Re-Animator 4K Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		5.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		5.0
Overall		5.0

Re-Animator 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Geez, poor Meg.

Reviewed by Randy Miller III December 19, 2025

Based on a six-part serialized 1922 story by H.P. Lovecraft, director Stuart Gordon's blood-soaked debut Re-Animator (1985) remains a certified horror classic originally conceived as a stage production and, later, a TV series. Eventually, the pilot was re-written for the big screen with Gordon now attached as director; quite a gamble, considering his only related experience was in live theater. Produced by Brian Yuzna with outstanding cinematography by the prolific Mac Ahlberg (who, by Gordon's own account, served as a mentor during production), this grotesque take on the classic story of Frankenstein still manages to repulse and attract new viewers 40 years after its theatrical debut.

Our story follows Dr. Herbert West (Jeffrey Combs), a gifted young scientist who's managed to conquer brain death by inventing a glowing green serum that can resurrect the dead. Returning from Switzerland to New England's Miskatonic University for further research, West clashes with his professor Dr. Carl Hill (David Gale) and, not surprisingly, feels like an outsider in every situation. He rents a room from fellow student Dan Cain (Bruce Abbott), who's engaged to Megan Halsey (Barbara Crampton), and eventually uses the basement as a laboratory to further his experiments. It's not long before West's behavior angers the school's dean -- and Megan's father -- Dr. Alan Halsey (Robert Sampson), and his future at the school is put in jeopardy. Never one to give up easily, West dives deeper into his experiments and Dan, with Megan reluctantly at his side, must decide how far down the rabbit hole he's willing to follow.

Produced for less than $1M and owing a great deal to films like The Evil Dead, Re-Animator was shot in less than a month and used plenty of creative solutions to get around budget constraints. It's a bloody, extremely well-paced little film that maintains a wicked streak of black comedy and, though it strays quite a bit from Lovecraft's original story, Re-Animator stands tall as a supremely entertaining and smartly crafted production with plenty of heart. Jeffrey Combs is fantastic as West and strikes a perfect balance between unhinged drama and awkward humor, while the tight editing keeps things moving quickly from start to finish. The outstanding makeup and effects work by John Naulin, whose team was largely comprised of his students that worked for free, also pulls an awful lot of weight. All things considered, Re-Animator is one of those "little films that could" where the whole is even greater than the sum of its parts.

Surprisingly enough, Re-Animator landed with a splash back in 1985, intriguing those with strong stomachs and even performing well with critics; support came from the likes of Roger Ebert, Pauline Kael, and Janet Maslin, while it even took home a prize at that year's Cannes Film Festival. But most of the film's success is owed to its perpetually growing cult following, which was enough to spawn two sequels (Bride of Re-Animator and Beyond Re-Animator, both directed by producer Brian Yuzna and starring Jeffrey Combs), at least one comic book series, and even a musical adaptation that opened in 2011. Not a bad legacy for this scrappy, low-budget production, considering Lovecraft only wrote the source story for a paycheck and was rarely fond of movies in general. He might have liked it.

For alternate takes on Re-Animator, please see our earlier reviews by Michael Reuben and Jeffrey Kaufman.

I wasn't old enough to see Re-Animator theatrically... which was probably a good thing, because I would have had nightmares for weeks. In fact, my first introduction to the film was about 30-odd years ago when a VHS copy caught my eye at a local mom-and-pop video store that now sells church supplies. The film's deft mixture of gross-out gore and black comedy left a strong on yours truly, and Re-Animator has held up to many viewings since then on several different formats. The latest one -- and identical to Ignite Films' 4K edition, at least from an A/V perspective -- is this brick-sized 4K/Blu-ray Limited Edition from the UK boutique label Second Sight who, as usual, has assembled a beefy package with plenty of new and returning bonus features that will literally take hours to dig through.

Re-Animator 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

NOTE: These screenshots are sourced from the included Blu-ray edition, which also available separately.

Though Second Sight's press release and packaging have no specifics, this 2160p/HDR10/Dolby Vision transfer was provided by Ignite Films and Eagle Rock for their domestic 4K edition and their appearances should be identical, right down to the encoding and QC by Fidelity in Motion. No matter which version you choose, you'll be getting a high-quality restoration approved by director Brian Yuzna, whose heavy involvement with the film's construction made him an ideal candidate given the deaths of cinematographer Mac Ahlberg (d. 2012) and director Stuart Gordon (d. 2020).

