We arrived for the midnight showing at about 11:30 with two fears, an empty theatre, or a sold out show - who could guess for an unadvertised, but highly anticipated B-movie? Sure enough, the theatre was about 3/4 full both nights. How nice.
The opening scene threw out what looked like homage's to The Gate, Scream, and obviously Day of the Dead (tonguey) all at one time, only to land on the aged Herbert West sitting in the darkness of a vehicle. The crowd let out a cheer, and I realized how fun this might get.
One of my favorite parts about this flick honestly is the credit intro. If you've seen the other two Re-animators, you remember the neon body schematics, rotating in time with that wildly dissonant and catchy theme song, and the credits on top. It's always been fun to watch, and they don't stray far this time. Only now, the schematics are all sepiatone, and they go from standard textbook drawings into very stylized, almost comic book fantasy drawings of the nude. Parts of some pictures zoom out only to form different pictures, and it's very cool. On top is a fully symphonic rendition of the original themesong, slowed down and fixed up nicely. VERY well done.
Remember the old Re-animators? The cheese, ass actors (except Herbert of course), intentionally overacted and entertainingly shallow dialogue, gore, and West's superhero qualities?? Well, if you loved all that, then you can relax knowing that Beyond is more of the same. Of course, the look and production values are updated for 2003 (14 years after Bride), but it's no rehash, and nothing "sells out" in this movie.
Directing: If you haven't heard, Beyond Re-animator takes place in a prison, and Yuzna makes good use of color and vectors with the prison bars, and definitely creates a closed, prison atmosphere. Everything is blue or an "off" shade of gray in Beyond, and it fits. But, the first 15 minutes and the last 10 are really the only times that Yuzna shows off visually. Some of the tricks are pretty clever. One scene shows the view from one of the Re-animated looking at West, and it's very cool! Another montage shows footage from different places twisted and morphed over each other, in the style of the opening credits... also very cool!
I'll tell ya though, It's definitely Yuzna directing this thing. 14 years later?? More of the same. He knows how to direct the camera, he knows how to create the occasional tension, but he can't direct a person to save his damn life! There are two scenes in Beyond Re-animator that are so abysmally bad, with dialogue that might live up to Junior High Theatre standards, and actors that I swear were recruited from Miskatonic High School just before the shoot, that the entire audience cringed and let out an applause and bark afterwards to relieve the pain. Jumping Jesus, I kid you not... the two main characters along side West are the worst thing since unsliced bread. It's so bad, we've convinced ourselves it was on purpose! And the best part?... IT FITS!! Like I said, more of the same. There has not been a Re-animator yet that didn't make you roll your eyes and laugh at how strangely lines were given... and with friends, it just makes the movie more fun.
Comedy: Holy hell!! At the beginning, I wondered to myself how much this movie would take itself seriously, and by the end credits, I knew. This movie loves itself for being funny, and man, is it ever. We chuckled through every other scene. Catch phrases, innuendoes and puns, a doctor kicking a table down the hallway for no reason other than to make me laugh, damnit... it's all out there - all leading up to a pretty wild ending. I can't spoil a thing, but the footage during the credits not only had everyone in the theatre rolling, but also gasping for breath leaving the theatre. THAT'S how much Beyond takes itself seriously. Ah yes... good times.
The effects: I'm so impressed!! This thing was $3,000,000!! There's some pretty amazing stuff in here for a measly 3. Yuzna keeps to the roots with latex and karo, but he uses a little CGI quite well to add something else - it fits, don't worry. There's some fabulous green-screening and 3D work in here. Props to Fantastic Factory for cranking this stuff out "at an affordable price". It does take a while for the gore to kick into gear (like the first one), but once it's there, it's there.
Everything else: It was interesting to watch the crowd both nights. Friday's crowd was definitely the hardcore West fanboy bunch - the ones that clapped upon his first entry (including me). The second night has some pretty dry people... people didn't laugh as much, and they seemed to be filter from the people that saw the flyer the day before when they caught Tomb Raider. A few people actually left. Most still enjoyed every minute.
Jeffery Combs has definitely aged well. He's still West. He plays his part to perfection, with maybe slightly less energy (not as much flailing), and he still remains my favorite over-actor of all time.
I must stress again how bad the new doctor's acting is. This kid is the child of someone, he must be. But he's by far the easiest to ridicule... better horrible, than just par in my opinion. It just adds to the comedy.
Oh yeah, and there are boobies.
Thank you Yuzna for bringing this back. I could care less if there is another, because if it's not broken....... don't make another one. Bride? Bride was broken. And this fixed it.
I'm giving it the ultimate bias fanboy fan score of 9/10. I took a little off because there are a few slow parts, and some of that acting really hurt... most helped though.
If you aren't a fan of the first two, you WILL NOT like this one. If you dig on everything the first two represented, I highly recommend a viewing. It's a lot of fun, and you will definitely leave with a big f'n smile on your face!
