Director Stuart Gordon helped bring to life the film adaptation of the H. P. Lovecraft science fiction tale titled ” Herbert West: Reanimator, ” which produced a couple of sequels. The first, which is discussed in this article, was released in 1985.
“Re-Animator” (1985)
In the original “Re-animator” film, Herbert West is played by Jeffrey Combs, who blends comedy and horror to provide an entertaining gore fest. A creepy James Woods adds to the effect of the movie that features a devoted student at a medical college. He and his girlfriend start to explore odd experiments that center on the re-animation of dead tissue. A new student hits the campus scene and shakes up the results of the experiments. When the movie was made, they used interesting props to serve as the “brains” in the severed head ”“ ground beef, steer meat by-products, and fake blood. The use of these props is seen in the scene that involves the autopsy room where a severed head is thrown out a door and it smashes onto the hallway wall.
“The Return of the Living Dead” (1985)
One of the sequels to continue the theme of the living dead series was released in 1985 ”“ written and directed by Dan O’Bannon. The movie highlights the escapades of two men that accompany a group of teenage punks who have to fight off zombies (hungry for brains) that have been accidentally released onto an unsuspecting town.
“Evil Dead” (1981)
In the United States, Sam Raimi wrote and directed this horror flick, which tells the tale of five college students who are vacationing in a cabin located in a remote part of a wooded area. Their vacation takes a terrible turn when they uncover an audiotape that releases evil spirits.
“Day of the Dead” (1985)
Director George A. Romero released “Day of the Dead” in 1985 as the third installment in his line of Living Dead movies. The storyline highlights some of the in-depth quirks of the zombies and you get more of a feeling as to what these creatures are really about. In the film, a small group of military officers and scientists must hide in an underground bunker while the rest of the world is overtaken by zombies. The science fiction horror movie was promoted with the tagline, “Prepare yourself for the darkest day of horror the world has ever known!”
“Zeder” (1982)
Also known as ‘Revenge of the Dead,’ the Italians produced a horror classic with a video that made it to the United States. With a twist of supernatural mystery, the “zombie” movie does offer the living dead but mainly focuses on a young journalist named Stefano, who purchases a used typewriter. He accidentally sees that some of the text previously written on the ribbon is still visible. With the ribbon, he is able to reconstruct the story of a scientist named Paolo Zeder, who discovered that some types of terrain have the power to revive the dead when bodies are buried in it. Stefano goes onto investigate these claims, where he comes face to face with a group of renegade scientists that are trying to put Zeder’s theories to life with their experiments.