"Beyond Re-Animator" review by Aaron Vanek I've just survived seeing the print of "Beyond Re-Animator", the latest in the (now trilogy) of films based on the pulp serialized story by HP Lovecraft. After the screening, I briefly spoke with director/producer Brian Yuzna about the film. One of the first things he said to me was "It's not Lovecraft." I didn't even suggest that it was. But at least Yuzna knows that this is just a retread rip off of the story and the lead actor, Jeffrey Combs. "Beyond Re-Animator" starts in a flashback, where a kid named Howard Phillips sees his older sister killed by one of Herbert West's "experiments" that gets loose. After killing the babe (of course she's a babe) by bashing her head against the wall, the zombie pulls a carton of milk out of the fridge and fails to drink it, due to the fact he has no lower jaw. "Got taste?" 
Herbert West (played by the lovable Jeffrey Combs, showing a little of his age but more of his annoyance at the albatross of thesping this character again) is arrested and taken away to prison&but not before Howard Phllips (the boy), sees West and takes his syringe of familiar green glowing goo. We cut to West continuing his experiments on rats he catches in his cell. West figures out the reason why his reanimated come back rough around the edges is that they are missing "nanoplasmic energy" or NPE, which he can suck out of a creature electrically and store in what looks like a glass fuse. When Howard Phillips starts his work at the prison as the new doctor, and selects West as his assistant, hijinks ensue. There's a female reporter (the hottie Elsa Pataky), and as soon as you see her, you know you're going see her get shtupped before the movie is out (she is, by Phillips, but strangely enough, she hides her beautiful breasts with a strategically placed arm). The reporter is doing an article on prisons, and must endure the come-ons of the prison's slimeball warden (played by Simon Andreu). 
This is a cross between a cheap prison flick and the first "Re-Animator" & lot of re-heated hash, starting with the intro credit sequence. Here's some scenes that will give you an idea of the kind of movie this is: The warden gets babe reporter down on all fours and makes her bark like a dog A living prison inmate overdoses on the re-agent Herbert fights the reanimated upper torso of a prisoner A prison riot (of course) But the scene that best
exemplifies "Beyond Re-Animator" is a scene during
the end credits where a re-animated rat kung-fu fights a reanimated
severed penis. If you watch this instead
of the good indie adaptations of Lovecraft stories (check out www.beyond-books.com/catalog),
what's wrong with you? "The Yellow Sign"
REVIEW: http://www.flipsidemovies.com/yellowsign.html (Thanks to Aaron Vanek) |