An Imperfect Solution: A Tale of the Re-Animator (2003) User Reviews

Excellent Lovecraft adaptation

[zorn24601 · 9/10 · 14 October 2003]

This short film is based on "The Scream of the Dead", a chapter in H.P. Lovecraft's story 'Herbert West-Reanimator'. Bob Poirier's performance as Herbert West is perfect. It's like the character walked off the page onto the screen.

I'd like to see Crawling Chaos Pictures try a full-length adaptation of 'Re-Animator'. The best thing about their vision of it is that they set it in the 1920's, around the time the original story was set, instead of 'updating' it like a lot of larger-budget filmmakers feel impelled to do.

I saw this at the H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival in Portland, Oregon. On the big screen, the graininess of the film takes a moment to get used to. This is, after all, an amateur production. But even that adds to the feel of watching a story set in the past. I give this 9/10 stars.

A fine adaptation!

[EdwardMartinIII · 10/10 · 27 October 2003]

"An Imperfect Solution" (Oh, what an awful pun!) is a fine adaptation of Lovecraft's Herbert West stories. Although much good can be said of Stuart Gordon's adaptations, the fact is, they've dominated the field as far as adapting any of these oddball stories. Matzke's adapted one in a faithful, period piece, with an obvious eye toward a love for the genre, the material, and the historical flavor of the original work. There is a quiet horror in this movie, a sense of the surreal and the terrifying.

Great Stuff

[James Raynor · 9/10 · 6 December 2004]

I was heartily entertained by Christian Matzke's tale of the Re-Animator. The B&W photography really lends itself to any Lovecraft adaptation, and this flick doesn't skimp on the atmosphere. The music also helps a lot, which never once falls into the dodgy Casio-synth chasm that many a low budget movie does. The actors put in great performances all round too.

I saw this at a time when I had recently read the original stories for the first time (in preparation for my own Re-Animator short) and was impressed with the faithfulness of the adaptation. In terms of re-creating Lovecraft's sense of dread, Matzke has done a stellar job.

5/5

An almost perfect adaptation

[aaronjv-1 · 10/10 · 16 April 2004]

This short film, based on the "Re-Animator" stories by HP Lovecraft, is far more serious and dramatic than Stuart Gordon's version. "Solution" is not as gory (although there are a few shots to make you wince, plus a blood soaked corpse) and it lacks a severed head taking liberties with an immobilized co-ed. That's good. What Matzke does here is magnificently bring you to the time period of Lovecraft, with props and locations that are worthy of larger budget fare. More importantly, the film examines the real issues involved in re-animation...why would anyone even attempt it? This isn't a movie to make you laugh--it's a movie to make you think; a rarity these days.