Review of Bride of Re-Animator (1990) by Ian B — 02 Aug 2009

A decent sequel to one of the best horror films to come out of the 80's. The story picks up eight months after the first movie, and after an out-of-place opening, things pretty much go as expected.

Herbert West brings his crazy dead experiments to life, things go wrong, so he keeps bringing more crazy dead experiments to life. Of course, as the title suggests, this time he's creating life (or his "bride", as it were) rather than just bringing dead people back to life.

Jeffrey Combs and Bruce Abbott are great fun to watch again, the film is extremely gory and over-the-top, but gone is all the great black comedy from the original movie. And the return of Dr. Hill's talking head seems pointless and forced.

Things also tend to drag and repeat themselves quite a lot until the third act. I suspect this is because Brian Yuzna obviously isn't half the director Stuart Gordon is. Gordon's touch is sorely missed and is the main reason this sequel only ends up being average.