Review of Bride of Re-Animator

Crazy Herbert West (Combs) and sidekick Doctor Dan Cain (Abbott) have volunteered to be peace corp. doctors in South America where they discover their serum can create life not just reanimate it. Ten months after the Massacre at the University, West and Cain return with a nosy detective (Jones) with a grudge begins to investigate the duo. Of course the whacked out West has been experimenting with dead body parts from the cemetery which is right next to the former morgue that West and Cain are using as a lab. Eventually West sets out to create life in the basement while constructing the "Bride". Crossing a line that every doctor shouldn't, Cain agrees to help West because he plans to use the heart of his dead girlfriend from the first film. In the meantime, Dr, Hill (David Gale) has been reanimated by a doctor (Mel Stewart) who has sewn on bat wings to his severed head. Still obsessed with revenge on West, Hill's head plans some surprises for West and Cain. This crazy follow up to the surprise 1985 Gore hit is executed by the first films producer Brain Yuzna who also co-wrote. Trying to hit on all the same points the original had, Yuzna delivers the expected excessive gore, mixed with plenty of black humor and one-liners. Some of the humor this time is pushed a little too far out ahead and at times this feels like a dark comedy. The returning Combs and Abbott are solid as West and Cain and it is nice to see the further exploits of these two characters. Fans of the first film will probably enjoy this, but sadly this sequel is missing the tension of the first film and it really doesn't have anything new to offer that hasn't already been done in the original. Where this film amuses and entertains, the original also shocked and scared you at the same time. The slick production and crazy finale with West's body experiments getting loose make this a watchable sequel.