"Herbert West Re-Animator" is a short-story/novel written by Lovecraft in his distinct style. Old-fashioned, slightly baroque language. Combine this with slightly hysteric characters. Add a touch of quaint black magic in a pseudoscientific guise. And voilà - a Lovecraftian story. Set in Lovecraft's own version of Massachusetts with the city of Arkham and Miskatonic University. It is not the first time I enjoy Lovecraft. There is something that makes me go back to these stories, even though they verge on the ridiculous. The atmosphere he creates is quite singular. In fact the entire mythology of monster-creatures he has conjured up is one of a kind. In this particular story, none of the Outer Gods or Lesser Gods or Great Old Ones feature. Instead we have a mad scientists reviving corpses in a macabre and inept way, botching up most attempts. If you love Lovecraft, you definitely know what you will get here. If you have not read him before, this is an OK, "light" story to start with (although there are better). This is the story that inspired the movie "Re-Animator" (1985), directed by Stuart Gordon.The story focuses on one Herbert West, a medical doctor who is obsessed with defeating death -- by reanimating dead bodies. "Morally challenged" to begin with, West descends into sheer insanity in his mad quest for immortality.Probably heavily influenced by Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein", but it is still unique in it's own right.I'd definitely recommend it to any horror fan, and especially fans of the movie (and it's sequels).
What do You think about Herbert West: Reanimator (1922)?
Una de mis historias favoritas de Lovecraft, deliciosamente cómica y oscura.
—Amrit
4 1/2 stars. Very different (and better) than the movie.
—Bailey
A much better version of Mary Shelley' s Frankenstein.
—Crow
