3/13/2022
I'm finally talking about Re-Animator! Specifically, I want to talk about the degradation of female characters today. I know it's kind of a heavier subject but I think it's important to note within the trilogy.
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WARNING FOR: Topics about sexual assault and creepy behavior
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Re-Animator
The female characters in the first movie were actually alright. We had a female character in a doctor position with authority over Dan since he was a student. Meg is also a strong character as well! She knows what she wants, and she criticizes both Dan and Herbert. Unfortunately, we also have the sexual assault scene and the creepy behavior of Dr. Hill. It's more of a thing with the director: Stuart Gordon. I've seen a couple movies of his (From Beyond & Castle Freak) and each movie has a sexual assault scene(s) or borderline sexual assault. At least this sexual assault scene isn't supposed to be taken as Meg's downfall and Dr. Hill is, argueably, ridiculed for his actions. There's also a subtle misogyny with Herbert's lines towards Meg.
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Bride of Re-Animator
The misogyny within Herbert's lines in this movie become more apparent. There's also that weird, creepy scene with the cop and Francesca. Also, the scene where Herbert is talking about the bride before she is reanimated is kind of objectionable. This is also where we see female roles being in less dominant positions besides Francesca like nurses and background characters. Gloria is a special case because she is the catalyst for the creation of the bride so I'm not too peeved with her character. Generally, this movie is a lot less egregious than the next part of the trilogy.
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Beyond Re-Animator
Dear god, this movie sucks with its female characters. There only 3 female characters, and 2 of them are sexually assaulted very aggressively. Vanessa's character was the most misogynistic in the way she was treated. She had to be corrected by a man when she was going to put in an IV and then her breast got mutilated by a reanimated corpse. Laura was orally raped, killed, and then reanimated. After being reanimated, she turned into a sort of dominatrix and decapitated by the Daniel Cain step-in. Both Vanessa and Laura are creeped on by men while being in a submissive role. I absolutely hate the vile shit they put these 2 through that I could barely watch the movie and skipped through all sexual assault scenes (which go on for a long time as well). I haven't watched the movie since the first time I did because of the ways this movie's writers treat their female characters. I can't believe how anyone accepted this kind of nonsense. Even if Vanessa and Laura were strong characters, I don't think that could excuse the kind of assault these 2 go through. It's just downright horrible.
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I know this is probably nothing I should be making an entire blogpost about since all three movies are old now and it's a niche trilogy. But, it still stands on how sexual assault on female characters are used as a device for either tantilizing imagery or to shock the audience. It's very disappointing seeing this being a stapple within the movies (not including Beyond) that are an inspiration for a lot of my aesthetics.