All images in this post are taken from the DVD from this Arrow Video Release.
The Movie
Stuart Gordon’s Re-Animator is one of the greatest ‘80s horror movies of all time. No other horror flick up until that point successfully combined gore, horror, and humor quite like that movie did. There were horror movies that were intentionally funny (like Motel Hell for example), but what made Re-Animator special and original is that it took the fear of death and poked fun at it. Blood and guts are now funny thanks to director Stuart Gordon. The idea that something disturbing like a severed limb or a dead body could actually be funny still fascinates me. I have Re-Animator to thank for that.
Bride of Re-Animator has a cult fan base; if it didn’t, Arrow Video would not have wasted their time releasing it on Blu-ray. Unfortunately, the movie isn’t as good as the first. This is typical among most horror sequels. The thing that bugs me the most about Bride is the number of plot holes the filmmakers didn’t even try filling. What the sequel gets right is the gory goods that definitely deliver. What the sequel gets wrong is the story details.
Eight months after the events that took place in the previous movie, Herbert West (played by Jeffrey Combs) and Dan Cain (played by Bruce Abbott who now has a mid-90s Bruce Campbell styled haircut) are now doctors at the Miskatonic University Hospital where they are secretly still doing reanimation experiments. How both men are now employed as doctors at the same hospital in the previous movie makes no sense to me after everything that happened, not to mention Herbert West’s death scene. Both men (especially Herbert) are now more focused on reanimating body parts stolen from the Hospital’s morgue and combining these parts to create living freaks.
Dr. Hill (whose head is clearly seen crushed to the size of a grapefruit in the previous movie) is now back and reanimated to get his revenge on Herbert and Dan while they are in the process of completing a huge experiment. Using the body parts from the morgue and Dan’s dead girlfriend’s heart, Herbert and Dan create a whole living female. Other complications take place that jeopardize the experiment such as a detective who becomes suspicious of the missing body parts and Dan’s 2 love interests.
Not every movie needs a sequel. Re-Animator is perfect the way it is. If you feel you absolutely must see these characters again for one more movie, then here it is. Not everything about the movie is disappointing however. The special make-up effects from Knb Efx Group and Screaming Mad George (just to name a few) make up for the plot holes and are definitely worth checking out. I really feel that Bride of Re-animator is a success as a gory FX freak show, but a failure as a story. Sorry horror fans.
Audio/Video
Arrow Video brings Bride of Re-Animator to Blu-ray for the very first time in America, and the results are satisfying. For this 3 Disc Limited Edition release, both R-rated and Unrated cuts of the film are offered in 1080p with a 1:78:1 Aspect Ratio. The transfers for both cuts look identical except the brief scenes added in the Unrated cut take a bit of a noticeable dip in quality. Added shots in the Unrated cut appear darker than the rest of the movie and show much less detail. The rest of the image however looks great and feels like a lot of time and care went into this restoration. A fine looking image that I feel fans will be pleased with. The Lpcm 2.0 Audio Track offers some real kick, especially during the final showdown. Dialogue is clear and the gooey sound effects are top notch.
Special Features
Disc 1 (Blu-ray) & Disc 2 (DVD)
Unrated Version of the film.
Director’s Commentary – Director Brian Yuzna discusses getting the cast to come back for the sequel, shooting on a short schedule, the make-up effects, low budget challenges, and comparisons to the first movie. Moderated by David Gregory.
Cast & Crew Commentary – Brian Yuzna, Jeffrey Combs, Howard Berger, Robert Kurtzman, Tom Rainone, Mike Deak, Screaming Mad George, & John Buechler all participate in this commentary. An FX heavy commentary with each artist detailing their work on the film during their scenes and the challenges of working under strict time constraints.
Cast Commentary – Actors Jeffrey Combs & Bruce Abbott deliver a funny and amusing commentary here. They spend most of the time making fun of the movie MST3K style. Pretty entertaining stuff.
Brian Yuzna Remembers Bride of Re-animator (10 minutes) – A lot that’s covered here is already covered in Yuzna’s Audio Commentary.
Splatter Masters: The Special Effects Artists of Bride of Re-animator (15 minutes) – FX artists Robert Kurtzman, Screaming Mad George, Tony Doublin, and John Buechler look back on the work they did on Bride. Pretty sweet stuff with some behind-the-scenes home video footage.
Getting Ahead in Horror (24 minutes) – An archive making-of piece composed of behind-the-scenes footage. Here, we get a great look at almost all of the special effects in the movie. My favorite extra on the disc.
Deleted Scenes:
– Meg is Re-animated (8 minutes) – Probably came from the workprint. We also see some behind-the-scenes footage on the making of this scene. Interesting to note that this deleted scene fixes one plot hole.
