Movie Title: Bride of Re-Animator
Genre: Comedy, Horror, Sci-Fi
Writer: Rick Fry, Woody Keith and Brian Yuzna
Starring: Jeffrey Combs, Bruce Abbott, Claude Earl Jones, Fabiana Udenio, David Gale, Kathleen Kinmont, Mel Stewart
Review: It might be time for a second opinion as doctors Herbert West (Jeffrey Combs) and Dan Cain (Bruce Abbott) continue their research into re-animation. But West alters his twisted experiments for re-animating life to creating life. What could go wrong? It's more gauze, green lighting, and gross-out gore as Brian Yuzna presents Bride of Re-Animator.
Stuart Gordon's Re-Animator is a cult classic in every sense. It's shocking gore, nudity, and frantic energy has made it endlessly enjoyable and re-watchable for decades. Doing a sequel is never easy, especially to such an ingenious horror classic. But Bride of Re-Animator knows what worked about the first film and expands on it instead of just remaking the first movie, like most sequels do. It's quite a task to try and recapture the magic of the original, but without Stuart Gordon's masterful direction and a tight Dennis Paoli script, you get the goods as far as the horror goes, but it's kind of a mess of ideas, too many ideas and never quite has the same memorable impact and the first film.
Now, with that being said, there is a lot to like about this one. Both Jeffrey Combs and Bruce Abbott return in their icon roles. Combs is just pitch perfect as the psychotically obsessed Herbert West. He's creepy, funny, and takes his work way too seriously no matter how over-the-top things get. Abbott has the tough task of playing a heartbroken, tortured soul that becomes more blinded by West's antics as they attempt to repair the love he's lost. He's very good and has some dramatic chops that really help add some stakes to this ludicrous story. And with Fabiana Udenio as Cain's love-interest it shows how his character is split between the life he has and the one he wants. Plus, this one definitely doubles up on the blood and gore! You get more body parts for your buck! And the Bride of Frankenstein vibe works great and really makes the main plot interesting, especially visually. And David Gale's severed head returns to destroy West once and for all!
The biggest problem is there are too many subplots going on and the script never spends enough time on any of them for the audience to really get that invested. It almost uses the gore and horror to distract you from what is lacking instead of enhancing or heightening things.
Bride of Re-Animator is a gory good time for horror fans and those that love this freaky franchise, but I was a bit let down after my initial viewing. It's definitely worth a look, and a re-watch in my case.
Fun Fact: One of the original plots for the film involved Dan Cain being recruited to Washington, DC to bring the deceased President of the United States back to life with the help of Herbert West. This was later carried over to the unmade House of Re-Animator.