Theme: Mad scientist body horror. Sometimes horror can be subtle - the scares come through a creeping sense of dread brought about by a judicious use of atmospheric lighting and a prowling camera which hints at creatures lurking around the corner. But sometimes horror likes to hit you square in the face, and this double bill of mad scientist body horror is designed to do exactly that. Staring off with Stuart Gordon's Re-Animator we enter the world of Herbert West (Jeffrey Combs) in this loose adaptation of the work of H. P. Lovecraft. This is body horror with its tongue firmly embedded - perhaps even poking through - its cheek, with a string of ludicrously over the top gory set pieces to keep you laughing and wincing in equal measure. Following this is an altogether maturer but no less gross-out movie from the body horror maestro David Cronenberg. Remaking the classic 1950s B-movie of the same name, The Fly sees Jeff Goldblum as another over-enthusiastic scientist who takes things too far when his teleportation machine is tried out with another unwitting passenger inside. His transformation into half man half insect remains the best since the werewolf transformation scene in An American Werewolf In London, guaranteed to put you off your dinner.
