The last time the world saw anything dealing with Lovecraft, bell bottoms were considered the height of fashion. There had a been a few television spots, mostly on Rod Serling's Night Gallery, but the world of feature films had dried up.
In walks Charles Band, who never met an idea he couldn't squeeze at least three films out of. Taking a story that Lovecraft himself hated, Band and Gordon made something that most horror fans would say they never topped.
In Zurich University, Dr. Hans Gruber (Ian Patrick Williams) is having a late night meeting with transfer student Dr. Herbert West (Jeffery Combs). The meeting isn't going well, judging by the screaming and thrashing coming from his locked office. When a group of concerned students force their way inside, they find West standing over the prone and quite dead Gruber, an empty hypodermic needle in his hands. They naturally believe West killed him...at least until Gruber jumps up and thrashes around. Until Gruber's eyes explode and he drops dead, West seems more annoyed at the dosage than the dead man at his feet.
Some time later, West is enrolled at the Miskatonic Medical School in scenic Arkham, Massachusetts. Studying under Dr. Carl Hill (David Gale), West makes his first impression in front of Dean Halsey (Robert Sampson) by calling Dr. Hill everything short of a fraud.
In walks fellow medical student Dan Cain (Bruce Abbott). Cain needs a roommate and West needs a lab. Seeing the spacious basement, West moves in. Megan Halsey (Barbara Crampton), Dan's girlfriend (although her father doesn't know) is immediately put off by West's, well, everything about the man. Dan isn't impressed by the man either, but the thick wad of bills makes up for any misgivings.
When Megan's cat Rufus disappears, Dan does think West may have had something to do with it. When Megan finds the cat's remains in West's fridge, she is a bit put out. West, brilliant comeback aside, dismisses her problems. Later that night, however, Dan sneaks back into West's lab and finds Rufus among the living. Bloodthirsty and trying to kill West, but alive again. After killing the cat yet again, West explains his overall goal, namely to reverse death. Dan is put out, but with such a goal he can sacrifice a few cats. What could possibly go wrong?
One comedy of errors later, and Dean Halsey has not only been killed but also brought back to life. West spins it as Halsey simply going nuts and attacking them, but Dr. Hill can't help but find that Halsey simply isn't ill but stone cold dead. Confronting West in his lab, Hill gloats about how they'll retire the Nobel Prize in his name. West disagrees, and one shovel decapitation later decides to try his luck with Hill's severed head.
A miscalculation on West's part, as Hill was not only fresh enough not to turn into a crazed zombie but West's formula also enhanced Hill's psychic abilities to where he can control his body despite not being attached. Knocking West out, Hill steals his formula, notes, and Megan and heads off. West and Dan follow, but can they stop him?
Even after all these years the film still holds up. Comedy and horror are hard things to blend, but Gordon and company do it right. The direction never lets one extreme take over, so while you may chuckle at the lines, you're still being scared. The performances are all pitch perfect, with Combs as the driven and sarcastic West being the standout. The sequels didn't take all these lessons to heart, but the original is where the heart is.
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