Indeed, this is basically a flawless presentation from every perspective and one that significantly improves upon the already-great work fans saw on Arrow's excellent Blu-ray, a release I also covered elsewhere back in the day and still proudly own. Fine detail, density, textures, depth, and color representation are all second-to-none here, retaining their mostly grounded hues that nonetheless give way to occasional stylistic flourishes. Based on a handful of side-by-side comparisons, there's no longer a faintly warm tint tied to most of Re-Animator's interior sequences, which gives skin tones -- at least on the living -- a more accurate appearance. Cooler tones are strengthened as well, as are black levels and shadow detail. HDR comes into play very naturally here, bolstering the saturation of objects adjacent to even the deepest blacks, while intense light sources and natural highlights are appropriately bright without falling into what I'd call "oppressive" territory. Film grain is likewise tight and flawlessly rendered, thanks to both the absence of heavy processing and the expert encoding of Fidelity in Motion, who have managed to squeeze hours upon hours of UHD and HD content onto the lone 4K disc (100GB, naturally) with no hiccups at all. As expected, the film runs at a high and supportive bit rate from start to finish. All things considered, it's as perfect as I was hoping for.

As evidenced by these direct-from-disc screenshots (#1-20), the downscaled 1080p/SDR presentation on Disc 2 is outstanding in its own right, sacrificing very little despite running at a much lower but still very supportive comparative bit rate. The 1080p/SDR "Integral Version" on Discs 1 and 3 (detailed in the bonus features section below, and seen in screenshots #21-25) also runs smoothly despite being taken from an older and even grainier source. Those who aren't set up for UHD should find the separate Blu-ray editions from Second Sight or Ignite Films worth the upgrade alone, since they're sourced from the new 4K restoration and include plenty of new extras detailed below.

Re-Animator 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There's much less to say about the included audio options which, similar to Arrow's Blu-ray linked above, offer the same three lossless formats on both the 4K and Blu-ray discs: DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio as the default, with 2.0 stereo and 1.0 mono tracks available as well. Please see the above-linked review for fuller details about these sonic specifics, which to my ears remain generally the same -- this is again great work, and the trio of options is always appreciated since fans can and will have different preferences. I found the stereo track the most satisfying overall, as it offers increased width while still staying true to what you might expect from a film from this era.

English (SDH) subtitles are included during the film as well as "The Integral Version", but not the extras below.

Re-Animator 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This three-disc set ships in Second Sight's typical Limited Edition packaging, a brick-sized behemoth with new cover artwork by Krishna Shanoi, all three discs in a fold-out Digipack case, and a 120-page square-bound book with essays by critics Sean Abbey, Becky Darke, Lindsay Hallam, Josh Hurtado, Michelle Kisner, Justin LaLiberty, Phil Noble Jr., and Heather Wixson, as well as a half-dozen collectable art cards, all of which are tucked snugly inside a rigid slipcase with a loose J-card. As usual, separate standard 4K UHD and Blu-ray editions are offered; both are in regular keepcases without the printed goodies and contain Discs 1 and 2 & 3, respectively.

Speaking of which, below you'll find a complete disc-by-disc breakdown of what's inside this Limited Edition. You can take most of the "NEW!" indicators with a grain of salt, though: many of them were created for Ignite Films' 4K edition and repeated here, although there are some variances between the two releases.

DISC ONE (4K UHD movie disc + extras)

• NEW! Audio Commentary #1 - Film academic and author Eddie Falvey contributes the only new commentary here, and it's a well-organized and entertaining extra that covers plenty of ground including the film's inception shooting locations, director Stuart Gordon's theater career, characters and motivations, themes, practical effects, editing, heroes and villains, differences between the versions, and much more. There's obviously at least a little bit of overlap between this and the legacy tracks below, but this one's still worth a listen for die-hard fans.

• Audio Commentary #2 - A legacy solo track with director Stuart Gordon.

• Audio Commentary #3 - A legacy group conversation with producer Brian Yuzna and actors Bruce Abbott, Jeffrey Combs, Barbara Crampton, and Robert Sampson.

• The Integral Version (104:55) - See below (identical to the version on Disc 3).

