What It's About:

Brainy med student Herbert West (Combs) has been working extra hours on an experimental serum that brings dead tissue back to life. One night, he manages to "re-animate" a deceased cat. Next, he tries out the glowing green potion on a human corpse, with gruesome success, though everyone he revivifies goes berserk. Worse yet, Herbert's superior, Dr. Carl Hill (David Gale), is out to claim the discovery for himself.

Why I Love It:

Stuart Gordon's hilariously campy gore-fest is loosely based on a story by H.P. Lovecraft, but draws heavily on old-fashioned horror like "Frankenstein" and George Romero's zombie flicks. Combs gives his Herbert just the right mix of nerdy gravitas and lunatic ambition, while Gale vamps it up as a jealous prof who literally loses his head over his student's potion, only to commit a foul act with the dean's daughter, played by comely Barbara Crampton. Things get grisly when bone-saws are marshalled to quell the violent, re-animated cadavers, but it's all in good fun. Like a version of "Night of the Living Dead" directed by the staff of Mad Magazine, "Re-Animator" will keep you in stitches.