Medical student Herbert West has discovered the secret of bringing the dead
back to life...at least in animals. So to prove that it can work on humans he
and his roommate sneak into the hospital morgue and pump a recently dead dude
full of his reagent. Good news is it works. Bad news is now you got a rampaging
zombie on the loose! Even worse is the zombie kills the school's dean. That's
definitely going on your permanent record. Zombie hijinks ensue.I used to love RE-ANIMATOR when I was a teenager, but watching it now again as an extremely handsome adult, I was surprised at how badly it's aged. Yeah, it's got some memorable moments, but compared other zombie classics like 1985's THE RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD or 1992's DEAD ALIVE, RE-ANIMATOR hasn't aged well at all. With both of those films, the story is engaging and imaginative with memorable characters and insane violence. With RE-ANIMATOR the story is fine, but the overall look of the film is dated, the special effects look cheap and the violence is nowhere as prevalent as I remember. There are a few topless scenes though.
Still, it's a legendary zombie film and 100% worth checking out. Maybe I'm just grumpy. Grrr.
Part 2 - Bride of Re-Animator (1989)
Part 3 - Beyond Re-Animator (2003)
