Arrow in the Head reviews "Bride of Re-Animator"

Bride of Re-Animator (1990)

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Directed by:	Brian Yuzna
Starring:	Jeffrey Combs/Herbert West
	Bruce Abbott/Dan Cain
	Claude Earl Jones/Lt. Leslie Chapham
	Fabiana Udenio/Francesca Danelli

RATING

PLOT-CRUNCH:

West (Combs) and Cain (Abbott) are back and this time West’s trip du jour is to create new life forms with various human/animal body parts. He also has another idea stirring in his sick little head: assembling a female body and to keep Cain in the game…give her Meg’s (Cain’s dead girlfriend from the first) heart …some people never change.

THE LOWDOWN:

Decent sequel that keeps it up with the extreme blood and guts but tones down the laughs…well just a little bit. Barbara Crampton (from the original) is absent but two hot babes fill the female void: Fabian Udenio and Kathleen Kinmont. Both their cleavages almost compensate for Crampton’s no show. West is still crazy, Cain is pumped and less innocent (the man worked out since the original) and Dr. Hill’s head (who spent some time at a circus freakshow…lol)…well, let's just say that Dr. Hill gets his wings…funny shite!!!

My main questions are: How did West survive the intestinal attack at the end of the first one? Why does Cain still hang with West when he’s the one that cost him his lost love and of course who the hell upgraded these two yahoos to full fledge doctors after the fiasco they caused in the first one. I know we’re suppose to believe that the cops had no proof against them, but for our two boys to get jobs at the same hospital where the carnage happened in the original is a tad far fetched. But hey, this is horror so those questions can kiss my corpse. The addition of a nosy cop with a personal grudge against West is a tad tiresome (also the fact that he keeps on entering West’s house with no warrant), the acting is a bit more "serious" and I didn’t buy Dr Hill’s mind control over the zombies.

The film is not as fun as the original but is still worthwhile thanks to many grotesques West creations, homages to "Bride Of Frankenstein", a nifty cat fight (chicks fighting not the animal) and a gore filled, freakshow finale. The dead live again….

ACTING:

Jeffrey Combs does it again. He’s still nuts, still hams it up and he’s still fun. Bruce Abbott plays Cain in a slightly different way…this time around he’s a bit more disturbed and bit more dark (no shit after all he’s been through). Fabiana Udenio is a sizzling babe but her character is one dumb broad. Kathleen Kinmont doesn’t have much to do but look sick or look grotesque…she does well with what she has to do. David Gale’s head shows up again and it flies! Fun…ny.

GORE:

Lots of kool stop motion stuff. (my fav being an eyeball with fingers), gory surgery bits and more severed bloody limbs than you could find in my basement.

T & A:

A Fabiana Udenio tit and some Kinmont jugs. The ladies get a muscled Abbott.

DIRECTING:

Lots of wild lighting, a quick pace, some kool angles, the film is very colorful and very interesting on a visual level.

SOUNDTRACK:

That same Psycho theme rip off from the original.

BOTTOM LINE:

A worthy follow up that’s less tongue in cheek but equally gruesome. I for one am looking forward to West’s and Cain’s next plasma drenched adventure. Bring on "Beyond Re-Animator"!!!!

BULL'S EYE:

This one cost $2.9 million dollars to make.

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