10 Best Sci-Fi Horror Films To Watch Halloween 2020

Loosely based on the serial stories of H. P. Lovecraft, Re-Animator follows scientist Herbert West (Jeffrey Combs) and his experiments with his "reagent", a serum with the ability to revive any corpse, but only as a violent, frenzied zombie. After being kicked out of the University of Zurich due to the unethical nature of his research, Herbert decides to settle in Massachusetts, and makes friends with medical student Dan Cain (Bruce Abbott), who allows Herbert to rent his basement to use as a laboratory where he can conduct further experiments with the reagent.

It isn't long before Dan's fiancée Megan (Barbara Crampton) and university teacher Dr. Hill (David Gale) discover what West is up to, discoveries that not only threaten Dan's relationship, but also their safety as Dr. Hill becomes more and more obsessed with trying to acquire some of West's reagent. As the number of resurrected zombies keeps rising, the consequences of West's research become increasingly catastrophic.

Similar to the way The Fly treated its source material, Re-Animator has little in common with the 1920s short stories that it is based on. Although the basic premise is the same, this film opts for an explicit, gore-filled retelling of H. P. Lovecraft's original works, which works quite well given the subject matter of the original stories.

Although the gore might be too much for some viewers, this is balanced by just how funny this movie manages to be. Jeffrey Comb's performance as Herbert West is fantastic, as he delivers numerous cutting sarcastic quips that demonstrate just how unpleasant and consumed with his work West really is.

Gloriously disgusting, yet still entertaining, Re-Animator remains a classic 35 years later.