Synopsis
Having mysteriously survived the slaughterhouse finale of Re-Animator, madscientist Herbert West (Jeffrey Combs, in his definitive role) is continuing his experiments in re-animating the dead. Now he and his reluctant partner Dan Cain (Bruce Abbott) are bringing lifenot just to the recently deceased, but to assemblages of body parts. The big project becomes thecobbling together of a woman, based around the heart of Meg, Dan’s lost love. Sloppy inconstruction, and wit… some long dead pauses between lines of dialogue where the timing shouldbe lightning fast, this is still a lot of gruesome fun, with a number of truly hilarious moments andquotable lines. A worthy follow-up to the original.
Audio
The 2.0 stereo is rather uninspiring. There are some surround sound effects, but nowhere nearenough (you know you’re in trouble when virtually nothing happens with the constant shellingand explosions of the opening scene). The dialogue sometimes distorts, left and right sounds aressometimes reversed, and the sound generally is rather muzzy.
Video
The logo for now-defunct Vestron Video that appears at the beginning of the film doesn’tbode well, suggesting as it does a VHS transfer. The picture, sure enough, is rather grainy andsometimes quite murky. The contrasts and blacks are generally okay. The picture is fullscreenas well, which is a real disappointment, especially since the 1999 DVD release waswidescreen.
Special Features
None.
Closing Thoughts
A fun film, but a cruelly disappointing release, as cheap and basic as the original release wasdeluxe.
