Beyond Re-Animator Year: 2003 Director: Brian Yuzna Written by: Jose Manuel Gomez Threat: Mad Scientist Weapon of Choice: Teeth Based upon: none IMDb page:

Other movies in this series:
Re-Animator
Bride of Re-Animator

The tyranist's thoughts
There is a class of movies that is disappearing in this age of the cheap direct-to-DVD horror flick. The current trend is to feature a group of barely intelligible teen or twenty-somethings up against the slasher of the moment in a production that is at times slick and at other times rushed. Gone are the days of Charles Band and his Full Moon Studios; of the Canadian Slasher; and the simple joys brought to us by the likes of Stuart Gordon and Brian Yuzna. They always brought an attention to detail that few bother to match today. The effects were sometimes cheesy, but always fun to watch, and the action wasn't the same every single time.
So Herbert West was incarcerated for the events of the first two films. And who could blame them for locking him away? But he has a fan. A young doctor who wishes he knew the secrets West had started to uncover, who wishes that he could have saved his sister's life. Naturally, it will end badly.
I really like this kind of movie. I love the Lovecraft interpretations and the Re-Animator flicks seem to be the best of those. Of course, having Jeffrey Combs as Doctor West never hurts. The rest of the cast is at least adequate and in some cases very good. The script is dead on and the production very well done. Really this is one of the more enjoyable flicks of the past few years right down to the glowing green Re-Agent (or is that just reagent?).
Anyway, I think this hit the theatres for like 10 minutes and then showed on the Sci-Fi Channel. Don't let that heritage stop you. This is well worth the rent.
Posted: December 27, 2004

Rish Reviews
Sick, but fun, I too enjoyed this film. Perhaps not as much as tyranist, but I was born with a heart three sizes too small.
He and I got together over Thanksgiving 2004 and watched a couple of films, both of us too busy to make a true marathon of it. This one was a nice surprise.
Tyranist mentioned the film's star. I've become quite a fan of Jeffrey Combs. He has a sly wit, an interesting way of delivering his lines, and a certain undefinable oily charm. It would be nice if he could show up in a really mainstream hit. But maybe he would lose some of his allure if the world in general know who he was, sort of like that great Indie band you follow in school, only to abandon them once everybody starts playing their songs.
What tyranist didn't mention is that the REALLY sick legacy Stuart Gordon created in the first film lives on, perhaps even sicker, in this film. Should I mention that a woman's breast is bitten off in one scene? Do I dare tell you about the reanimated walking penis? About its fight scene with a rat?
Nahh. Instead, I'll focus on the beauty of the female lead (boy, she looked good), and the really interesting Spanish setting. It had some great low-tech special effects, some despicable characters who really deserve the nasty deaths that befall them.
There still were a couple of weak points in the flick. The opening prologue is quite lame, with acting so bad I wondered if Brian Yuzna had cast his son in a part again. Some of the dubbing was annoying. Some of the story made little to no sense.
But hey, I had fun (probably more fun than I did with Bride of the Re-Animator), and would happily come back for a fourth film.
I'd Recommend It To: Fans of the series, Combs, and/or gory scientific Horror.
Posted: Jaunuary 4, 2005

Total Skulls: 19

Sequel
Sequel setup
Rips off earlier film
Horror film showing on TV/in theater in movie
Future celebrity appears
Former celebrity appears
Bad title
Bad premise
Bad acting
Bad dialogue
Bad execution
MTV Editing
OTS
Girl unnecessarily gets naked
Wanton sex
Death associated with sex
Unfulfilled promise of nudity
Characters forget about threat
Secluded location
Power is cut
Phone lines are cut
Someone investigates a strange noise
Someone runs up stairs instead of going out front door
Camera is the killer
Victims cower in front of a window/door
Victim locks self in with killer
Victim running from killer inexplicably falls
Toilet stall scene
Shower/bath scene
Car stalls or won't start
Cat jumps out
Fake scare
Laughable scare
Stupid discovery of corpse
Dream sequence
Hallucination/Vision
No one believes only witness
Crazy, drunk, old man knows the truth
Warning goes unheeded
Music detracts from scene
Death in first five minutes
x years before/later
Flashback sequence
Dark and stormy night
Killer doesn't stay dead
Killer wears a mask
Killer is in closet
Killer is in car with victim
Villain is more sympathetic than heroes
Unscary villain/monster
Beheading
Blood fountain
Blood spatters - camera, wall, etc.
Poor death effect
Excessive gore
No one dies at all
Virgin survives
Geek/Nerd survives
Little kid lamely survives
Dog/Pet miraculously survives
Unresolved subplots
"It was all a dream" ending
Unbelievably happy ending
Unbelievably crappy ending
What the hell?