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72 of 76 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
"No, Hill didn't kill me...he didn't have the guts.", February 21, 2001
OK, so Bride of Re-Animator isn't as good as the original, but as fans know, that was a pretty hard act to follow. I didn't really appreciate this movie as much until I rented this special edition DVD and was blown away! First of all, this movie has the second most hilarious commentary track (the one with Jeffrey Combs and Dan Abbott, as Dr. West and Dr. Cain) I have every heard (the funniest was Evil Dead 2, limited edition-I don't think anything can top that). I should also point out here in all fairness that I'm a complete Re-animator geek, I saw it in the theater in 1985 and was hooked; I've probably watched it more than any other horror movie-at least 50 times in the last 15 years. I almost broke my legs in my haste getting to the video store when their copy of the sequel came in I was so excited. I was slightly disappointed, but I did have very high expectations. The last 20 minutes or so were pretty impressive, but the prologue I was so psyched to see (more on that later) was completely gone. When I rented this DVD special edition, though, I decided to actually pick up a copy. Not only; was the commentary by the actors hilarious, but both of the actors, especially Combs, go into interesting details like how the scene was shot,; and even going into the character's motivations. Combs even remembers some of his lines (with the exact inflections he delivered them in), which didn't make me feel like such a geek. You can tell he had a blast making the movie and really enjoyed it. Lines that never struck me as especially amusing before such as Dr. West saying, "My God...they're using tools!" were hilarious when the actor made a few comments afterwards. Anyway, if you're a diehard Re-animator "superfan" (hey,it sounds better than "geek") like me, you HAVE to see this special edition. I can't say enough good things about the commentary-I realize I sound like a broken record now as well as a movie geek, but again, you have to see it for yourself to really appreciate it. The disc is absolutely packed with cool-a$$ extras-it's one of the double-sided ones, so be sure to check out the other side. Some of the highlights include the unrated version- it doesn't have a whole lot of extra gore, less than a minute, but it's pretty jaw dropping (several more seconds of the climactic meltdown). It includes great behind the scenes footage, (you haven't laughed till you've seen a behind-the-scenes shot of David Hale as Dr. Hill in full make-up, casually playing poker with a pair of bat wings sewed to his head) and a breakdown of a sequence where the detective actually finds Dr. Hill in a sideshow where he's advertised as "The Talking Head From the Miskatonic Massacre" (apparently, he followed West's advice from the first movie). But the real gem is the deleted original sequence where Dan re-animates Meg (hint: it doesn't go real smoothly). It's sort of a rough cut, but very satisfying- I read about the opening in Fangoria before the movie came out and thought, "man, I can't WAIT to see that-perfect!", so I was really disappointed when it was cut. In fact, it's worth the price of the DVD just to finally get to see Combs as Dr. Herbert West utter the immortal line: "No, Hill didn't kill me...he didn't have the guts." YEAH BABY! I waited over 10 years to hear Jeffrey Combs say that line, and by God, it was worth it. Why they cut the opening, I have no idea. Ah, the invention of the DVD special edition -one of technology's greatest achievements (for us movie fans anyway). So, if you're a big Combs fan, a big Stuart Gordon fan, a hard-core fan of the first movie, or all of the above like me, this is a must-add to your collection. Even if you weren't that blown away by the first movie, you'll love this special edition- trust me on this. Much, much better than I expected. Date. Mate. Re-animate.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great movie, but Artisan fails on another DVD re-release, October 23, 2003
By A Customer
Bride Of Re-animator was previously released on DVD by Pioneer/Artisan as a Special Edition which was far superior to this bare bones DVD reissue from Artisan. The special edition offered two versions of the film (Rated R and Unrated). It had a full-length commentary by the director, cast, the special effects guys, etc. It also offered a deleted scene and a blooper/outtake/behind-the-scenes reel which are both absent on this reissue. Another thing it had were many still galleries, promotional materials, production notes...and more. I have indeed seen the movie transfer on this reissued DVD, and it looks like the same transfer on the previous DVD release. If you don't care for special features, or can't get the older DVD...then, and only then, is it a good buy for the movie itself! Artisan must be really lazy these days. They'd had no special features on any of their recent DVD releases of older Horror and Sci-Fi flicks. Not even a theatrical trailer! It's almost as if they could care less because they know the product will sell anyways. So, you may ask...why am I giving this a 5 star rating? For the movie itself...surely not for this featureless DVD! The only thing good about this reissue is that it has the original movie artwork on the cover, even though the old DVD "neon" artwork looked much cooler.
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10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good DVD, kind of misleading, November 23, 1999
The uncut version is in pretty poor condition. The picture, particularly in dark areas is very pixelly, and the sound is so bad you have to crank it to even hear. This should just be seen as a curiosity because it's only 1 minute longer. The only difference I noticed was in the uncut version, I think the Luetenant swings the dog an extra time and shoves his stump into Francesca's face for an extra few seconds. That's it, really. If there is anything else, it's certainly not noticed. Also it should be noted that this film was shot in Super 35, because it went straight to video. Apparently Brian intended the picture to be matted, and this is an option that is provided. But understand that you are BLOCKING OUT A GREAT DEAL OF PICTURE! It is just as if you took two strips of black construction paper and taped them to your TV screen. The featurette is not narrated and is in fact home movies strung together. It's only about 10 minutes long, but I have to admit seeing David Gale with bat wings on his head playing cards with a zombified Johnny Legend is simply hilarious. The box also makes it sound like it has tons of stuff. Everything except the featurette is in one file titled "Casefiles", which is just a series of stills you step through. For example, "conceptual drawings". There are 2-3 drawings in this mix, as well as 2-3 paragraphs of text regarding the production. All these bloopers, behind-the-scenes, etc. are all part of the featurette, which I think is misleading. The highlight of this disc is the commentary. I have the 10th Anniversary LD for Re-Animator, and it has one of the best commentary tracks I've heard, so I was excited to get this DVD for that reason alone. Here's a case where the jacket doesn't do the disc justice. There are 2 seperate tracks, one with Brian, George, Tom, Howard, Greg, etc., and the other with the comedic stylings of Jeffry Combs and Bruce Abbot. They have a blast reliving the film and tearing it apart at the same time in the vein of Mystery Science Theater 3000. Buy this DVD for this feature alone. Although the featurette is pretty cool, it is way too short, and the other features are more or less a let-down.
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