Re-Animator

"Herbert West has a good head on his shoulders...and another one on his desk."

1985 1h 26m EN

👍

7.1

SOLID

🍅

88%

FRESH

👌

METACRITIC

⭐

7.1

IMDB

★7.1TMDB · 1,748🍅88%Rotten Tomatoes●73Metacritic★7.1IMDB · 78,024

Science FictionComedyHorror

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Conducting clandestine experiments within the morgue at Miskatonic University, scientist Herbert West reveals to a fellow graduate student his groundbreaking work concerning the re-animation of fresh corpses.

“Herbert West has a good head on his shoulders...and another one on his desk.”

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Cast

Jeffrey Combs
Herbert West
Bruce Abbott
Dan Cain
Barbara Crampton
Megan Halsey
David Gale
Dr. Carl Hill
Robert Sampson
Dean Alan Halsey
Carolyn Purdy-Gordon
Dr. Harrod
Peter Kent
Melvin the Re-Animated
Ian Patrick Williams
Swiss Professor

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Stuart Gordon
Writers: H.P. Lovecraft, Dennis Paoli, William Norris
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

RUNTIME

Did you know

86 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Shot for just $0.9M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

ERA

Did you know

41 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

CINEMA

Did you know

Part of the "Re-Animator Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Stuart Gordon, shot by Mac Ahlberg. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Richard Band. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Lee Percy shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Jeffrey Combs and Bruce Abbott and Barbara Crampton carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Stuart Gordon directs. Mac Ahlberg behind the camera. Richard Band scores. Lee Percy cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Profitable at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

186 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.
2Shot for just $0.9M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
341 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
4Part of the "Re-Animator Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
5Directed by Stuart Gordon, shot by Mac Ahlberg. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
6Original score by Richard Band. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
7Editor Lee Percy shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
8Jeffrey Combs and Bruce Abbott and Barbara Crampton carry the top of the cast.
9Marketing tagline: "Herbert West has a good head on his shoulders...and another one on his desk.".
10IMDB entry: tt0089885 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
11Classified under 23 themes, including "experiment", "insanity", "overdose", "halloween".
12Released under 16 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Mac Ahlberg
Original score: Richard Band
Editing: Lee Percy
Costume design: Robin Lewis West
Makeup / hair: John Naulin
Stunt coordinator: Dan Bradley
Runtime: 86 min · 1h 26m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $900,000
Box office: $2,027,771
Return: 225% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): NR
IMDB: Re-Animator (1985)
Rotten Tomatoes: 88% 🍅 Fresh
Metacritic: 73/100
IMDB rating: 7.1/10 · 78,024 votes
MPAA: R

Awards

4 wins & 5 nominations total

Sitges Film Festival Best Feature-Length Film award

Individual records documented via Wikidata; the summary above may count more.

Part of

Re-Animator Collection

Re-Animator is an American-Spanish science fiction horror comedy film series based on H. P. Lovecraft's short story.

Also by

Stuart Gordon

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

Gimly2017-05-13
★ 6/10
I don't feel as strongly about Re-Animator as much of the horror community does. I absolutely enjoy it, recommend it, even. Just in more of a Watch-Enjoy-Done sort of way. Very different from your typical Lovecraft fare. Final rating:★★★ - I personally recommend you give it a go.
TheTenth2018-04-18
★ 10/10
In 1985 I was 15, and already a big horror movie fan. With Evil Dead, Halloween, Friday 13th, Italian horror ... the genre was dynamic. Then, reading Mad Movies, I see this very gore movie inspired by a short Lovecraft tale, coming soon. I go there at 2pm, watch the movie and end up seeing it 7 times in 3 days. The cast gives an insane (!!!) performance, especially Jeffrey Combs of course, but having Bruce Abbott try to keep his sanity and stay alive in the horrific events. Barbara Crampton will be mainly remembered by being licked by a severed head, but she does a nice "normal" character. The couple try to save what they can (sanity and life) and are quite a counterpoint to West and his madness of overcoming death, whatever consequences there may be. Most scenes are in the Arkham faculty, some at Dan's apartment. This also enhances the madness of it all, with a regular setting where usually nothing wrong could happen. The "gore" SFX still are vivid in my mind. So OK more modern SFX are done now, but those rubber body parts with liters of blood were really efficient, and I'll add "physical". Those computer generated very often lack the practical physicality of holding a severed hand or head they do now (must be a challenge for the actors to interact with nothing beside a green sceen. Overall these elements create a powerfully entertaining movie.
Sierbahnn2026-05-01
★ 6/10
This is a staple of its genre, and for good reason. It is hokey, it is overacted, the effects are messy, sure, but that does not makes it any less brilliant. While teasing some Lovecraft-story ideas, this is its own beast, and stands on its own legs. The casting is ok, apart from Jeffrey, of course, who is tearing up each and every scene. He is grand in this.