Behold, Re-Animator (1985; dir. Stuart Gordon)—baby, you’re back. And in stunning 4K, no less. You still kick like a mule and puke like a pup: grotesque, and weirdly brilliant.
Re-Animator lights from the lab with supreme clarity—not just visually, but in intent. Beneath all the gore and shock lies a movie that knows what it’s doing.
Buy Re-Animator (Special Edition) Blu-ray“Adapted” from an H. P. Lovecraft short story, Re-Animator follows one Herbert West, an arrogant, driven med student who’s neither squeamish nor shaken by death. To him, it’s a mere inconvenience. Jeffrey Combs gives an inspired performance—precise, unwavering, and so consumed by the hunger to push science past its limits that we almost care about him. About his quest to… well, re-animate the dead.
Bruce Abbott (as Cain, West’s reluctant sidekick) and Barbara Crampton (as Cain’s fiancée) hold their own. But it’s David Gale’s headless doctor—West’s rival—who damn near steals the film. Gale doesn’t chew the scenery—he slurps it, lapping it up with lascivious, grotesque glee. The most shocking moments don’t land because of what they show, but because of how confidently they go there.
What sets Re-Animator apart is its audacious, tightly controlled tone—cheeky, but never smug. The movie never winks. It’s a horror comedy that refuses to undercut the dread simmering beneath the surface. It’s not too good for its pulp roots, and it’s elegant. There’s a vision here, a guiding hand behind the camera. That’s what gives Re-Animator its deranged bite. A classic of its kind, it leans into its limits.
Celebrating its 40th anniversary, the 4K Standard Edition from Ignite Films and Eagle Rock Pictures features the unrated “integral” cut on both UHD and Blu-ray. The release overflows with more than three hours of new and legacy bonus content. Picture quality is vivid and richly calibrated—even West’s infamous re-agent now glows with an even sicker green. The movie always popped—now it looks truer to itself.
This is a glorious release—a tribute to transgressive, committed filmmaking that refuses to play it safe.
Fans can choose from four editions, exclusively at Ignite-Films.com, all of which include newly produced bonus features and legacy bonus features: the Blu-ray Standard Edition, the 4K UHD Standard Edition, the Deluxe Edition Box Set, and the Ultimate Limited Edition Box Set.
