Beyond Reanimator

For a movie that went straight to DVD, as far as I can tell, “Beyond Re-animator” is an unexpectedly solid addition to the camp-cult Re-animator series. Jeffrey Combs does a marvelous job reprising his role as obsessive, arrogant Dr. Herbert West, still in prison a real-time thirteen years after his mishap at Miskatonic University. Jason Barry earnestly plays West’s young protege, Dr. Howard Philips (get it? If not, look up the name of the original story’s author), a newly graduated doctor doing his residency at the Arkham Penitentiary. Philips saw West’s handiwork up close and personal when he was a boy and, like all of West’s assistants, finds the idea of conquering death irresistable. He’s in luck. After thirteen years of surreptitious experimentation, West now has a new pseudoscientific trick up his prison-issue sleeves: electric blue nanoplasmic vapor to take the manic edge off his glowing green reagent.

Philips is, of course, reluctant to go as far as West, but there’s really no doubt that he’ll eventualy succumb to temptation, is there? As in “Bride of Reanimator” (the two have the same director, Brian Yuzna), a woman is his downfall. And, also as in the other two movies, the women are nothing more than sexually titillating bimbettes. Elsa Pataky is the buxom young blonde reporter Laura, and Raquel Gribler is the buxom young brunette nurse Vanessa. Can you say “victim”? Don’t look for a Final Girl here. Still, director Brian Yuzna does include a scene that avenges us women for the infamous “giving head” segment of “Re-animator”....

I have to mention that Simon Andreu, who plays prison Warden Brando, is wonderfully sleazy, and I expect to see him in more movies in the future (the last movie he was in that you've probably seen was "Die Another Day." Andreu struck me as a psychotic Dr. Chilton, which made me immediately wonder what a Herbert West vs. Hannibal Lecter movie might be like...

“Beyond Re-Animator” has moments of dark humor, such as an initial scene that just begs for a “Got Milk?” tagline. The animation is as cheesy as ever, and viewers who’ve seen the previous installments will feel right at home with such familiar shots as the undead guy in the straightjacket, the twitchy reanimated animal, the almost cute dismembered eyeball, and the not-quote-accurate line, “but he’s dead!” The movie doesn’t break any new ground, to be sure, but it’s 95 minutes of comfortable fun and gleeful goo. What more did you expect?

The DVD has nothing very spectactular as far as extras, but be sure to watch the first minute or two of final credits to see the rat versus penis kung-fu scene.... Honestly.

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