Can't wait for the DVD! Bring me extras or bring me re-agent!
"I gave him life!" - Dr. Herbert West
The opening scene threw out what looked like homage's to The Gate, Scream, and obviously Day of the Dead (tonguey) all at one time, only to land on the aged Herbert West sitting in the darkness of a vehicle. The crowd let out a cheer, and I realized how fun this might get.
One of my favorite parts about this flick honestly is the credit intro. If you've seen the other two Re-animators, you remember the neon body schematics, rotating in time with that wildly dissonant and catchy theme song, and the credits on top. It's always been fun to watch, and they don't stray far this time. Only now, the schematics are all sepiatone, and they go from standard textbook drawings into very stylized, almost comic book fantasy drawings of the nude. Parts of some pictures zoom out only to form different pictures, and it's very cool. On top is a fully symphonic rendition of the original themesong, slowed down and fixed up nicely. VERY well done.
Remember the old Re-animators? The cheese, ass actors (except Herbert of course), intentionally overacted and entertainingly shallow dialogue, gore, and West's superhero qualities?? Well, if you loved all that, then you can relax knowing that Beyond is more of the same. Of course, the look and production values are updated for 2003 (14 years after Bride), but it's no rehash, and nothing "sells out" in this movie.
Directing: If you haven't heard, Beyond Re-animator takes place in a prison, and Yuzna makes good use of color and vectors with the prison bars, and definitely creates a closed, prison atmosphere. Everything is blue or an "off" shade of gray in Beyond, and it fits. But, the first 15 minutes and the last 10 are really the only times that Yuzna shows off visually. Some of the tricks are pretty clever. One scene shows the view from one of the Re-animated looking at West, and it's very cool! Another montage shows footage from different places twisted and morphed over each other, in the style of the opening credits... also very cool!
I'll tell ya though, It's definitely Yuzna directing this thing. 14 years later?? More of the same. He knows how to direct the camera, he knows how to create the occasional tension, but he can't direct a person to save his damn life! There are two scenes in Beyond Re-animator that are so abysmally bad, with dialogue that might live up to Junior High Theatre standards, and actors that I swear were recruited from Miskatonic High School just before the shoot, that the entire audience cringed and let out an applause and bark afterwards to relieve the pain. Jumping Jesus, I kid you not... the two main characters along side West are the worst thing since unsliced bread. It's so bad, we've convinced ourselves it was on purpose! And the best part?... IT FITS!! Like I said, more of the same. There has not been a Re-animator yet that didn't make you roll your eyes and laugh at how strangely lines were given... and with friends, it just makes the movie more fun.
Comedy: Holy hell!! At the beginning, I wondered to myself how much this movie would take itself seriously, and by the end credits, I knew. This movie loves itself for being funny, and man, is it ever. We chuckled through every other scene. Catch phrases, innuendoes and puns, a doctor kicking a table down the hallway for no reason other than to make me laugh, damnit... it's all out there - all leading up to a pretty wild ending. I can't spoil a thing, but the footage during the credits not only had everyone in the theatre rolling, but also gasping for breath leaving the theatre. THAT'S how much Beyond takes itself seriously. Ah yes... good times.
The effects: I'm so impressed!! This thing was $3,000,000!! There's some pretty amazing stuff in here for a measly 3. Yuzna keeps to the roots with latex and karo, but he uses a little CGI quite well to add something else - it fits, don't worry. There's some fabulous green-screening and 3D work in here. Props to Fantastic Factory for cranking this stuff out "at an affordable price". It does take a while for the gore to kick into gear (like the first one), but once it's there, it's there.
Everything else: It was interesting to watch the crowd both nights. Friday's crowd was definitely the hardcore West fanboy bunch - the ones that clapped upon his first entry (including me). The second night has some pretty dry people... people didn't laugh as much, and they seemed to be filter from the people that saw the flyer the day before when they caught Tomb Raider. A few people actually left. Most still enjoyed every minute.
Jeffery Combs has definitely aged well. He's still West. He plays his part to perfection, with maybe slightly less energy (not as much flailing), and he still remains my favorite over-actor of all time.
I must stress again how bad the new doctor's acting is. This kid is the child of someone, he must be. But he's by far the easiest to ridicule... better horrible, than just par in my opinion. It just adds to the comedy.
Oh yeah, and there are boobies.
Thank you Yuzna for bringing this back. I could care less if there is another, because if it's not broken....... don't make another one. Bride? Bride was broken. And this fixed it.
I'm giving it the ultimate bias fanboy fan score of 9/10. I took a little off because there are a few slow parts, and some of that acting really hurt... most helped though.
If you aren't a fan of the first two, you WILL NOT like this one. If you dig on everything the first two represented, I highly recommend a viewing. It's a lot of fun, and you will definitely leave with a big f'n smile on your face!
Can't wait for the DVD! Bring me extras or bring me re-agent!
"I gave him life!" - Dr. Herbert West
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