Yuzna (2003)

2003 - Beyond Re-Animator - There was a lot of good stuff in this film. Jeffrey Combs eases back into Herbert West's skin like no time has passed. It is always entertaining to watch the unfailingly scientific, though psychotically tainted, Herbert start some mayhem. I always wondered what would happen to a living person injected with the reagent and now I know. Punishing criminal by hanging them and then giving them eternal life was very clever. Having the main "good guy" cut the head off of his girlfriend in a spray of blood was nicely messed up. The "nano-plasm" was a great way to keep the Frankenstein theme alive, with it as a modern, interesting substitute for the lightning in the original story. Unfortunately, all of this good stuff hangs on the skeleton of movie that doesn't quite work. The story sort of lumbers along; the riot wasn't one tenth as scary as in Natural Born Killers. Like the Looney Tunes-style iris-out on the cackling Feinstone in The Dentist 2, a few things in this film were far too silly for my taste. Yes, Re-Animator movies are supposed to be horror-comedies, but the style of some of the comedy in this sequel wasn't right at all. Yes, a rat fighting a re-animated penis is funny... but it's not Re-Animator funny. The same applies to the warden suddenly growing rat-shaped incisors because of a little rat energy injection. Still, I hope the rumored House of Re-Animator will see fruition. Comb's West is reason enough to watch, not matter what.

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