I did not start watching this with the highest of expectations. I am sure that many of you did not/will not as well. There were two main reasons for me:
1. Its a sequel
Generally, sequels are a bad re-hash of the first, or some misguided attempt to bring the story and characters to a new setting. This movie is neither, instead we get a (semi) natural continuation of the first film, which attempts to slip in more of the original Lovecraft Novella, which ultimately, neither film lives up to. Sure, characters that had little to no hope for life return with out a bat of the camera's eye, but this is a horror-comedy people, not The Godfather: Part II type of sequel, and I'm willing to ignore this to an extent. it never got on my nerves, anyway. Escapes the "horror movie sequel trap" quite well.
2. Bad Reviews
For some reason, this has terrible reviews most places, while the first film is praised and given **** and ***** star ratings, this puppy is tossed into the "worth a rental for genre fans" bin, with nothing above a ** rating in any professional reviewers opinion. This is really a shame, although I do admit, if you are not a fan of the first film you probably may as well skip this one. I also strongly recommend that those of you who have not seen Re-Animator backtrack and watch it first, as it definitely would (or maybe I should say "should") heighten your enjoyment level of this film.
Bride of Re-Animator is an excellent chunk of horror-comedy, which gets over looked when standing next to its beefy pappy. Personally, I found that elements of the film surpassed the first, atmosphere and gore f/x being the most clear ones. I really have to hand it to the f/x design team, because this is currently one of my favorite horror films as far as "creatures". The many experiments highlight the film when ever they appear, and the Bride herself is an excellent piece of gore design.
As far as the atmosphere goes, it is surely darker then its predecessor in this respect. Perhaps only the climax of the film truly shows the best aspects, as for the most part it reflects a similar attitude to Re-Animator, if slightly watered down. However, at the end we are treated to multi-colored lighting, fantastic zombies, smoke and some well used gauze, used to invoke the dress of the Bride in Bride of Frankenstein. Not to mention the earlier stated creature effects.
At any rate, this is a very worthy follow-up to a horror classic. Perhaps the script is not as strong, the quotable lines fewer and farer between and supporting characters more forgettable. But admit at least, nay-sayers, that if nothing else you loved it when Dr. West yelled "My God! They're using tools!"
7/10
