nicely blends comedy and straight horror in Beyond Re-Animator. He starts things off quite simply and keeps adding one grotesque situation after another until he reaches the frantic finale. The gore is plentiful, which is certainly a highlight for this kind of movie, and there are many bizarrely funny sequences (make sure you watch the credits). And then there’s Jeffrey Combs who is fantastic in this film. He infuses the character once again with the right mix of childlike excitement and serial killer insanity. The movie has one fault, though, which holds it back from being a great gore film and that is the fact that it constantly attempts to recreate key moments from the first Re-Animator. Because of this lack of originality many of the main plot twists are easy to predict. Regardless of this fact, I still had an extremely good time with Beyond Re-Animator. It provides the gory goods and has fun doing it.

The new DVD from Lions Gate looks very good. This is a dark film, but the blacks come across very solidly. The surround sound audio track works nicely projecting the horrifying sounds of the living dead with clear precision.

There are also a few special features included on the DVD. The best of the features is a commentary with director Brian Yuzna. He goes into great detail about making the film in Spain as well as trying to come up with ways to continue the Re-Animator series. There is a short making-of featurette. Half of this documentary is in Spanish, so you might you want to make sure that you turn the subtitles on before you watch it. There are some nice interviews in this, but nothing really fascinating. The oddest feature is a music video for a song called Move Your Dead Bones. That’s right it’s the big Re-Animator music number we’ve all been waiting for. I must admit I watched this the first time through with my jaw wide open - it’s not very good, but it certainly is hilarious.

Review By Corey Brown