It was not easy to stand out among the slew of horror films that flooded the marketplace in the 1980s. As a result, it can be said with confidence that the films that have endured the test of time and have become cult classics over the years were true masterpieces that only come around once every decade.
Re-Animator is without a doubt one of the best horror films of the 1980s, and its perfect blend of brutal violence, science gone bad, and campy elements summed up 80s horror in a nutshell!
People consider this as one of the best horror classics and a very influential picture that went on to inspire many more in the future thanks to the visceral horror paired with a crazy scientist. Stuart Gordon worked with Brian Yuzna as a producer, and the appealing cast of Jeffrey Combs and Barbara Crampton came together to create a superb smash from a tried and true recipe.
This was a fantastic Lovecraftian adaptation, and certainly one of the best you will come across! In this episode, we will take you down a lesser-known path once more, as we delve into some behind-the-scenes mysteries and unknown trivia about Stuart Gordon’s career-defining debut, whose legacy still commands respect among horror lovers!
How much blood is too much blood?
It is no secret that Re-Animator is one bloody affair, and the violent moments are literally colored in red. Josh Naulin who worked as the makeup effects artist admitted that this was one of the bloodiest movies he had ever worked on, and it required around 24 gallons of fake blood to get the scenes right. Now, this might not sound too much if you compare it to the likes of A Nightmare on Elm Street, but it was still a crazy lot to deal with.
Stuart Gordon himself revealed later that there was so much blood during the filming of the movie that his shoes kept getting stuck to the floor. The entire set would be completely drenched, and it was quite a task to clean up all this mess. This also meant that all the scenes had to be done correctly in the first take because in order to get the set right again, another couple of hours had to be wasted!
Stuart Gordon’s Lovecraftian influence
This movie was adapted from Lovecraft’s story Herbert West – Re-Animator. However, it was not exactly a faithful adaptation because plenty was changed in the final result. It shared more similarities with Frankenstein and the initial intentions to stay true to H.P. Lovecraft’s original work could not materialize. However, the makers still ensured that Lovecraft was credited enough and he was the real star of the story! In fact, they even had plans to do an extensive Lovecraft adaptation run if this film was successful.
The idea was to create Dagon next, but Charles Band found the idea of people turning into fish to be ridiculous. Eventually, they went with From Beyond, which is another fine Lovecraftian horror flick. Besides Lovecraft, Stuart Gordon was also inspired by the creepy tales of Edgar Allen Poe, and Roger Corman’s cinematic adaptations of the same also taught him a little something about paying the perfect homage to such literary geniuses!
Things people do to prepare for such movies!
When a movie like Gone with the Wind is made, the main task of the actors is to be thorough with the original literary piece and get the little details in order! However, when you are working on a gore-fest directed by Stuart Gordon, the preparations are bound to be very different.
The producer Brian Yuzna dreamed of a project that would have the shock value of Evil Dead and the production value of The Howling. In order to work on that, every little aspect had to be perfect, and the crew left no stones unturned trying to achieve the same.
Several members of the cast and crew actually visited an insane asylum to observe the behavior of some of the inmates. They also frequented the morgue for research purposes, and you can be sure that all their hard work did not go to waste!
Stuart Gordon had other plans with Re-Animator
Back in the day, this veteran director was known for his work in theater, and since this was his first film many expected it to be a typical art-house drama. He surprised everyone with the eventual outcome, and the decision was largely taken because of how easy it was for a horror flick to get investors.
However, he had some other ideas with Re-Animator before turning it into a feature film. Stuart Gordon planned to pitch it as a TV series, and he had prior connections with the network because of his previous work with another TV show.
He planned this as a six-part mini-series, and even Lovecraft had written the original story in six parts. But the idea was rejected by the network, and soon Stuart Gordon had a dream team to turn it into a movie. All’s well that ends well, and because of this rejection, Re-Animator became a movie, a cult classic that would be remembered for times to come.
The Test – Screening was an outrageous success
It is not a secret that several movies go through a test screening process just to get a rough idea about the audience’s reaction. Re-Animator was a project that made Stuart Gordon extremely hesitant because, as we have discussed before, this was not exactly in his comfort zone.
However, after the test screening in San Francisco, he knew that he had a potential hit in the making. The audience reaction was mind-blowing and people seemed to have understood the concept quite nicely based on the kind of comments that came up.
The Curious Case of Casting
Re-Animator is often remembered fondly for the perfect combination of actors who did justice to the characters. The credit for starring Jeffrey Combs goes to the casting director, who had observed him in a play and was impressed by his acting skills. He was called in for an audition, and within a few minutes, everyone was convinced that he was the right person for the role even though the descriptions in Lovecraft’s story were a bit different. Casting Barbara Crampton was another wonderful accident!
