Re-Animator
An obsessive medical student unleashes a fluorescent reanimation serum, turning a New England campus into a riot of mad science, corpse horror, and black comedy.
Overview
A mad scientist's obsession with life and death leads to hilariously horrific consequences.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Breakneck
- Intensity
- Extreme
- Complexity
- Easy to follow
- Violence
- Graphic
- manic
- blackly comic
- grotesque
- midnight movie
- cult horror marathon
What critics said
Critics broadly praised the film's fast pace, grisly vitality, audacious black humor, and Jeffrey Combs's intensely committed performance.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
The film repeatedly turns reanimated corpses, severed anatomy, and laboratory disasters into blackly comic set pieces.
West's experiments breach the boundary between death and life through mutilated human cadavers and reanimated bodies.
Herbert West pursues proof of his reanimation theory despite escalating deaths and catastrophic consequences.
The film foregrounds tangible reanimated corpses, severed heads, laboratory injuries, and grotesque transformations.
Films like Re-Animator, and why
The Evil Dead
Shares splatter horror, grotesque practical effects, mad science, and anarchic black comedy.
From Beyond
Shares body horror, outrageous gore, irreverent humor, and cult exploitation energy.
Dead Alive
Shares mad scientist themes, reanimated bodies, practical gore, and comic-horror excess.
Society
Shares Lovecraft-inspired cosmic grotesquerie, scientific obsession, and escalating horror-comedy.
Movie Details
- Director
- Stuart Gordon
- Release Date
- 1985-10-18
- Runtime
- 86 min
- Rating
- 7.1 / 10 (1733)
Cast
- Jeffrey Combs
- Bruce Abbott
- Barbara Crampton
- David Gale
- Robert Sampson
- Carolyn Purdy-Gordon
- Peter Kent
- Ian Patrick Williams
- Bunny Summers
- Al Berry
Where to watch in United States
- Rent
- Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home
- Buy
- Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is Re-Animator about?
- An obsessive medical student unleashes a fluorescent reanimation serum, turning a New England campus into a riot of mad science, corpse horror, and black comedy.
- What is Re-Animator like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of Re-Animator as breakneck, its intensity as extreme and its storytelling as easy to follow.
- Is Re-Animator violent?
- Yes. Ember rates the violence in Re-Animator as graphic.
- What did critics think of Re-Animator?
- Critics broadly praised the film's fast pace, grisly vitality, audacious black humor, and Jeffrey Combs's intensely committed performance.
- Which films are like Re-Animator?
- Films with a similar feel include The Evil Dead, From Beyond, Dead Alive, and Society.
- How long is Re-Animator?
- Re-Animator runs 86 minutes.
- Where can I watch Re-Animator?
- In United States, Re-Animator is available to rent or buy from Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home.
