Journey Through Sci-Fi: A Science Fiction Film Podcast · James Payne

Re-Animator (1985) & Poor Things (2023): Reanimated & Reimagined

·1 hr 16 min·4 clips

Dr. Hill's decapitated head keeps moving in a tray, and the hosts call the blood-pouring moment unforgettable.

Matt opens by welcoming listeners back to Journey Through Sci-Fi and laying out the series’ ongoing look at science fiction sub-genres on screen. James joins him and they explain that this stretch is focused on mad science. They settle on Re-Animator and Poor Things for the pairing. Matt says they are two of the absolute best examples of the mode. He also makes it clear he loves both films. The hosts quickly point out that the films sit far apart on the filmmaking spectrum. James answers the main question of why they belong together. He links them to Frankenstein and the idea of making a creation, bringing someone back to life, and living with what that creation does. They describe the films as reimagining and modern or post-modern updates of that legacy. The discussion keeps circling back to familiar mad-science imagery. Body experiments come up. Corpses being reanimated come up. Brains come up a lot. The pair note that much of it feels familiar from earlier Frankenstein stories. They also say there is still plenty here that feels fresh. The conversation then moves into Re-Animator in more detail. Herbert West is treated as less of a classic god-complex scientist than some others in the genre. Even so, he is still pulled into a world of mad science and its consequences. The hosts talk through how the film rewards him in a strange way. Instead of being swallowed by a monster as punishment, he ends up in an action-hero pose at the end. Dr Hill is then brought into focus. His hubris is compared to West’s. His motivation is framed as taking other people’s inventions and theories and claiming the glory. Matt and James call him a glory hunter. They also say he is not so different from Herbert except that he lacks Herbert’s skill and intelligence. That ego, they note, does not end with death. The talk turns to reanimated corpses and how recently someone has to have died for the reagent to work best. Dean Halsey is mentioned as an example. The hosts describe how timing matters. If the body is reanimated quickly enough, it seems to retain more cognitive function. With Hill, the immediate treatment after decapitation makes the process work better than it does in other cases, though still not cleanly. The show closes with a reminder about bonus content on Patreon. They also preview the next episode, which will compare The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension and The City of Lost Children as another mad-science contrast. The whole thing keeps its casual rhythm while still building a clear argument about how these films inherit and reshape Frankenstein.

As heard by us

A loose, smart pairing of two mad-science films that keeps Frankenstein at the center.

Journey Through Sci-Fi sets Re-Animator and Poor Things beside each other as two very different mad science films, and that contrast gives the conversation its shape.

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Why you'd press play

If you like Frankenstein offshoots, this pairing keeps the mad-science angle front and center.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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