"Who's going to believe a talking head? Get a job in a sideshow."-- Herbert West (Jeffrey Combs)
In 1921, H.P Lovecraft wrote a serialized short story called Herbert West: Re-Animator, intended as a parody of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, about the eponymous inventor of a solution called "reagent" that can bring the dead back to life.
Lovecraft himself detested the Herbert West series of short stories, which he only wrote for financial reasons, calling them drivel written for the masses. He particularly hated how every issue had to end with a cliffhanger and the subsequent issue had to include a recap. Whatever his feelings, the stories predicted a style of zombie that would become popular decades later in George Romero's movies, so Herbert West: Re-Animator is today considered a notable literary precursor to a whole sub-genre of film.
In 1950, 13 years after Lovecraft's death of intestinal cancer, the stories became the basis for an adaptation in a magazine called From The Tomb. But it was a film update 35 years later that would prove most successful, with the release of Re-Animator in 1985...
Director Stuart Gordon was behind this 1985 adaptation of Lovecraft's uncelebrated work, with actor Jeffrey Combs playing Herbert West -- an expelled student at Zurich, who arrives in New England to continue his work into reviving corpses...
Made for just $900,000, Re-Animator is often considered to be the only adaptation of H.P Lovecraft's work that faithfully recreates the American author's unusual style -- despite the fact it willfully puts a humorous slant on the material. The film is a fun, energetic parody of traditional horror films and has achieved cult following. It's also one of the 80s' goriest flicks.
Two sequels have been made, both directed by Brian Yuzna: 1991s Bride Of Re-Animator (poking fun at Bride Of Frankenstein) and 2003's Beyond Re-Animator. Both are inferior to the original, but still great fun for fans of Herbert West and his special serum...
Trivia1. Director James Cameron's father appears in the film as the man sitting next to Meg with his head bandaged up!
2. The first man re-animated was Arnold Schwarzenegger's body double!
3. The production used 25 gallons of fake blood on the shoot.
