Re-Animator: The Musical

Stuart Gordon was recently interviewed on the TV show, Last Call with Carson Daly, where he spoke about turning H.P. Lovecraft's Re-Animator into a piece of musical theatre, Re-Animator™ The Musical. They wouldn't let us embed the interview, so check it out here.



What do you think about the cult classic movie? Would you want to see it as a musical?

Re-Animator Stage Musical on NPR-Low Tech Guts Rule

Weee for more horror theater everyone!

Fool's Views: Edgar Allan Poe Double Feature

Being that Edgar Allan Poe turned 202 last month (Jan 19), it seemed like the perfect occasion to check out two as-yet unViewed cinematic offerings based on the man's work. While producer/director Roger Corman more or less staked out the claim as Poe's most proficient and prolific celluloid champion (via a series of eight American International Pictures features from 1960-1964, affectionately referred to as the "AIPoes"), there have been numerous others, ranging from the sublime (Jean Epstein's 1928 version of The Fall of the House of Usher) to the ridiculous (David DeCoteau's recent Pit and the Pendulum abomination).

The two below fall somewhere in between.



Evening of Edgar Allan Poe, An (1972) (1st viewing) d. Johnson, Kenneth
Not really a film so much as a recorded concert reading of Vincent Price at his Vincent Priceyest, tearing into four Poe short stories for the benefit of the camera on what seem to be leftover sets from a traveling production of OLIVER! The howling histrionics will either delight or dismay, depending on one’s temperament, not to mention Price’s puzzling pronunciations of words like “bosom” as “BOOOZUM.” But for those who enjoy the “Merchant of Menace” at his hammy best, Uncle Vincent slices it thick and serves it sizzling.





Pit and the Pendulum, The (1991) (1st viewing) d. Gordon, Stuart
Re-teaming with frequent screenwriter and partner in crime Dennis Paoli, Stuart Gordon whips up another blend of comic yuks and graphic yechs for the Band boys (Charles and Albert). But like most of Gordon’s horror comedies following the one-two punch of RE-ANIMATOR and FROM BEYOND, it’s fairly uneven in tone and never really seems to know what it wants to be. Unless what it wants to be is a harsh and cruel Inquisition story following Lance Henriksen’s deeply disturbed monk, armed with a sadistic streak and a serious yen for Rona de Ricci’s female form (and hey, who can blame the guy? Chick is hot, and occasionally naked…), who just happens to be surrounded by the biggest bunch of bozos this side of Ringling Bros. To the point, Henriksen, de Ricci and her onscreen beau Jonathan Fuller seem to be the only ones taking the story seriously, as the rest of the hooligan cast (including Stephen Lee, Tom Towles, Carolyn Purdy-Gordon , William J. Norris and Jeffrey Combs) mug and swan about the place. That lovable lush Oliver Reed even shows up for a cameo, only to be walled up a la Cask of Amontillado. Oh, yes, as far as this being a faithful Poe adaptation…not so much. There is a pit, and a pendulum (a really sharp, spark-throwing one, too), both of which figure mightily into the full-steam climax, but the rest is pure Paoli pudding.



What are YOUR favorite big screen Poe outings?

120 Years Ago...

...horror was given one of its greatest gifts with the birth of Howard Phillips Lovecraft, the father of cosmic horror. He was the most influential horror author of the 20th century, no arguments allowed. If you don't agree, then may Cthulhu devour you slowly.

Hey guys, what's for dinner? Oh, yeah, you are.

There have been many attempts to translate Lovecraft to the big screen, but no one has been able to do any of his stories real justice. However, and this is a big however, there seems to be one director who has made a name for himself directing Lovecraft-inspired, completely outrageous horror films. That man is this man:

Are you gonna argue with that?

Stuart Gordon is the director of Re-Animator and From Beyond, not to mention a totally righteous dude*. These are two of the most entertaining movies ever put to film and also two attempts to bring Lovecraft to the screen. While neither film is an accurate or direct translation of their respective sources, both are completely unmissable for horror fans.

Lovecraft was also a mentor to Robert Bloch, who authored a book whose film adaptation is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, Psycho. You might have heard of that one somewhere along the line.

So, many cheers to H.P. Lovecraft, whose influence still resonates in horror to this day.

