When Stuart Gordon’s Re-Animator was released back in 1986, the director and production team surely never, in their wildest dreams, imagined that their cult classic horror flick would become a trilogy. Yet, here we are. If you caught our last video on sequel Bride of Re-Animator, you’ll know by now that, although I dug the VFX and carnage in all of its practically made splendor, the movie had little else going for it. Plus, Bride didn’t have a proper theatrical run to show that continuing the series would be profitable from purely a box-office perspective. However, what makes horror the very best genre known to the movie-making universe, which of course it is my fellow gore-hounds, right? Is that despite certain movies being ridiculed or unappreciated by unimaginative critics, they become cult classics regardless. Which is a wonderful thing. Just consider daft horror flicks like Night of the Lepus, Killer Klowns from Outer Space, the Sleepaway Camp series, Troll 1 & Troll 2, Slumber Party Massacre, to name but a few, and there’s some wonderfully nostalgic fun to be had there. You could even throw in the ridiculous The Wicker Man remake in there too, with Nic Cage punching people in a bear suit and being terrorized by bees. Yeah, it’s awful, but it’s also awfully good. Grab your mates, a few cold ones, some overpriced pizza, chuck the movie on, and you’ll have a great time with it. Perhaps not for the reasons the filmmakers initially intended, though. Which brings us back nicely to Beyond Re-Animator (watch it HERE); a movie that nobody really expected or were massively craving for. So, could the trilogy closer bring the series full circle with an entry that matched the inventive macabre nature of the first film, with the great VFX of the second? Well, strap yourselves in gore-hounds, as we find out here on WTF Happened to Beyond Re-Animator.
What I’ve loved about revisiting the weird and wonderful world of Dr. Herbert West is that, despite the series having some questionable writing at best, it’s been a twisted treat in many ways. The first movie is considered to be a classic piece of schlock-horror filmmaking and although it’s perhaps slightly overrated, it’s still a blast. There’s also much to be admired about the less popular sequel, especially the inclusion of some truly messed up creature design. Watching the third movie made me appreciate the trilogy as a whole, despite it being probably the weakest in the franchise for several reasons I’ll get into a little later in the video. The thing with a cult classic franchise like this one is that as a fan, you’re invested in what comes next, even if it’s a major disappointment or not. The Nightmare on Elm St series have a massive dip in quality throughout all of the movies, but did that stop me watching them all and getting at least a modicum of entertainment out of them? Of course not. The same can be said for the slightly more recent Saw franchise which had great early entries, then fell away to some degree. Or, what about Critters? Love them all….Regardless. Movie’s are subjective, and you’ve got to enjoy what makes you happy. There was one scene in Critters 2 that made this movie-fan very happy, but I’ll leave that to your imagination, you sick and twisted gore-hounds.
Anyway, I digress, the point is, cult horror comes in all shapes and sizes and regardless of the so-called perceived quality of the movie, if you get a kick out of it, that’s all that should matter. When it comes to the Re-Animator franchise, there’s one guy who’s been attached to every entry so far, and after producing the first movie and directing the second, he’s back to take the twisted reins on this one too – Brian Yuzna. Since directing Bride of Re-Animator in 1989 the American filmmaker stuck to his horror roots by directing Silent Night, Deadly Night 4: Initiation, Return of the living Dead 3, Necronomicon and both installments of The Dentist, to name a few examples. That’s some awfully good, solid b-movie horror trash right there. So, by the time Beyond Re-Animator came his way in the early noughties, he was well prepared to tackle some more macabre monster action again.
A Re-Animator movie wouldn’t be the same without the main man himself, so returning as Dr. Herbert West is Jeffrey Combs. With the setting now in a prison, thanks to West finally getting some comeuppance for one of his zombies committing murder, the rest of the cast are newcomers to the franchise. Jason Barry plays Dr. Howard Phillips, Elsa Pataky is Laura Olney, Simon Andreu is Warden Brando and Spanish comedian Santiago Segura has a fun cameo as “Speedball”. We also get Lolo Herrero as Sergeant Moncho, Enrique Arce as Cabrera, Barbara Elorriatta as Emily Phillips, Raquel Gribler as Nurse Vanessa, Joaquin Ortega as Officer Falcon and Daniel Ortiz as Winni.
