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Bride of Re-Animator (1989)
So, after a quick and superfluous message from our favorite floating cranium, the story picks up eight months after the events of first film, where our two main characters (Cain and West) have found themselves in… Peru? Ok then. They are seen treating gravely wounded soldiers on the verge of death. One ends up dying. Just try to guess where this is going… Later, after West’s experiments extend to mixing and matching various body parts (in hilarious fashion), the duo attempts to assemble a new person from numerous sources (à la Frankenstein). Speedbumps they run into along the way include a token love interest, an ornery detective, another token love interest, the perils of sneaking dead bodies out of a crowded hospital in broad daylight, and Dr. Hill’s flying head. Of course, all of these festering elements lead to the customarily over the top gross-out finale.
Fortunately, the shameless Psycho rip off theme makes a (heavily altered) reprisal, this time with cheesier synths. Unfortunately, the rest of the score is… umm… pretty awful. It seriously hinders most would be funny or entertaining moments. The supporting acting is a little difficult to bear as well, but god*mn, Combs still embellishes every scene he’s in. They could make a Re-Animator in Space, and I’d probably consider it a must watch just for Combs. One positively notable aspect is Yuzna’s heightened sense of style, which features more strongly colored lighting and elaborately decorated sets. It’s all done with a foggy, low budget, Bava-esque charm. There are some more quotable one liners as well, although the dialogue really pushes the comedy aspect through the roof, often neglecting the horror label.
Overall, Bride of Re-Animator has some virtues, and it attempts to carry on the spirit of the original film, but it’s just nowhere near as fun. The plot seems far less inspired, and tries to juggle too many new and uninteresting characters. At the very least, it’d make an apt double-billing with Frankenhooker (can’t say that about many movies). Fans of the original should still give it a go.
So, after a quick and superfluous message from our favorite floating cranium, the story picks up eight months after the events of first film, where our two main characters (Cain and West) have found themselves in… Peru? Ok then. They are seen treating gravely wounded soldiers on the verge of death. One ends up dying. Just try to guess where this is going… Later, after West’s experiments extend to mixing and matching various body parts (in hilarious fashion), the duo attempts to assemble a new person from numerous sources (à la Frankenstein). Speedbumps they run into along the way include a token love interest, an ornery detective, another token love interest, the perils of sneaking dead bodies out of a crowded hospital in broad daylight, and Dr. Hill’s flying head. Of course, all of these festering elements lead to the customarily over the top gross-out finale.
Fortunately, the shameless Psycho rip off theme makes a (heavily altered) reprisal, this time with cheesier synths. Unfortunately, the rest of the score is… umm… pretty awful. It seriously hinders most would be funny or entertaining moments. The supporting acting is a little difficult to bear as well, but god*mn, Combs still embellishes every scene he’s in. They could make a Re-Animator in Space, and I’d probably consider it a must watch just for Combs. One positively notable aspect is Yuzna’s heightened sense of style, which features more strongly colored lighting and elaborately decorated sets. It’s all done with a foggy, low budget, Bava-esque charm. There are some more quotable one liners as well, although the dialogue really pushes the comedy aspect through the roof, often neglecting the horror label.
Overall, Bride of Re-Animator has some virtues, and it attempts to carry on the spirit of the original film, but it’s just nowhere near as fun. The plot seems far less inspired, and tries to juggle too many new and uninteresting characters. At the very least, it’d make an apt double-billing with Frankenhooker (can’t say that about many movies). Fans of the original should still give it a go.