*aside from stealing my seat at the Music Box Massacre last year. The jerk.**

**just kidding. He really is an all-around nice guy and an amazing director.

FOOL'S VIEWS: Lovin' that Lovecraft

Dr. AC spends a little time with HPL, or at least the screen adaptations of several of his stories from a variety of different quarters. Stuart Gordon's Re-Animator (1985) and From Beyond (1986) are probably common knowledge to most card-carrying genre fans, so we'll skip past those for a triple feature of lesser-known fare:

Curse of the Crimson Altar (aka The Crimson Cult) (1968)


One of Boris Karloff’s final films, this is a (very) loose adaptation of one of Lovecraft’s lesser tales, “The Dreams in the Witch House.” Mark Eden stars as an antique dealer who ventures to the rustic town of Greymarsh in search of his disappeared brother, encountering cool and charming Christopher Lee as his host, as well as a green body-painted Barbara Steele within his nightmares. As a learned expert in witchcraft, Karloff lends admirable support alongside Michael Gough as a mumbling servant, but the muddled plot (something about a witch’s descendant who has formed a new cult, which also requires new blood sacrifices) and bungled climax leave much to be desired. Exec-produced by Tony Tenser.

Dagon (2001)


Re-Animator director Stuart Gordon takes on Lovecraft again with mixed results. Based on "The Shadow over Innsmouth," two couples are shipwrecked off the coast of Spain, and discover the locals are amphibian mutants with a dark secret. Though imaginatively directed with loads of dark and stormy atmosphere, the biggest problem lies in lead actor Ezra Godden’s performance, who plays his character as an annoying nerd never fully invested in the increasingly bizarre situation at hand. While the rest of the cast (which includes stunning beauties Raquel Merono and Macarena Gomez) plays it straight, Godden’s frantic joking approach (presumedly at the behest of Gordon) robs the movie of any real suspense or fear. Thankfully, veteran Spanish actor Francisco Rabal grounds his scenes with the necessary gravitas to carry the film to its final act, where everyone stops messing around and the movie takes off. There is a shocking torture sequence that will please any gore hound (though one could argue its gratuitous nature), and the frenzied special-effects climax pays off surprisingly well. If only it wasn’t such a slog getting there, though Gomez’s frequent topless appearances make the trip easier going.
Haunted Palace, The (1963)

Solid diversion from producer/director Roger Corman and star Vincent Price in the midst of their AIPoe glory. Despite being renamed with an Edgar Allan Poe poem title, the plot is actually derived from Lovecraft’s novella, “The Case of Charles Dexter Ward,” with the end results certainly satisfying enough to keep grumbling over false advertising to a minimum. Charles Beaumont’s script describes a warlock (Price) who possesses a descendant to wreak revenge against the townspeople who burned him at the stake. Debra Paget is lovely in support as Price’s spouse, confused by her husband’s violent personality shifts, and Lon Chaney, Jr. (deep in the bottle at this point) acquits himself ably as the warlock’s ancient servant.

RE-ANIMATOR team reunites to bring Poe onstage...

From the good folks at iF Magazine:

"When it comes to putting new blood into a horror author of yore, few director-actor collaborators have made terrifying words cinematically relevant for a new generation of fear fans like Jeffrey Combs and Stuart Gordon. Indeed, H.P. Lovecraft would probably send salutations from his eldritch realm for the gorily stylish energy they injected into such adaptations of his work as RE-ANIMATOR, FROM BEYOND and CASTLE FREAK- films that created a new legion of Lovecraft admirers to hungrily seek out his printed work anew. Gordon, who got his start in avant-garde theater productions replete with nude Peter Pans and onstage torture, directed the wiry Combs to new realms of psychotic brilliance in these films, establishing the actor as an icon of mad science.

"But Gordon and Combs didn’t stop at Lovecraft, as the actor’s supporting role in his Poe-inspired PIT AND THE PENDULUM would ultimately lead to Combs playing the author himself for Gordon in “The Black Cat,” a MASTERS OF HORROR episode that twisted Poe’s real-life insanity into one of his most notorious stories. It’s no wonder that with their help, Poe has continued to conjure images of shackled corpses, ever-lowering blades and quothing ravens. Yet even Poe’s own fiction could hardly match the horrific travails of his own self-destructive life, where tragedy upon tragedy led the legendary author / poet / detective / critic to a grim fate.

"Now with a book by RE-ANIMATOR co-author Dennis Paoli, Jeffrey Combs and Stuart Gordon are summing up Poe’s brilliant madness into a one-man stage play called NEVERMORE: AN EVENING WITH EDGAR ALLEN POE that is anything but a typically genteel “evening with.” For what starts out as Poe reciting his poetry and fictional stories ends up in a painful, near-psychotic breakdown that reveals the madness and sorrowful humanity within an author few really know beyond a rep full of lies. And for Combs/Gordon fans who’ve thrilled to their notorious screen collaborations, it’s a rare chance to experience the same chills, and powerhouse performance in the flesh- an evening that both men have determined their audience won’t forget at the outré Steve Allen theater in Los Angeles..."

Check out If's exclusive interview with the two horror titans ... and more information about the play HERE.