BEYOND RE-ANIMATOR

BEYOND RE-ANIMATOR

Ah, the curse of the sequel. On some occasions, you get that rarest of beasts - a sequel which surpasses the original. More often that not, though, sequels are too tangential for people’s tastes, too rehashed, or, in lacking the impact of the first film they just seem to dilute the quality of anything bearing the name. However, Beyond Re-Animator (2003), as sequels go, isn’t bad at all. It doesn’t detract from the first two films in the series because it retains the Re-Animator mawkish sense of fun, with lots of black humour. It is a continuation - there’s plenty of that glowing green ‘re-agent’ to be had - but it’s not just the same movie all over again so, although flawed, it’s an entertainingly grotesque film in its own way.

Beyond Re-Animator starts back at the time of Dr. Herbert West’s original medical advancements, as we see one of his ghouls breaking and entering, then killing young Howard’s sister, Emily. Howard sees West being taken away by Police shortly after the incident, and when West drops a syringe full of re-agent, Howard hangs onto it. This evening understandably has a formative influence on Howard, who, by thirteen years later is now Dr. Howard Philips (Jason Barry). Howard has long-harboured a fascination with what he saw that day and has made it his life’s work to get to know more about Dr. West - now thirteen years into his sentence. Philips asks and is accepted as the penitentiary physician, and he requests West as his assistant, returning his re-agent to him. What could possibly go wrong?

We soon find out when a patient has a fatal heart attack and gets a dose of re-agent. He’s as loopy as the dead usually get in these situations, but West assures Philips that he has made a breakthrough: he can now placate the reanimated with, ahem, nanoplasm, which returns them to normal. Of course it bloody doesn’t, and it’s inevitable that all hell is going to break loose, but how we get to that point is all pretty diverting. Once the evil prison warden (Simón Andreu, who bears more than a passing resemblance to one of the Chuckle Brothers) and his guest, journalist and Howard’s love interest Laura (Elsa Pataky) start asking questions, it’s only a matter of time before bad science ups the body count.

It’s a madcap film which of course lacks the shock of the new which Re-Animator had in terms of gore, but it certainly delivers some self-aware body horror and didn’t feel like a cynical film to me. A lot of the film’s qualities hang on the great Jeffrey Combs reprising his role as West; obviously, the intervening years of West’s cult impact has somewhat altered the way Combs plays what is arguably his best role, as well as how he looks, but he’s still deadpan, earnest and funny here. The supporting cast do decent jobs; Jason Barry is a likeable sidekick for West, and Romasanta’s Elsa Pataky definitely gets put through her paces, although her role was definitely reminiscent of the female lead in another of Yuzna’s films, Return of the Living Dead III.

If you’re prepared for a film which isn’t greatly taxing but entertains through ramping up the absurd, cartoonish horror then this is worthwhile. It has flaws - some embarrassing early CGI effects of West’s substances at work inside the body which did nothing for me, and some momentum-destroying fight scenes at the end which went on for far too long - but, by and large, the film layered on the blood and panic in a familiar, though not dull way (and if you were in any doubt about the daft humour at work here, then the closing credits should remind you!)

So, this is not a giant of a film, but has enough going on that it doesn’t disgrace the Re-Animator name while throwing in enough new (often literal) gags to carry it along.

As with all Arrow’s releases there are plenty of extras (but please, Arrow, enough with the inescapable previews before the film has even got to the main menu - it’s total overkill). The extras include: a Brian Yuzna commentary, a feature trailer, and a 50 minute documentary: All in the Head: Brian Yuzna and the Re-Animator Chronicles. Terrible credit art aside, this is diverting. Yuzna talks about meeting Stuart Gordon, how they first saw Dagon as an unofficial sequel to Re-Animator (really?) as well as some of their other projects (such as - to my surprise - Honey, I Shrunk the Kids!) and the other films in the series, with a focus on Beyond Re-Animator and the time he spent with the Fantastic Factory.

Review by Keri O’Shea


 
Released by Arrow Video
Region 2 - PAL
Rated 18
Extras :
see main review
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