20 Cult Horror Movies You Must See Before You Die

Taking cues from The Evil Dead's innovations in gore but prefiguring the splatstick zeitgeist ushered in by its sequel, Stuart Gordon's Re-animator is one of horror's great one-offs and undoubtedly the best HP Lovecraft adaptation to date (even if it is based on an underwhelming serial that's not especially representative of the esteemed author).

Jeffrey Combs stars as Herbert West, a medical student who has become obsessed with the idea of bringing the dead back to life, and develops a serum which he believes will revolutionize medicine. However, after overdosing his dead college professor in Switzerland, resulting in some heinous side-effects, West flees back to the United States, where he moves to New England to attend Miskatonic University. After renting a spare room from fellow medical student Dan Cain (Bruce Abbott), West quickly turns the basement into his own private laboratory, and things just get more nuts from there.

Horror films don’t always age well – The Exorcist is often found underwhelming by modern audiences – but the years have been kind to Re-Animator. If you first saw it back in the '80s, then rest assured it’s every bit as much fun as you remember it, if not more so. If you haven’t seen it yet, you’ve got a great evening’s entertainment ahead of you. 

But be sure you’ve eaten first.