• NEW! The Cosmic Horror of H.P. Lovecraft (9:23) - This video essay by journalist Mike Muncer examines the work of the celebrated American author, Re-Animator's difficult adaptation from its source material, and other adaptations including Stuart Gordon's own From Beyond and Richard Stanley's Color Out of Space.

• NEW! Re-Animator at 40: A Conversation with Jeffrey Combs, Barbara Crampton, and Brian Yuzna (44:32) - The actors and producer sit down for this fun and candid group interview that serves as a trip down memory lane, from favorite memories to challenges including long shooting days, assembling the cast and crew, practical effects, the source material, director Stuart Gordon's patience and determination, and the film's impact on their careers. Peppered with vintage still photos and other stories from before, during, and after production, this lengthy but breezy chat adds a wonderful amount of texture and will be of great interest to fans.

• NEW! Piece by Piece - Cutting Re-Animator: An Interview with Lee Percy (14:57) - Re-Animator's talented editor serves up a warm and candid discussion of his first exposure to Stuart Gordon, their different career paths that eventually reconnected, his contributions to the film and craft. A great listen, for sure.

• NEW! Suzie Sorority and the Good College Boy: An Interview with Actor Carolyn Purdy-Gordon (14:07) - The writer and actress ("Dr. Harrod") and future lifelong wife of Stuart Gordon discusses her unlikely career path and first meeting with him in the late 1960s after the future director drunk-dialed her dorm room and called again the next day to apologize. Needless to say, this one's worth a look.

• NEW! The Horror of It All: The Legacy and Impact of Re-Animator (18:19) - Filmmakers Joe Lynch, Mike Mendez, Nicholas McCarthy, Mick Garris, and Rob Savage featured in separate interview clips, happily talk about Re-Animator impact on them at a young age, specifically through the film's advertising on TV and radio.

• Barbara Crampton In Conversation (36:12) - A 2015 chat between Crampton and FrightFest's Alan Jones.

• A Guide to Lovecraft Cinema (54:02) - This legacy piece by Chris Lackey (host of the H.P. Lovecraft Literary Podcast) examines the author's work and its adaptation for the big screen.

• Re-Animator: Resurrectus (68:36) - This familiar but excellent documentary features cast and crew members including Carolyn Purdy-Gordon, Stuart Gordon, writer Dennis Paoli, producer Brian Yuzna, and much more.

• Interviews - Separate legacy interviews with director Stuart Gordon and producer Brian Yuzna (48:47), writer Dennis Paoli (10:41), composer Richard Band (14:43), and Fangoria editor Tony Timpone (4:34).

• Extended Scenes (16 clips, 23:05 total)

• Deleted Scene (2:40)

• Theatrical Trailer (1:57)

• TV Spots (5 clips, 2:36 total)

• Still Galllery (102 user-navigated pictures)

DISC TWO (Blu-ray movie disc + extras)

• Same bonus features as above, minus "The Integral Version"

DISC THREE (Blu-ray)

• The Integral Version (104:55) - This version of Re-Animator, presented here in 1080p at a 1.78:1 aspect ratio with DTS 5.1 sound, adds in content from the alternate R-rated cut created for rental outlets but keeps the original version's level of gore. It's an interesting version to say the least, one that adds in about 15 minutes of additional and alternate footage that mostly includes more character development and exposition, only some of which is actually needed. (Dr. Hill, for example, now has the ability of hypnosis, clearer lines are drawn between heroes and villains, and Daniel and Megan's relationship is expanded a bit.) I generally prefer the original version as it doesn't hand-hold the viewer as much or attempt to legitimize some of the film's more wacked-out science, but it's great to have both versions here like we did on several earlier home video releases. Optional English (SDH) subtitles are included for this cut, and you can see what it looks like in screenshots #21-25.

Re-Animator 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Stuart Gordon's immortal horror classic Re-Animator was one of the most confident genre debuts in film history, and it still plays exceedingly well 40 years after its theatrical debut. It's earned more than a few very impressive home video presentations on multiple formats, and this brick-sized Limited Edition combo pack by Second Sight -- which features a new restoration provided by Ignite Films and Eagle Rock for their own stacked domestic 4K edition -- clears a high bar easily with its impressive A/V merits, terrific packaging, and a figurative mountain of new and legacy bonus features. It's one of this year's very best releases and comes with my absolute highest recommendation.