The Resurrected 4K 1991 Ultra HD 2160p

A woman (Sibbett) asks a private detective (Terry) to help her husband (Serenade), who is conducting strange experiments involving corpses. During the investigation, it turns out that her husband's place has been taken by a black magic sorcerer who died in the 18th century. He left behind diaries and notes, which the unfortunate woman's husband used to resurrect him from the dead. And now, to satisfy his hunger, he needs living blood and flesh. This creepy horror film features impressive special effects by Todd Masters. The screenplay by Brent W. Friedman, based on H. P. Lovecraft's short story “The Case of Charles Dexter Ward,” contributes to the literary quality of the dialogue and the overall high production value.

User Review

Those who expect impressive monsters, cool bloody effects, and other such things from Dan O'Bannon's new work will be slightly disappointed. This film has all of that, but in much smaller proportions than in similar monster movies of the time. Even though O'Bannon himself is the creator of one of the most impressive monsters in world cinema—the Alien. Instead of carnage and dismemberment, the filmmakers have created a cool mystical detective story with many interesting moments that refer to the occult, and which is also an almost line-by-line adaptation of the great Lovecraft.

Although, in my opinion, the coolest adaptations of Lovecraft were made by Stuart Gordon, who created such masterpieces as The Abomination, Re-Animator, and Dagon, O'Bannon managed to convey the very spirit of Lovecraft's stories - from the similar setting (Providence) to the form and structure of the narrative - for example, the action is periodically commented on by a voice-over narrator, which adds to the eeriness and creates the right atmosphere. In essence, the entire film is a retelling of a terrifying case that the main character has to unravel.

The case involves the strange behavior of a certain Charles Dexter Ward, who seems to have been replaced after an incident. His wife complains about his strange behavior and asks the main character to conduct an investigation, which will lead him to the most incredible conclusions and force him to face his fears.

In terms of these fears and the atmosphere, as I already wrote, the film was successful, but still, I would have liked to see a few more monsters on screen. However, even here, the authors of the film remained faithful to the original source material—in Lovecraft's work, fear lies more in the anticipation of monsters than in the monsters themselves. On the other hand, after the atmosphere reaches its peak (helped by the final episode in the dungeon), we are shown the creatures themselves, which are amazingly well done. The monsters are ‘failed duplicates’ of the central antagonist's necromantic witchcraft experiments, and the creature that attacks the detective in the dungeon deserves special attention. It is an incredibly well-made monster, worthy of the best works of John Büchler, Greg Nicotero, Stan Winston, or Rob Bottin. I would also like to highlight the moment when a similar creature is pulled out of the river. It's a small but very cool episode! And the ‘drowned man’ himself turned out to be impressive!

Overall, the film turned out to be very worthy and should appeal to horror fans and fans of the great Lovecraft in particular. In my opinion, the creators should have paid a little more attention and screen time to the flashbacks to the past - it's clear that they were done atmospherically and authentically, but you don't have time to enjoy them. Indeed, these are the most interesting moments in the film. Except for the final battle with the monster, of course.

The actors do their best—the main trio, played by John Terry, Chris Sarandon, and Jane Sibbott, did an excellent job of transforming into their characters, and it's interesting to follow the transformation of the main character and the main villain. Incidentally, one of the actors playing the protagonist's assistant bears a striking resemblance to comedian Jimmy Kimmel, which was somewhat amusing throughout the film.

The music also deserves the highest praise, as maestro Richard Band wrote the OST for almost all of the iconic monster movie hits of the time and for Charles Band's Empire Pictures studio, so he knows exactly what the musical accompaniment to a horror movie should be like.

Strong direction, remarkable screenwriting that closely follows the original work, worthy actors in the leading roles, and, of course, masterfully crafted monsters and makeup—everything that makes such films valuable—it all worked out! The overall positive impression of the film is slightly marred, perhaps, by the rather unsuccessful skeleton at the very end (the authors should have used animatronics instead of relying on computer effects), but I think this oversight can be forgiven, as the film, on the whole, provided many enjoyable moments and inspired me to reread the original work, which will never grow old!

Info Video

Codec: HEVC / H.265 (76.9 Mb/s)
Resolution: Native 4K (2160p)
HDR: Dolby Vision, HDR10
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1

Info Audio

#English: FLAC 2.0
#English: Dolby Digital 2.0 (Commentary with producers Mark Borde and Kenneth Raich, writer Brent V. Friedman, special effects artist Todd Masters, and actor Robert Romanus)

Info Subtitles