Andrea and Alex investigate the mysterious happenings in Stuart Gordon’s foray into the dark side of academia and science fiction in his first feature. Through the modernized adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft’s tales, they’ll uncover how class, opportunity, and gender factor into the film version.
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REQUIRED READING
Re-Animator. Dir. Stuart Gordon, 1985.
EXTRA CREDIT
Herbert West—Reanimator by H. P. Lovecraft. Read parts 1-6 free online.
Re-Animating a Literary Icon. Ravenous Monster’s interview with Stuart Gordon.
Monsters and Mad Scientists: A Cultural History of the Horror Movie. Andrew Tudor’s in-depth look at the impact of scientific advancements on the genre.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
My understanding is that Lovecraft himself regarded Re-animator as one of his lesser stories, basically hackwork (though I think he also had a low opinion of writing for money generally). It doesn’t have any of his “cosmic horror” and doesn’t really add anything to Frankenstein.
Barbara Crampton was added to Stuart Gordon’s Lovecraft adaptations to add sex appeal, but I don’t think the notorious “head” scene is aiming at something like the non-consensual erotica you mentioned. Rather, I think it’s aiming at horror-comedy outrageousness The original Evil Dead, in contrast, doesn’t have comedy, and the tree involved isn’t anthropomorphic at all, whereas the head is of a character we recognize (and hate).
I don’t think I’d agree that the film is about “class” (I don’t recall any info about where Herbert gets his money) and “outsiders” (I recall Dan as an unremarkable normie). Perhaps it is about the old guard of a previous generation vs the next generation.