– Carnival Sequence (2 minutes) – Only shown in still photos with a filmmakers commentary.
Theatrical Trailer (2 minutes)
Disc 3 (Limited Edition Exclusive)
R-rated version of the film.
Behind-the-Scenes Reel (14 ½ minutes) – More home video footage of the special effects scenes and make-up
Other Goodies:
24 Page Booklet – Includes new writing by Michael Blyth and a few color photos.
Re-animator: Dawn of the Re-animator (Limited Edition Exclusive) – Full 1992 comic prequel to the original Re-animator. Booklet is glorious and thick!
See larger image Bride of Re-Animator (Director Approved 3-Disc Limited Edition) [Blu-ray + DVD] New From: $54.99 Usd In Stock
The post Blu-ray Review: Bride Of Re-animator appeared first on Destroy the Brain!.
The Movie
Stuart Gordon’s Re-Animator is one of the greatest ‘80s horror movies of all time. No other horror flick up until that point successfully combined gore, horror, and humor quite like that movie did. There were horror movies that were intentionally funny (like Motel Hell for example), but what made Re-Animator special and original is that it took the fear of death and poked fun at it. Blood and guts are now funny thanks to director Stuart Gordon. The idea that something disturbing like a severed limb or a dead body could actually be funny still fascinates me. I have Re-Animator to thank for that.
Bride of Re-Animator has a cult fan base; if it didn’t, Arrow Video would not have wasted their time releasing it on Blu-ray. Unfortunately, the movie isn’t as good as the first. This is typical among most horror sequels. The thing that bugs me the most about Bride is the number of plot holes the filmmakers didn’t even try filling. What the sequel gets right is the gory goods that definitely deliver. What the sequel gets wrong is the story details.
Eight months after the events that took place in the previous movie, Herbert West (played by Jeffrey Combs) and Dan Cain (played by Bruce Abbott who now has a mid-90s Bruce Campbell styled haircut) are now doctors at the Miskatonic University Hospital where they are secretly still doing reanimation experiments. How both men are now employed as doctors at the same hospital in the previous movie makes no sense to me after everything that happened, not to mention Herbert West’s death scene. Both men (especially Herbert) are now more focused on reanimating body parts stolen from the Hospital’s morgue and combining these parts to create living freaks.
Dr. Hill (whose head is clearly seen crushed to the size of a grapefruit in the previous movie) is now back and reanimated to get his revenge on Herbert and Dan while they are in the process of completing a huge experiment. Using the body parts from the morgue and Dan’s dead girlfriend’s heart, Herbert and Dan create a whole living female. Other complications take place that jeopardize the experiment such as a detective who becomes suspicious of the missing body parts and Dan’s 2 love interests.
Not every movie needs a sequel. Re-Animator is perfect the way it is. If you feel you absolutely must see these characters again for one more movie, then here it is. Not everything about the movie is disappointing however. The special make-up effects from Knb Efx Group and Screaming Mad George (just to name a few) make up for the plot holes and are definitely worth checking out. I really feel that Bride of Re-animator is a success as a gory FX freak show, but a failure as a story. Sorry horror fans.
Audio/Video
Arrow Video brings Bride of Re-Animator to Blu-ray for the very first time in America, and the results are satisfying. For this 3 Disc Limited Edition release, both R-rated and Unrated cuts of the film are offered in 1080p with a 1:78:1 Aspect Ratio. The transfers for both cuts look identical except the brief scenes added in the Unrated cut take a bit of a noticeable dip in quality. Added shots in the Unrated cut appear darker than the rest of the movie and show much less detail. The rest of the image however looks great and feels like a lot of time and care went into this restoration. A fine looking image that I feel fans will be pleased with. The Lpcm 2.0 Audio Track offers some real kick, especially during the final showdown. Dialogue is clear and the gooey sound effects are top notch.
Special Features
Disc 1 (Blu-ray) & Disc 2 (DVD)
Unrated Version of the film.
Director’s Commentary – Director Brian Yuzna discusses getting the cast to come back for the sequel, shooting on a short schedule, the make-up effects, low budget challenges, and comparisons to the first movie. Moderated by David Gregory.
Cast & Crew Commentary – Brian Yuzna, Jeffrey Combs, Howard Berger, Robert Kurtzman, Tom Rainone, Mike Deak, Screaming Mad George, & John Buechler all participate in this commentary. An FX heavy commentary with each artist detailing their work on the film during their scenes and the challenges of working under strict time constraints.
