Re-Animator
Short description
Herbert West arrives at Miskatonic University as a medical student convinced he has found a way to bring the dead back to life. With a glowing serum of his own making, he continues the experiments he began in Europe, setting up a laboratory in the basement of the house he shares with fellow student Dan Cain. Dan is drawn into the work, which starts with a cat and moves on to bodies from the university morgue. Dan's girlfriend Megan and the dean her father also become entangled in what West is doing. The revived tissue does not behave as intended, and West's rivalry with Dr. Carl Hill, who wants the discovery for himself, pushes the situation further.
Stuart Gordon directed in his feature debut, working from a screenplay he wrote with Dennis Paoli and William Norris; Brian Yuzna produced. The film adapts H. P. Lovecraft's story and stars Jeffrey Combs as Herbert West, with Bruce Abbott, Barbara Crampton, David Gale, Robert Sampson and Carolyn Purdy-Gordon. It runs 86 minutes and was made by Empire Pictures, taking about 2 million dollars worldwide.
Gordon returned to related material the following year with From Beyond, then moved through a run of genre films. On IMDb the film holds 7.1/10 from around 78,000 votes, and on TMDB 7.1/10 from 1,729 votes. A critics' rating of 7.8/10 from 131 reviews places it somewhat above those audience scores.
What's left behind the scenes
- Before filming this movie, Stuart Gordon—whose wife appeared in a small role as a doctor—spent 15 years working as a director at his own theater in Chicago.
- Having no experience in feature filmmaking, Stuart Gordon frequently relied on the help of his mentor, cinematographer Mac Alberg.
- The opening scene in Switzerland was filmed in a single day on the advice of Brian Yuzna. He believed that such an opening would give the audience a clear understanding of what to expect next.
- Contrary to the creators' expectations, the film did not receive a barrage of negative criticism; on the contrary, many newspapers wrote about it as a modern classic of horror cinema.
- According to Stuart Gordon, he initially planned to make a six-part film, with episodes lasting half an hour each. These were to be shot in black and white, mimicking the style of classic low-budget horror films of past years. However, the producers rejected this idea.
- The director's cut of the film is 95 minutes long.
- While filming 'Re-Animator,' the actor who played the man who died of a heart attack and was then revived by West also worked as Arnold Schwarzenegger's stunt double in 'The Terminator' (1984).
- After the film's release, Stuart Gordon earned the nickname 'The Re-Animator'.
- Stuart Gordon hadn't read Lovecraft until he came across the script for 'Re-Animator,' but, intrigued, he went to the library and devoured all the available stories by the famous writer.
- After the film was completed, Brian Yuzna decided not to submit it to the rating board. This was a risky move, but the enticing 'Not Rated' label greatly piqued audience interest.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