The movie opens with a promising sequence in which one of West’s zombie creations murders a teenage girl in front of her younger brother. The monster effects in this fun opening are actually pretty decent, with the braindead dude’s mouth hanging open and tongue flapping about uncontrollably. The murder leads to Dr. West’s arrest and he’s taken away by the police with the younger brother watching from outside the place where he’d just witnessed his big sis get torn apart. The action shifts thirteen years into the future, with West banged up in prison for the murder, and spending his time experimenting on rats. He discovers a new and intriguing way to reanimate a corpse so that they don’t become a mindless zombie, but can actually function as, and resemble, a somewhat normal human being. However, West is assigned to work with a new Doctor at the prison, Howard Phillips, who turns out to be the brother of the dead teenage girl from the start of the movie. Plus, the introduction of a journalist at the prison throws all sorts of curveballs in the way of both doctors as Phillips begins an affair with her.
The premise for the movie is pretty solid and while the movie is never scary, it regularly shifts nicely from one gross out moment to the next. And, having revisited this one for the first time in forever, I was actually pleasantly surprised with how much I enjoyed it in the end. It’s by no means a great movie, far from it in fact, but director Yuzna and Jeffrey Combs bring everything they can to the film, to make it at least macabre and engaging. The movie doesn’t try to shy away from its b-movie origins and there’s a fun extended sequence towards the end where a prison riot results in some lovely gore-tastic VFX. It’s a shame that there’s not much gore or splatter between the opening missing-jaw zombie sequence and the riotous finale, but there’s a lot of humor to enjoy when we get to the good stuff, including a rat vs severed penis scene that made this sick gore-hound laugh heartily.
However, Beyond Re-Animator is arguably the weakest of the three movies, and it’s not just the by-the-numbers narrative that ultimately lets it down. It’s missing Bruce Abbott as Daniel Cain, and although Phillips is a good actor, he’s a poor substitute for the West / Cain dynamic in the first two movies. Also, while the movie is supposed to be set in Massachusetts, it was actually filmed in Spain by Fantastic Factory, and while this shouldn’t have been too apparent, the fact that most of the actors are Spanish with no attempt to hide their accents, it feels like they should have moved the films setting to Spain instead. This is a minor gripe I guess because the series keeps its tongue firmly placed in its cheek, but the lack of a proper atmosphere in the movie and some dull writing lets it down. But, make sure you stick around for the rat vs penis scene in the credits. That shit was awesome!
Beyond Re-Animator was a co-production between Spain and the US, and premiered on the Sci-Fi Channel, albeit in a watered down TV-PG rating. An R-rated version of the movie had a very limited release in the US, and after some digging around the interwebs, it appears that movie had a theatrical release in Spain on July 25th, 2003 where it grossed $302,586. Despite the small theatrical US run, the film was actually considered a straight-to-video release, with the home entertainment platforms hitting shelves on December 23rd, 2003, that was followed by a special edition by Arrow Video in 2011. This version had some great extra features, including an audio commentary by director Brian Yuzna, a 50-minute documentary, original trailer, artwork, a poster and more. Arrow Video don’t do vanilla!
Critically, the film was met with a mixed response, which was probably to be expected. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 55% based on 11 critics, with an average rating of 5.30/10. Variety wrote that the movie is, “sometimes shocking but rarely scary” and “calculated to appeal only to hardcore gore hounds.” Bloody Disgusting, rated the film 2.5/5 stars and called it “a fun movie, but nothing special” while in their book Lurker in the Lobby: A Guide to the Cinema of H. P. Lovecraft, Andrew Migliore and John Strysik write: “If your idea of Lovecraftian fun is Combs’ acidic one-liners, and digitally enhanced gore effects that weren’t available for the other two films, then by all means have a look. But if you’re comparing this film to the still classic Re-Animator, well…This third try is only a shadow of the gonzo wit of the original and not nearly as entertaining.”
For this particular hound of the gore, however, the movie was flawed but fun and ultimately a schlocky experiment in how to mostly produce a decent b-movie trilogy closer. Brian Yuzna also intended to create a sequel trilogy to the first three movies but a lack of funding available to him at the time, plus the studio’s reluctance to take a punt on the franchise, meant that it still lingers in development hell. However, who’s to say the series can’t be, erm, re-animated in the future? Most importantly, I’d love to know what YOUR opinion is of the movie and its merits. Does it finish the trilogy on a suitably messed-up note, or does it fall short despite some awesome splatter in the finale? Plus, should somebody revive the series for modern audiences? Let us know in the comments, and I’ll see you wonderful gore-hounds next time. Thanks for watching!
A couple of the previous episodes of WTF Happened to This Horror Movie? can be seen below. To see more, head over to our JoBlo Horror Originals YouTube channel – and subscribe while you’re there!