Cast Commentary – Actors Jeffrey Combs & Bruce Abbott deliver a funny and amusing commentary here. They spend most of the time making fun of the movie MST3K style. Pretty entertaining stuff.
Brian Yuzna Remembers Bride of Re-animator (10 minutes) – A lot that’s covered here is already covered in Yuzna’s Audio Commentary.
Splatter Masters: The Special Effects Artists of Bride of Re-animator (15 minutes) – FX artists Robert Kurtzman, Screaming Mad George, Tony Doublin, and John Buechler look back on the work they did on Bride. Pretty sweet stuff with some behind-the-scenes home video footage.
Getting Ahead in Horror (24 minutes) – An archive making-of piece composed of behind-the-scenes footage. Here, we get a great look at almost all of the special effects in the movie. My favorite extra on the disc.
Deleted Scenes:
– Meg is Re-animated (8 minutes) – Probably came from the workprint. We also see some behind-the-scenes footage on the making of this scene. Interesting to note that this deleted scene fixes one plot hole.
– Carnival Sequence (2 minutes) – Only shown in still photos with a filmmakers commentary.
Theatrical Trailer (2 minutes)
Disc 3 (Limited Edition Exclusive)
R-rated version of the film.
Behind-the-Scenes Reel (14 ½ minutes) – More home video footage of the special effects scenes and make-up
Other Goodies:
24 Page Booklet – Includes new writing by Michael Blyth and a few color photos.
Re-animator: Dawn of the Re-animator (Limited Edition Exclusive) – Full 1992 comic prequel to the original Re-animator. Booklet is glorious and thick!
See larger image Bride of Re-Animator (Director Approved 3-Disc Limited Edition) [Blu-ray + DVD] New From: $54.99 Usd In Stock
The post Blu-ray Review: Bride Of Re-animator appeared first on Destroy the Brain!.
- 5/4/2016
- by Joshua Lightfoot
- Destroy the Brain
Stuart Gordon’s debut feature, Re-Animator, isn’t just one of the best horror movies of the 1980s, but also one of the few rare perfect horror comedies ever made. Alongside Evil Dead 2, the original Re-Animator essentially helped invent the splatstick subgenre and announced Gordon as one of the most exciting voices in horror, plus, it turned genre royalty Jeffrey Combs and Barbara Crampton into stars overnight. There’s almost no way it could be outdone in its sequel, 1990’s Bride of Re-Animator, though it’s not for lack of trying.
Brian Yuzna, producer of the first film, stepped into the director’s chair for the follow-up, which finds med student Dan Cain (Bruce Abbott) and Dr. Herbert West (Jeffrey Combs) escaping to Peru months after the bloody and tragic events of Re-Animator. They continue to conduct their reanimation experiments on soldiers injured and killed in the midst of a bloody civil war,...
Brian Yuzna, producer of the first film, stepped into the director’s chair for the follow-up, which finds med student Dan Cain (Bruce Abbott) and Dr. Herbert West (Jeffrey Combs) escaping to Peru months after the bloody and tragic events of Re-Animator. They continue to conduct their reanimation experiments on soldiers injured and killed in the midst of a bloody civil war,...
- 4/22/2016
- by Patrick Bromley
- DailyDead
Stars: Jeffrey Combs, Bruce Abbott, Claude Earl Jones, Fabiana Udenio, David Gale, Kathleen Kinmont, Mel Stewart, Irene Cagen, Michael Strasser, Mary Sheldon | Written by Rick Fry, Woody Keith | Directed by Brian Yuzna
It’s been almost two years since I reviewed Second Sight’s release of Re-Animator on Blu-ray. Now we have the release of Bride of Re-Animator – this time from the UK’s kings of cult, Arrow Video. Will they give this gore filled classic the treatment it deserves?
Bride of Re-Animator continues the story of Dr. Herbert West (Jeffrey Combs) who like any good Frankenstein like character has returned home to continue his re-animation of dead corpses. With the help of Dr. Dan Cain (Bruce Abbot) who has also returned they are building a woman. With Lt. Chapham (Claude Earl Jones) on their trail though will history repeat itself?
With Brian Yuzna taking over from Stuart Gordon in the director’s chair,...
It’s been almost two years since I reviewed Second Sight’s release of Re-Animator on Blu-ray. Now we have the release of Bride of Re-Animator – this time from the UK’s kings of cult, Arrow Video. Will they give this gore filled classic the treatment it deserves?
Bride of Re-Animator continues the story of Dr. Herbert West (Jeffrey Combs) who like any good Frankenstein like character has returned home to continue his re-animation of dead corpses. With the help of Dr. Dan Cain (Bruce Abbot) who has also returned they are building a woman. With Lt. Chapham (Claude Earl Jones) on their trail though will history repeat itself?
