Dr. Herbert West has been serving time in prison for 13 long years after having state's evidence turned against him by his former assistant, Dan Cain. But being incarcerated hasn't slow the good doctor down as he's still conducting experiments on rats from inside the walls. A man named Howard Phillips starts working at the prison as the new doctor, and as a kid he was there on the night when the police took West away. He saw his sister get killed infront of him, and has since then been fascinated with the possibility of bringing dead people back to life. So West takes him under his wing and sets up a lab inside the prison, and once again starts bringing the dead back to life. But as usual, things have a tendency to go slightly wrong...
13 years later after the release of Bride of Re-Animator, Brian Yuzna makes it a trilogy by making this; Beyond Re-Animator. One would might think that there's no chance that this could ever compare to the two previous old movies, but it's really good and sticks to everything fans of the previous movies have been familiarized with. Also, the fact that the movie was directed by the same man who gave us the previous two movies, and also that we once more get to see the insane Dr. Herbert West, again portrayed by Jeffrey Combs. So even if it one was made 13 years later it still feels as genuine as the other two, and does not feel like a third sequel that was made way too late.
This time we find Dr. Herbert West behind bars, and apparently he has been locked up for 13 long years. But of course prison can't stop the good doctor, and he's still conducting his re-animation experiments on rodents and uses the little stuff he has access to. One day a young doctor starts working at the prison, and he tells West that he was the boy who stood and watched while the police took West away thirteen years ago. The young doctor named Howard saw his sister get killed on that night, due to West's re-animation experiments. And ever since that night, Howard has been fascinated with the idea of bringing the dead back to life and wants to work with West.
 
West of course accepts since this will give him access to the prison clinic and all what that place has to offer. Plus that, he also gets an assistant to help him out. A reporter named Laura Olney is writing an article about the prison, and soon Howard and Laura fall for each other, even though West warns him that she's trouble. This movie focus on that West has found a new way when it comes to his re-animation experiments. Before when he brought the dead back, they came alive again but were acting like some sort of zombies. But this time he has come up with a new way to bring them back to their old selves. Unfortunately for West, things doesn't always seem to work out the way they should.
Beyond Re-Animator has all the elements you'd expect it to have if you've been watching Re-Animator and Bride of Re-Animator. There's the dark humour which works well even here, and of course the gore. When it comes to gore it has a lot to offer, not as much as the first movie had, but still enough to satisfy. Another thing that this movie has to offer is the prison enviroment itself, and it felt nice and fresh to get away from the Arkham Hospital that the two previous movies dealt with. The music is ok, even though it's not as good as before. When it comes to acting Jeffrey Combs once again pulls off a great performance, and his assistant Jason Barry is totally ok as well even if Bruce Abbott was better as his assistant. Elsa Pataky who stars as the reporter is very nice to look at but her performance isn't that nice, still works kinda ok though so I don't really want to complain.
Even though Beyond Re-Animator was made so much later, it still manages to capture most of the feeling that the other movies had. It's really entertaining, has a lot of cool horror elements to offer, plus some dark humour and of course the mandatory gore. It's a fun ride, and if you've seen the other two movies, you should definitely check this one out too.
By
Back to Horror Review Archive
|
ALTERNATIVE TITLE: Re-Animator 3
MOVIE YEAR: 2003
DIRECTOR: Brian Yuzna
WRITING CREDITS: José Manuel Gómez, H.P. Lovecraft
GENRE: Horror, Comedy, Sci-Fi
CAST: Jeffrey Combs, Jason Barry, Elsa Pataky
COUNTRY: USA, Spain
RUNTIME: 96 min
RATING: 7/10
Beyond Re-Animator Website/IMDB Click here
Beyond Re-Animator Trailer Click here
|
