Jun 26, 2025
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FAVORITE CLASSIC FILMS | RE-ANIMATOR (1985) Empire International Pictures, Dir. Stuart Gordon Jeffrey Combs, Bruce Abbott, Barbara Crampton, David Gale
Robert Sampson
Re-Animator (1985)
Have you seen Re-Animator (1985)?
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RE-ANIMATOR Stuart Gordon USA, 1985
favorite horror film you just recently discovered
(From this meme)
Uuuuuuuh yeah that's Re-Animator.
Writing tons of porn fic for it, watched it probably fifteen times in the last month, built a whole deck of Arkham Horror cards for it... the obsession is real
It hits a very specific, great spot for horror. It's zany and campy. The effects are bonkers in some places, but really goddamn good in others. The stuff that should be awful instead comes across as camp, because it watches as though everybody in this film really seriously believed in the projected and wanted it to succeed.
I know Combs gets a lot of deserved credit for how he refuses to turn in a lackluster performance, but I think everybody here does a great job. I love that David Gale had almost quit acting and then did this one "last" film that turned into a mini-career with people who loved him to the end of his life and beyond. I love Bruce Abbot's protagonist accent and utter sincerity. I love the rightfully-crowned scream queen of Barbara Crampton. And can I get a shoutout for Robert Sampson? He basically plays three characters throughout the whole fucking movie and nails every single one of them.
Most importantly, though, it does the Shaun of the Dead trick of balancing comedy and horror throughout the film--then, at the exact right moment, shifts all its gears towards horror. I unironically believe that everything that happens after Dr. Hill hisses "So... do... I..." in the morgue is some of the greatest horror action I've ever seen.
The makeup jobs on the reanimates? Amazing. The acting? Also amazing. There's maybe one or two tension-relieving jokes, but broadly, the silliness is traded for horror in a way that's astoundingly effective. The blocking, the fights, Dean Halsey trying to save his daughter, Dan trying to save Herbert, how every single element was subtly pre-established in earlier scenes so nothing feels like a cheat, that droning music that plays over the chaos in the emergency ward...
I'll make jokes about how gay Dan and Herbert are for each other along with everybody else, but I don't think we'd all feel this strongly about the movie unless there was there there. And there is. What a fun movie.