With Brian Yuzna taking over from Stuart Gordon in the director’s chair,...
- 4/11/2016
- by Paul Metcalf
- Nerdly
1985. Horror was going through a sea change on the film front, as slashers were shown the door and creature features became the cool kids on campus again. People lined up to see vampires (Fright Night) and werewolves (Silver Bullet) and zombies (Day of the Dead), oh my—but my favorite subgenre, the Mad Scientist, came roaring back to life with director Stuart Gordon’s (From Beyond, Dagon) manic masterpiece debut, Re-Animator.
Released in October, Re-Animator proved once again that when properly executed, horror and humor are delightful bedfellows, co-conspirators with the noblest of intentions: to entertain. Horror, while certainly not easy to do well (scroll through Netflix on any given day), has it made in the shade compared to comedy. Humor is more subjective, and what rubs me as funny may chafe you as stupid or insipid. Most people will agree that The Exorcist is terrifying, but not everyone likes...
Released in October, Re-Animator proved once again that when properly executed, horror and humor are delightful bedfellows, co-conspirators with the noblest of intentions: to entertain. Horror, while certainly not easy to do well (scroll through Netflix on any given day), has it made in the shade compared to comedy. Humor is more subjective, and what rubs me as funny may chafe you as stupid or insipid. Most people will agree that The Exorcist is terrifying, but not everyone likes...
- 10/18/2015
- by Scott Drebit
- DailyDead
It has just been announced that Re-Animator: The Musical will return for new performances in Hollywood this October with new performers and brand new songs:
““Re-Animator ™ the Musical” tells the story of Herbert West, a brilliant young medical student who has created a glowing green serum that can bring the dead back to life. What should be a medical breakthrough results in hideous monstrosities and ghastly consequences. “I guess he just wasn’t fresh enough,” is West’s constant refrain in his quest for fresh subjects. Graham Skipper, who won a Best New Performer Award at the New York Musical Theater Festival for his crowd-pleasing turn, returns as the demented young genius.
And operatic Jesse Merlin is back as Dr. Carl Hill who loses his head for Meg, the dean’s beautiful daughter, only to actually lose it at the hands of Herbert West. But thanks to the glowing re-agent,...
““Re-Animator ™ the Musical” tells the story of Herbert West, a brilliant young medical student who has created a glowing green serum that can bring the dead back to life. What should be a medical breakthrough results in hideous monstrosities and ghastly consequences. “I guess he just wasn’t fresh enough,” is West’s constant refrain in his quest for fresh subjects. Graham Skipper, who won a Best New Performer Award at the New York Musical Theater Festival for his crowd-pleasing turn, returns as the demented young genius.
And operatic Jesse Merlin is back as Dr. Carl Hill who loses his head for Meg, the dean’s beautiful daughter, only to actually lose it at the hands of Herbert West. But thanks to the glowing re-agent,...
- 9/30/2014
- by Jonathan James
- DailyDead
Gearing up for another year at Sheffield's Showroom Cinema, horror film festival Celluloid Screams has announced the full line-up of blood-soaked goodies it has in store for the weekend of October 24-26 – and boy, is it Astron-omically good!
Here it comes... straight from the press release to your eyeballs:
Opening Gala: The Editor (UK Premiere)
Director: Adam Brooks & Matthew Kennedy | Canada | 2014 | 1hr 42 mins
Kicking off Celluloid Screams 2014 in fine style, we proudly present the mind-boggling new opus from Canadian filmmaking collective Astron-6 – an affectionate tribute to the Italian giallo thrillers of the 1970s and 1980s.
Rey Ciso was once the greatest editor the world had ever seen, but after a horrific accident left him with four wooden fingers on his right hand, he’s had to resort to cutting low budget trash pictures. When the lead actors from the film he’s been editing turn up murdered at the studio,...
Here it comes... straight from the press release to your eyeballs:
Opening Gala: The Editor (UK Premiere)
Director: Adam Brooks & Matthew Kennedy | Canada | 2014 | 1hr 42 mins
Kicking off Celluloid Screams 2014 in fine style, we proudly present the mind-boggling new opus from Canadian filmmaking collective Astron-6 – an affectionate tribute to the Italian giallo thrillers of the 1970s and 1980s.
Rey Ciso was once the greatest editor the world had ever seen, but after a horrific accident left him with four wooden fingers on his right hand, he’s had to resort to cutting low budget trash pictures. When the lead actors from the film he’s been editing turn up murdered at the studio,...
- 9/10/2014
- by Gareth Jones
- DreadCentral.com
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