Beyond Re-Animator (2003)

Beyond re-animator is the final installment of Stuart Gordon's "Re-animator" series that began in 1985 and like most late installments, comes off as unnecessary and a failed attempt to cash in on a popular title. In the fashion of "Jason goes to Hell", "Freddy's dead: The Final Nightmare" and "Halloween: H20", Beyond Re-animator attempts to restart the series by trying to retcon certain plot elements while pretending to be a legitimate sequel. The result, as usual was a colossal mess of inconsistencies, leaving only the most superficial elements from the original two films without the heart of what made those films so beloved in the first place. We find our protagonist Herbert West imprisoned in a federal jail after his former assistant Dan Kain apparently turned him in to the authorities for his illegal experimentation. We never find out why Dan, a prominent character in the original films would do such a thing and Beyond Re-animator brushes off any details as unimportant. We're also provided with no explanation as to how West escaped the cliffhanger conflict at the end of the last film "Bride of Re-animator". Jeffrey Combs reprises his role as the mad scientist, who continues his devilish experiments on whatever subjects he can gain access to within the confines of his small prison cell. However, everything changes for West when Dr. Howard Philips (Jason Barry) takes over as the prison physician. Philips had witnessed the power of West's reagent serum as a child and has since become obsessed with the science of re-animating the dead. Handing West his iconic syringe containing the glowing green reagent, it's only a matter of time before West restarts his old experiments, and the entire prison is thrown into chaos. The film plays out in the typical fashion that we've come to expect from this series. Characters die only to be used as test subjects for West and Philips who bring them back to life as vicious, murderous monsters. The style blends graphic body horror with ridiculous slap stick comedy. While entertaining at times, Beyond Re-animator does little more than copy it's predecessors and fails to further the story of Herbert West in any meaningful way. The absence of Stuart Gordon is obvious as the film feels more like a what if scenario, rather than a genuine attempt to further an existing mythos. The story is convoluted as the majority of scenes serve little more than excuses to get from A to point B. For example, there's an ongoing joke about one of the inmates having a pet rat. We see West experiment on the rat which serves as an all to predictable foreshadowing of the rat being re-animated as one of West's experiments and eventually attacking his former owner. The characters in this film, save for Herbert West, were all one dimensional and failed to establish meaningful identities for themselves. Herbert West is deranged and lacking in social graces as always, making him the sole source of entertainment. By comparison, the scenes without West were uninteresting and took up far to much of the film's run time. It was fun seeing Jeffrey Combs reprise his most famous role one last time. However, the unoriginal plot and hollow performances by the rest of the cast simply couldn't keep up with him and ultimately dragged him down along with them and the rest of this film. Beyond Re-animator attempted to bring new life to the Re-animator series. Unfortunately, this experiment was a failure.

RE-ANIMATOR (and, to a lesser extent, its sequel BRIDE OF RE-ANIMATOR) are fondly regarded by horror fans as dizzying mixes of graphic carnage, gross outs, camp and black comedy, all linked to the H. P. Lovecraft name. Indeed the first low-budget entry in this series remains one of my favourite films of the 1980s, a perfectly-pitched comedy/horror that's up there with the likes of the first RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD. This belated sequel marks Brian Yuzna's attempt to kick-start the franchise once more, albeit with a difference (by this point Yuzna had relocated to Spain and was churning out a series of low budget, often outrageous horror movies, including the pretty good DAGON).The main thing is that Jeffrey Combs returns as Herbert West. Without Combs, this movie would have been a non-starter, but his kooky presence alone accounts for much of the fun here. Combs is one of those actors always typecast in genre flicks, but he brings a certain level of class, enthusiasm, and energy to his movies that make them fun to watch on the most part (Bruce Campbell is a similar type of actor). Bruce Abbott and Stuart Gordon aren't around, but I can live with that. Unfortunately, the plot for BEYOND RE-ANIMATOR is a little woozy. In essence this is a prison film, full of the usual stuff: vendettas, a full-scale riot, evil prison wardens, etc. etc. Herbert West and his experiments are almost a sub-plot, especially towards the climax. I admire the effort to further the plot – this time West is attempting to reintroduce the soul into his victims to stop them from becoming crazed killer zombies – but in the end it's wasted in a huge orgy of bloodshed and gore.Yep, this is a splatter flick like those made of old, complete with dodgy acting, a pretty rubbish script and plenty of surreal humour. The special effects have progressed somewhat since the '80s, so the half-zombie chap looks pretty decent, and the gore effects are of course more outlandish (the exploded guy is one of the grisliest I've ever seen on film). However, the supporting characters are a little uninteresting and Yuzna's constant emphasis on the lowest forms of humour (a battle between a zombie rat and a severed penis gives you some idea of the film's sophistication) mean that this film can't hold a candle to the original. It's worth a watch for fans, but it's a film that will be quickly forgotten afterwards.

Young Howard (Tommy Dean Musset) loses his sister (Bárbara Elorrieta) to a zombie (Ángel Plana) and becomes a doctor (Jason Barry) to gain access to the man (Jeffrey Combs) who can bring her back to life.The special effects are outstanding, and the sexual tension with Laura (Elsa Pataky), an investigative reporter is a driving force in the movie. Of course, she only teases us with her voluptuousness. We have to rely on nurse Vanessa (Raquel Gribler) to give us the money shot before her tit is bitten off.The slimy warden, played by Simón Andreu, is brilliant. There are plenty of other interesting characters in the prison where Dr. West (Combs) is incarcerated.Things get downright gruesome, and wildly hilarious, after a prison riot and make sure you stay through the credits.

West is back once againAfter a re-animated corpse attacks and kills a teenage girl, Emily Phillips, West is sent to jail (amazingly for the first time ever) and her little brother Howie finds a syringe with the serum in it, and thus begins his life work. Fast forward 13 years, West is incarcerated in a jail run by the sadistic Warden Brando. His neighboring cell houses the insanely god-fearing "Moses", and the rat-loving Cabrera. When West kills his rat, Ratty for his new experiments, things go downhill from there. Howie is hired as the new doctor at the jail, and soon falls in love with a journalist interviewing Brando, Laura Olney. West soon takes Howie as his new side-kick and shows him the ways of re-animation. However, it soon turns into another disaster as a prison riot breaks out, and some of the main characters (who have been re-animated) are in the crowd.West manages to escape death and/or jail again and get away.I cant wait to see the 4th movie, House of Re-Animator.But until then, this movie will do just fine