An actress was initially selected for the role, but her mother did not want her to be a part of such a horror flick. After she backed out, the casting director found Barbara as someone suitable for the role. Stuart Gordon still credits the casting director for such wonderful selections because the actors gelled together quite nicely, and made the scenes lively and natural.
Brian Yuzna had a surprising cameo
There are plenty of instances, where the director and producers end up playing a small cameo role in their moves. As for Re-Animator, Brian Yuzna stole the show with his portrayal of a corpse in the hospital morgue. The crew was left in splits during the filming process because it was tough to see their producer comically lying around in the scene. While it made for a few good laughs, it did serve the purpose quite well because the actual scene wasn’t tickling anyone’s funny bones!
The makeup effects were a bit too real!
You know the special effects team is working extra hard when you see them go the extra mile to make things look realistic. One such instance is that of the brains from the severed head that you see in one of the scenes. They used actual meat by-products, ground beef, and animal residue to make the brains look realistic.
Real cow brains were put into the mash, and these were obtained from the local meat market. During the scene, the crew behind the camera wore garbage bags over their clothing just so that the disgusting goo wouldn’t splatter on their clothes. Also, if you remember the scene with the dead cat in the fridge, the crew reportedly used an actual dead cat to shoot the sequence. The fake blood that they used was so realistic that one of the actors ended up scaring a gas station attendant because he was still covered in all that blood makeup!
The Shooting schedule was extremely tight
We hear about all these movies from the 80s and 90s being wrapped up very quickly, and it seems almost impossible in today’s time. Re-Animator was not as cash-strapped as some of the other movies of its time, but it was by no means on a splurging spree. The cast and crew had a tight schedule and the entire movie was wrapped up within 18 days! They had to come back to shoot the opening scene after a few weeks, but that was again a rather short stint.
Yes, that is all the time it took to create such a classic, and when you learn more about the novice debutant director, you are surely going to be amazed! Stuart Gordon had almost no experience of shooting for a film, and he actually learned a lot of things from the director of photography, Mac Ahlberg. He taught the young filmmaker several intricate nuances of filmmaking, and the results are for all to see. Even in such a tight schedule, the debutant director brushed up his skills, and ended up delivering a smashing hit!
Stuart Gordon was a huge Hitchcock fan
Well, who isn’t a fan of the legendary Alfred Hitchcock! His psycho-thrillers left a deep impact on an entire generation of filmmakers, and Stuart Gordon was no exception. In fact, he wanted to pay tribute to the iconic director, and the opening theme of Re-Animator was reportedly inspired by Hitchcock’s classic thriller, Psycho!
A Crucial Story Arc was eliminated
There was a rather interesting subplot revolving around Dr. Hill, which did not find mentioned in the final movie. Initially, there were plans to explain his ability to control the reanimated corpses, and the idea was to reveal that the doctor had hypnotic powers. However, finally, the makers decided against it because they felt that it was self-explanatory and did not require to be spoon-fed to the audience.
Re-Animator ran into rating trouble
Honestly, we aren’t really surprised with this one! With the sheer amount of gore and violence combined with all the blood that flows in the movie, it would have been a real miracle for the movie to escape the censors mildly. The original film had to release unrated because it was not possible for the makers to edit the movie according to the requirements of the MPAA.
Stuart Gordon later revealed that if they tried to comply with the norms, the movie would end up being around fifteen minutes long and make no sense! In the United Kingdom, the movie was not allowed to be released without a few major cuts. On the studio’s part, it was a brave effort indeed to release an unrated movie, but the gamble paid off. They got plenty of ads and theaters, and eventually, this did not pose much of a challenge. However, for the next movie From Beyond, they worked hard to get the R-rating.
It was a commercial success, but not as much as you think!
Make no mistake, Re-Animator was a hit in terms of the initial box office records. They made back all the money, and the film was appreciated by the fans and critics alike. But no one had the slightest idea that the movie would go on to become such a cult classic that would be rated as one of the finest horror flicks from the golden era of the 80s. In terms of the popularity that it enjoys today, many are tempted to believe that the movie must have been an outright hit, but that wasn’t quite the case!
Whether or not it was an outright commercial success, there is no denying the fact that the movie won over the horror fans big time! Stuart Gordon made his presence felt, and the coming years would be witness to much more from the duo of Brian Yuzna and Gordon. It changed how horror films were viewed back then and even today we love going back and checking this out on the special movie nights! Let us know in the comments below about the facts that appealed to you the most, and also tell us about the next movie you want us to conduct an autopsy on!