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- Beyond Reanimator - US DVD -  

"Beyond Reanimator" is the third installation in a series based on a classic 
short story by H.P. Lovecraft. 'Doctor Herbert West' (Jeffrey Combs) is back 
to his old tricks again. This time he has to perform his experiments behind 
prison walls. 'West' has been sentenced to the 'Arkham State Penitentiary' 
after his last experiments failed badly. He has not given up on his dream of 
manifesting life from the dead. Despite not having any of this glowing-green
serum or fresh cadavers to use, 'West' plods along. Captured rats are used 
to fulfil his needs. As fate would have it, 'West' is given the chance to 
continue with his life's labor. 'Doctor Philips' is assigned to the prison. 
'Philips' is willing to help 'West' in any manner possible. 'Philips' has 
a gruesome link to 'West.' A Zombie brought back from the dead killed 
'Philip's' sister sixteen years ago. Despite witnessing the grisly death, 
'Philips' selected this assignment to get close to 'West.' 'Philips' found 
a vial of 'West's' green serum on the night of his sister's murder. 'West' 
and 'Philips' do not have to wait long for a fatality. Luckily a heart attack 
victim is brought into the infirmary on the day of 'Philip's' arrival. 'West' 
wastes no time bringing the dead back to life. 
This movie is not for everyone. It is not intended for a diverse audience. 
Director Brian Yuzna put this project together solely for those who are fans 
of the first two movies in the series and for those who like gory-campy-horror 
flicks. For those of you who like this style of horror film, this movie can 
be quite a bit of fun. If you are looking for something that is deep, meaningful
and will stimulate your intelligence, stay away. If you do not like gore stay 
away. There are some pretty good gross-out scenes in this one. It might not 
be enough for hardcore gore hounds. It is probably too much for a general 
audience. A zombie biting an ear off of another person's head is quite convincing. 
A zombie without a jaw trying to drink milk after a bloody kill is disturbing 
and in a gruesome way, almost funny. The list goes on; savage beatings; bodies 
ripped in half; hanging corpses that refuse to die; a severed head that continues 
to live. You get the idea. 
This is a movie that I could easily have picked to pieces. But I will not do that. 
I understood what the film makers wanted to do with this one. They did it. "Beyond 
Reanimator" is far from a great movie. But it does not try to be a great movie. 
It is designed to shock us and give us some fun. It succeeds on both those counts. 
One humorous part of the film did really bother me. This has to do with a particular 
part of the male anatomy. This certain male organ (do I have to spell it out?) is 
removed from the body. It then refuses to die and becomes a playmate for a rat. 
I just found this to be simply stupid. Enough said. 
The best part of the entire production is Jeffrey Combs. I always get a kick out 
of his portrayal of 'Herbert West.' He is just a lot of fun to watch in this role. 
The audio includes either Dolby Digital Surround or 2.0 Dolby Digital. Spanish or 
English subtitles are available. A video of "Move Your Bones" is included. This 
is an 80's sounding pop song. It did not do much for me. The "Making of Beyond 
Reanimator" segment baffled me. Most of it was not in English. I guess I could 
have used the Spanish subtitles for those cast members that spoke in Spanish, 
but did not see a reason for that. The director's commentary is very good. 
Brian Yuzna talks about more then just this movie. Yuzna had been involved in 
the production of the first two films, "Reanimator" and "Bride of Reanimator".
Fans of the series will definitely like the commentary. Yuzna gives quite a few 
interesting tidbits about all three movies. 

Reviewed By Scal Williams

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