Re-Animator: 40th Anniversary – Ignite Films (4k UHD/Blu-ray Combo)

Theatrical Release Date: USA, 1985
Director: Stuart Gordon
Writers: Dennis Paoli, William Norris, Stuart Gordon
Cast: Jeffrey Combs, Bruce Abbott, Barbara Crampton, David Gale, Robert Sampson

Release Date: November 11th, 2025
Approximate Running Times: 86 Minutes 3 Seconds (Unrated Version), 104 Minutes 55 Seconds (Integral Version)
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Widescreen / 2160 Progressive / HEVC / H.265 / HDR10 (Unrated Version), 1.85:1 Widescreen / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVC (Integral Version)
Rating: NR
Sound: DTS-HD 5.1 English (Both Versions), DTS-HD Stereo English (Unrated Version), LPCM Mono English (Unrated Version)
Subtitles: English SDH (Both Versions)
Region Coding: Region Free (4K UHD), Region A (Blu-ray)
Retail Price: $49.95

"Based on H.P. Lovecraft's twisted tale, the film follows Herbert West, a brilliant yet unhinged medical student who creates a serum capable of reanimating the dead—with horrifying consequences." - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 5/5 (4K UHD), 4.5/5 (Blu-ray)

Here’s the information provided about the transfer, "Stuart Gordon's horror classic Re-Animator is back like you've never seen it before! To mark its 40th anniversary, we're thrilled to present the brand-new 4K UHD-HDR restoration of the horror classic!"

Re-Animator comes on a 100 GB triple layer 4K UHD.

Disc Size: 83.4 GB

Feature: 66.4 GB (Unrated Version)

This is a solid transfer that does a superb job expanding upon the excellent Arrow Video release, which looked incredible at that time. Flesh tones look healthy, colors are nicely saturated, and image clarity, contrast, black levels, and compression are solid, and the image always looks organic.

Re-Animator comes on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 45.6 GB

Feature: 27.3 GB (Integral Version)

The source used for the Integral version looks excellent.

Audio: 5/5 (All Audio Tracks)

This release comes with three audio options, a LPCM mono mix in English, a DTS-HD stereo mix in English, and a DTS-HD 5.1 mix in English. All three audio tracks are in excellent shape; dialogue always comes through clearly, everything sounds balanced, ambient sounds are well-represented, and Richard Band’s score sounds appropriately robust. Although the stereo and 5.1 tracks open things up, I still prefer the original mono audio track. Included are removable English SDH for both versions.

Extras:

Extras on the 4K UHD disc include a 40th anniversary trailer for the 4K UHD (57 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), a 1977 documentary featuring Stuart Gordon titled The Organic Theater Company of Chicago (27 minutes 50 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), a featurette titled Re-Animating a Horror Classic: The 4K Restoration of Re-Animator (2 minutes 22 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English with non-removable English subtitles), a featurette titled I Give Life: A Look Back at Re-Animator: The Musical (27 minutes 36 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), a featurette titled The Horror of It All: The Legacy and Impact of Re-Animator (18 minutes 19 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an interview with Carolyn Purdy-Gordon titled Suzie Sorority and the Good College Boy (14 minutes 7 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an interview with Editor Lee Percy titled Piece By Piece: Cutting Re-Animator (14 minutes 57 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), a featurette titled Re-Animator at 40: A Conversation with Jeffrey Combs, Barbara Crampton, and Brian Yuzna (44 minutes 32 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an isolated score track, an archival audio commentary with director Stuart Gordon, an archival audio commentary with Stuart Gordon and actors Graham Skipper and Jesse Merlin of Re-Animator: The Musical, and an archival audio commentary with producer Brian Yuzna, actors Jeffrey Combs, Barbara Crampton, Bruce Abbott, and Robert Sampson.

Extras on the Blu-ray disc include a still gallery (41 images), 5 TV spots (2 minutes 36 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), a theatrical trailer (1 minute 36 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), a deleted scene (2 minutes 40 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), 16 extended scenes (23 minutes 5 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), Doug Bradley's Spinechillers: Herbert West, Re-Animator actor Jeffrey Combs, reads H.P. Lovecraft's original classic story (98 minutes 32 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an archival interview titled A Guide to Lovecraft Cinema, featuring Chris Lackey, host of the H.P. Lovecraft Literary Podcast (54 minutes 2 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an archival interview with Re-Animator: The Musical lyricist Mark Nutter titled Theater of Blood (12 minutes 4 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), an archival extra titled Barbara Crampton in Conversation with journalist Alan Jones (36 minutes 12 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), an archival interview with Stuart Gordon titled  The Catastrophe of Success: Stuart Gordon and The Organic Theater, he discusses his early theater roots and his continued commitment to the stage (13 minutes 8 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), an archival extra titled Music discussion with composer Richard Band (16 minutes 31 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), an archival interview with Richard Band (14 minutes 43 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), an archival interview with former Fangoria editor Tony Timpone (4 minutes 34 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), an archival interview with screenwriter Dennis Paoli (10 minutes 41 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), an archival extra titled A Conversion with Stuart Gordon and Brian Yuzna (48 minutes 47 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), and an archival documentary titled Re-Animator: Resurrectus (68 minutes 36 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles).

Summary:

Re-Animator was directed by Stuart Gordon, who is best known for his adaptations of the literary works of H.P. Lovecraft. His other notable films are From Beyond, Dolls, and Dagon.

Although there have been numerous film adaptations of H.P. Lovecraft's literary works, the final results have frequently failed to capture the essence of the stories that inspired them. By the 1980s things looked bleak for fans of H.P. Lovecraft who were hoping for a cinema adaptation that perfectly captured the vibe of his literary works. This brings us to Stuart Gordon’s adaptation of Herbert West—Reanimator, a film that has since become regarded as the best cinematic adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft’s literary works.

Content-wise, Re-Animator skillfully balances H.P. Lovecraft’s cosmic sense of wonder with a dark sense of humor that is deeply rooted in the macabre. From the very beginning, Re-Animator makes it clear that it is willing to embrace the well-worn tropes of the horror genre. Its unflinching approach to portraying mayhem stands out as one of its greatest strengths.

There are so many things that can go wrong when making a film, and even if everything falls into place, nothing is more devastating than miscasting. Fortunately, Re-Animator is a film that's perfectly cast, and one could not see anyone else in these roles, especially Jeffrey Combs's (Frightmare) inspired portrayal of Herbert West. His character is focused on one goal, and his performance flawlessly gets across his determination to achieve it at any cost. The other performance of note is David Gale (Syngenor) in the role of Dr. Carl Hill, a professor who will do anything to obtain Herbert West’s research on reanimating the dead.

From a production standpoint, there is no area where Re-Animator does not excel. The narrative is a perfect blend of mayhem and carnage that does an exceptional job building to an outlandish finale that serves as a very satisfying conclusion. While gore is the main attraction, one should not overlook how effectively Re-Animator employs humor, especially when it comes to the most blood-soaked moments. Although cinema has become more favorable to H.P. Lovecraft since Re-Animator, this film still remains the high-water mark for adaptations. Ultimately, Re-Animator is an exceptional film that deserves its reputation as one of horror cinema’s best films.

Ignite Films gives Re-Animator an exceptional release that comes with a solid audio/video presentation and a treasure trove of archival and newly created extras. Highly recommended.

Note about the 4K screenshots: It is not possible to make Dolby Vision or HDR10 screenshots that faithfully match the experience of watching a film in motion on a TV. Instead of not having any screenshots, all of the 4K screenshots are m2ts taken with a MPC-HC player and lossless PNGs.

 

Written by Michael Den Boer