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Title: "Beyond Re-animator" (2003) Post by: Neville on July 29, 2003, 09:55:08 AM One of the most rewarding things of living in Spain (regerding B-movies) is that since the founding of the Fantastic Factory Studios I am able to check them (almost) before anyone else, plus they also get a theatrical release, I suppose because it is a requisite for obtaining government funds. Don't worry that much. IMDB states that the film will be video released in the USA on September 23rd.
So, when "Beyond Re-animator" opened last week, I inmediately probed my closest friends to see who was going to watch it with me. It took me a while to find the adequate company, and finally watched the film yesterday. Let me say first than everything that it's been long years since I saw the second instalment of the Re-animator series, "Bride of Re-animator", and have never seen the original (I know, shame on me). Despite this, I think that the movie rocked. Really. I had somer small disappointments, the main reason being that I am not very familiar with the series, so I expected more tension and horror. Instead, what we get is a quite gory (and funny) demo of the application of the Murphy Laws on the subject of re-animating corpses, encased on a prison flick framework. I didn't had much expectations on the film, mainly because of Yuzna, who has never seemed to me a very talented director (specially after "Faust"), but here he was at his best. After having endured many of his films (add to the above mentioned the two "Dentist" movies and "Progeny"), I can easily say that this is his best work yet. Despite some ham-fisted scenes and the occassional bad dialogue, Yuzna succeeds in what probably was his main objective, which is finding the appropiate blend of horror (usually quite gory) and humour. The film moves at a steady pace, and easily you'll find yourselves wide opened after a specially ghastly moment, just to crack up seconds later. Yes, this is the type of movie you are in. And thanks to the Spanish crew, which starts to show some great skills after several films (this is the fifth Fantastic Factory film), this is the best edited and photographed Yuzna film I have ever seen, to the extent these qualities alone manage to hide some of Yuzna's evident limitations. Finally, the cast is great. Combs is brilliant in his West's manierisms (as you imagine, he also has the best dialogue), and his work alone would have made the movie watchable, but the mixed spanish-american cast has also some other surprises. Jason Barry is quite good as the vulnerable doctor who soon becomes a puppet in West's hands, Simon Andreu is lots of fun as the sadistic director of the prison, beauty Elsa Pataky shines when her otherwise bland character is put in danger, and Santiago Segura ("El dia de la Bestia", "Blade II") steals any scene he is in. In conclusion, "Beyond Re-animator" is by no means the last word on horror or prison flicks, but it is a surprisingly successful blend of gore and humour, and probably the funniest B-Movie I've seen this year. Highly recommended. Title: Re: "Beyond Re-animator" (2003) Post by: JohnL on July 30, 2003, 01:30:31 AM Let me guess; Dr. West is still working on his re-animation fluid and it still doesn't work right. So rather than changing the formula and trying to get it right, he just keeps injecting the same old formula into dead people (and pieces) and acting surprised when it blows up in his face. Am I close?
Title: Re: "Beyond Re-animator" (2003) Post by: Neville on July 30, 2003, 04:15:21 AM Close but not quite right. Dr. West has refined his work and has a few new surprises. I can't elaborate without spoiling anything, so I'll end it here.
Title: Re: "Beyond Re-animator" (2003) Post by: Steven Millan on July 30, 2003, 06:08:40 AM Looks like you really enjoyed the movie,Neville,which means this'll definitely a lot more entertaining than that latest "Tomb Raider" celluloid atrocity that I badly suffered through(last night),and anything that Ben Affleck and Jenny Lopez will both ever make in their lives(don't even get me started on those two,okay ?!).
Title: Yeah, Beyond Re-Animator Rules Post by: Mr_Vindictive on July 30, 2003, 08:44:51 AM Saw this flick a little over a month ago at a local screening.
Fantastic film. Hilarious, gory, and 100% entertaining. The flick stands by itself as a good entry into the horror/comedy genre. My wife went with me eventhough she had never seen the first two Re-Animator flicks and loved it. It is by far the goriest horror film that I've seen at the theater in quite some time. I posted my original review of the flick about a month ago. Here's the url if anyone wants to check it out: http://www.badmovies.org/bbs/read.php?f=2&i=44187&t=44187#reply_44187 |