Tags:
Film: Beyond Re-Animator
Year: 2003
Director: Brian Yuzna
Writer: José Manuel Gómez
Starring: Jeffrey Combs, Tommy Dean Musset and Jason Barry
Review:
This film begins with two kids camping. One is telling the other a scary story, when they hear thunder. One of the boys thinks that he hears someone walking around and the other tells him he is hearing things. He also shows the other one that he has an eye in goop, he at first claims it is a human eye, but he admits that it really belonged to a sheep. We then see this boy’s sister inside the house. She also hears someone walking outside of the window. The boys go inside and scare her, but we then see that there is someone who is missing their bottom jaw in the house. He kills the sister and the police show up. They kill this crazed individual. The boy watches as Jeffrey Combs, who is the main character, being arrested. He also drops a syringe of glowing liquid. If you’ve seen the previous films, you know what this is.
We then shift 13 years into the future. Combs is continuing his experiments while in prison. He catches a rat and then electrocutes it. He fills what looks like a vacuum tube with electricity. A sergeant, played by Lolo Herrero, comes to his cell to inform Combs that he has a new work detail and needs to report that day. We also learn that the rat he killed belonged to Enrique Arce. It was his pet.
We see a man coming into the prison, played by Jason Barry. He meets with Herrero who takes him to where the warden is. The warden is played by Simón Andreu and currently he is meeting with Elsa Pataky, who is a reporter and wants to do an article. Andreu is coming on to her, but she is not having. When Barry arrives, she does take a liking to him. He shuts down the interview, killing her story.
Arce is pissed about his rat and he hangs out with a drug addict and seeker, played by Santiago Segura. They want to kill Combs, because they know he did something to it. An odd inmate, who is religious, played by Nico Baixas, has a heart attack. Barry is called out to help him. There is a nurse that gives aid as well, played by Raquel Gribler. She isn’t very good and dresses provocatively. They can’t save him, but Barry confronts Combs, who has been transferred to hospital wing. Barry shows him that he has the Re-Animating agent. They use it on Baixas. They don’t think it works, but he comes back to life. He attacks a guard and it taken to solitary confinement.
A lab is set-up as Barry wants to know more about the agent and to learn everything he can from Combs. Andreu doesn’t like it, but allows it go on. Barry also starts to see Pataky, but he doesn’t let on what he is really doing at the prison.
Together Barry and Combs have created more of the agent and they bring back the rat he killed earlier in the film. The rat comes back angry, as does everything that is liquid is used on. Combs believes that he has found a way to prevent this. He uses the vacuum tube we saw earlier and this puts the essence of the soul into it. The rat does lose its aggressiveness. To prevent himself from being killed, he returns the rat. Arce soon learns that this rat is different, as Combs put the essence of a different rat into it.
Pataky comes back to the prison to get the story she has been trying to get and she flirts with Andreu. She even agrees to go to dinner with him. She angers him though when he catches her talking to Baixas. She sees that he has been attacked by Andreu. He kills Pataky.
Combs convinces Barry that they can bring her back. They use Andreu’s essence though, killing him in the process. Combs then uses the essence from Arce’s rat in Andreu’s body. Baixas also escapes and Arce does as well. A riot breaks out in the prison. Andreu is still evil and has some side-effects from this last experiment. Will Pataky have a similar reaction? Can this riot be stopped or will everyone be killed?
I will say that I do like that this film does do something different. I like that it is set in prison 13 years after the previous film. That really helps to account for the time between the previous film and this one. I thought Combs was great once again as Herbert West. Pataky wasn’t bad and seeing her nude was a plus. Her transformation at the end was good as well. I also like that Combs is continuing to try to solve the problem of not bringing people back like they were, but they are monsters. Even though he continues to fail, it is good to see that he is trying. I also love that he continues to do experiments that don’t make a lot of sense, but wants to see what happens.
There were quite a few issues though. I thought most of the acting was bad. I question Gribler being a nurse as well as how no one would question some of things that Barry was asking for. There are a lot of unrealistic things happen, but I will give some leeway as this is a horror film, with a comedy aspect to it. The biggest things are the stereotypes and clichés.
I would only recommend this film if you are a fan of the series and want to see what its conclusion is. The acting isn’t that good, aside from Pataky and Combs. There are a lot of unrealistic things that happen, but being a horror/comedy, I would say you need to come in and expect it. The original is much better, but as I have said, it is fun to see Combs trying new things to prefect bringing the dead back to life. This one does do something different, but it isn’t good enough to be worth most of everyone’s time.
My Rating: 5 out of 10