Reanimator Academy: Blu ray review by Matt Boiselle
If you’re going into Reanimator Academy expecting another Re-Animator, stop right there. This is something completely different — and that’s exactly what makes it such a fun little piece of SOV insanity. Originally shot on consumer video in Texas, Reanimator Academy is low-budget, goofy, bizarre, sleazy, and unapologetically weird. Think mad-science horror smashed together with college comedy, exploitation, and pure early-’90s video-store trashiness. The story follows a college student experimenting with a reanimation serum, leading to severed heads, resurrected bodies, pimps, mayhem, and plenty of ridiculousness. Is it polished? Hell no. Is it scary? Not particularly. But if you love obscure shot-on-video horror, that’s not really the point.
The fuzzy video, crude effects, amateur performances, ridiculous humor, and homemade atmosphere are exactly what give this thing its charm. It feels like the kind of forgotten VHS you would’ve discovered buried on a shelf at some shitty video store in 1992 and immediately grabbed because the cover looked insane, and then there’s the Visual Vengeance treatment. This release is PACKED. You get a new commentary from Sam Panico and Bill Van Ryn, a Bret McCormick interview, a location tour, interviews with the composer and actor Tom Fegan, a hilarious Fred the Head interview, the 2023 alternate soundtrack cut, trailer material, AND Children of Dracula as a bonus feature — along with a McCormick interview about that film and his Nitehawk Cinema Q&A., and Visual Vengeance doesn’t stop with the disc. You get a reversible sleeve featuring the original VHS artwork, folded mini-poster, VHS-style sticker sheet, limited-edition slipcase, and even a video-store membership card. THIS is how you release obscure horror.
The picture quality isn’t going to blow you away because the source material is what it is. This is fuzzy, soft, washed-out SOV video — but honestly, trying to make this movie look pristine would almost defeat the purpose. What you’re getting is a time capsule of what this movie actually looked like in the VHS era, and that’s ultimately why this release works so damn well. Reanimator Academy isn’t some undiscovered horror masterpiece – it’s an undiscovered horror ARTIFACT.
It’s the kind of movie that would’ve been completely forgotten if labels like Visual Vengeance weren’t willing to dig through the graveyard of obscure SOV horror and resurrect these bizarre little pieces of genre history. If you’re a fan of SOV horror, VHS-era weirdness, ultra-obscure genre cinema, or you’re just the kind of sick bastard who loves finding movies nobody else has heard of, you need this one – trust me. Visual Vengeance didn’t just put Reanimator Academy on Blu-ray, they resurrected it.
Grab your copy NOW at http://MVDShop.com
Special features include:
Transfer from existing SD tape masters
Commentary from Sam Panico of B&S About Movies and Bill Van Ryn of Drive-In Asylum
Talking Heads: director Bret McCormick Interview
Back To School: Reanimator Academy Location Tour
Brainwaves: Scoring Reanimator Academy
Interview with actor Tom Fegan
Fred The Head interview
Reanimator Academy: 2023 director’s alternate soundtrack cut
Bonus film: Bret McCormick’s Children of Dracula (1994)
Bret McCormick interview: Children of Dracula
Bret McCormick Reanimator Academy Q&A – Nitehawk Cinema
Visual Vengeance trailers
Optional English Subtitles
Folded mini-poster
Reversible sleeve featuring original VHS art
‘Stick Your Own’ VHS stickers (FIRST PRESSING ONLY)
Limited Edition slipcase art by Giorgio Credaro (FIRST PRESSING ONLY)
Limited Edition Video Store Card (FIRST PRESSING ONLY)
