Re-Animator
Re-Animator is a 1985 film from the USA, directed by Stuart Gordon, running 104 minutes. reelscum files it under splatter.
- Year
- 1985 · 1980s films
- Country
- USA
- Runtime
- 104 min
- Director
- Stuart Gordon
- Updated
- 29 Oct 2026
- Obscurity
- known (15/100)
Defined in the glossary: Splatter
Where the effects and the writing finally matched. Jeffrey Combs is perfect.
The point where splatter grew up and got funny on purpose. A medical student reanimates the dead with a glowing green serum, everything goes wrong immediately, and Jeffrey Combs plays Herbert West as a man with no time for anyone else's squeamishness.
Stuart Gordon adapts Lovecraft into pure escalating farce, and the effects are gleeful rather than grim. The infamous severed-head scene is played as comedy and lands as comedy, which is harder than it looks.
Genuinely one of the best horror comedies ever made, and it never once winks at you.
Trailer
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Where to watch
Legal options in USA
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Filed alongside
Braindead
Jackson before the trilogy. The lawnmower scene ends the argument.
Day of the Dead
The bleakest Romero. Bub is the only sympathetic character in it.
The Return of the Living Dead
Punk soundtrack, running zombies, and the film that invented 'BRAINS'.
Dawn of the Dead
A shopping mall, four survivors, and Savini's finest hour.
Bad Taste
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The Toxic Avenger
Troma's only good film, and the head-crushing is still funny.
Ichi the Killer
Miike hands out sick bags at the premiere and earns every one of them.
From Beyond
Stuart Gordon and Jeffrey Combs do Lovecraft again. A machine that lets you see what should stay unseen.
Bride of Re-Animator
Herbert West builds a woman from parts. The sequel goes bigger, wetter and more demented.
The Evil Dead II
Remake and sequel at once. Raimi discovers slapstick and never looks back.
Inside
The French extremity wave stripped to one room, one night, and a pair of scissors.
Nekromantik
German, banned widely, and much sadder than its reputation suggests.