Bride of Re-Animator
Directed by Brian Yuzna
Starring: Jeffrey Combs, Bruce Abbott, Fabiana Udeino
Arrow Video
Reviewed by Jess Landry
Taking place a few months after the bloody events of Stuart Gordon’s cult classic Re-Animator, Bride of Re-Animator catches up with everyone’s favourite quack, Dr. Herbert West, and his trusty sidekick, Dr. Dan Cain. West, still on a high from his re-animating concoction, now has the bright idea to create life using dead tissue. Dan, naturally, thinks that’s a terrible idea, but willingly goes along with his roommates’ plan. What ensues is a gory good time that both entertains and, under its absurdity, pays a lovely homage to the Bride of Frankenstein.
The innovative effects are what make this cult classic sequel so great. From the weirdly adorable five-fingered eyeball thing to man-armed dog, from the bat-head to the bride herself, there is nothing more an FX lover could want. Taking into consideration the artists who worked on the film (Screaming Mad George, KNB Effects, among others), and it’s no surprise everything turned out as good as it did.
Disc one of this edition has an R-rated version of the film plus a 14 minute behind-the-scenes reel (featuring more mullets and teased hair than an 80’s hair metal band). Disc two houses all the goodies: it has an unrated version of the film; two deleted scenes; three separate audio commentaries (one from director Brian Yuzna, one with the cast and crew, and one with stars Jeffrey Combs and Bruce Abbott); the theatrical trailer; “Brian Yuzna Remembers Bride,†a 9 minute interview with the director; “Splatter Masters,†a 15 minute featurette with the special effects crew (Robert Kurtzman, Screaming Mad George, Tony Doublin and John Buechler); and “Getting Ahead in Horror,†23 minutes of pieced together behind-the-scenes footage. Also, both discs contain a lovely remastered version of the film, so all the guts are extra crimsony and the vats of reanimating agent are excessively neon green. Hooray!
Simply put: there is no better collection that fans of Bride of Re-Animator could ask for. Pick this one up now!
