Horror as a genre has always resonated strongly with queer audiences, and it’s not hard to see why. A genre rife with themes of otherness, ostracizing and vilification, many LGBTQ+ horror fans have reclaimed and embraced the trope of the monstrous queer, cheering on their rejection and dismantling of societal normalities, with their existence proving that alternative futures are possible. And of all the horror icons who reject the social order around them in pursuit of a new world, who better fits this trope than a certain spectacled scientist, Dr. Herbert West from Re-Animator?
As the 1985 cult classic film Re-Animator and its subsequent sequel Bride of Re-Animator celebrate their 40th and 35th anniversaries respectively (with announcements of brand new 4K restorations, Re-Animator returning to theatres across North America, and the announcement of a new film adaptation of the original Lovecraft stories), interest in the franchise has been injected back into horror fans, and as such has resurrected its largely queer fanbase. Its story of an everyman seduced by a strange new classmate to join him in his quest to defeat death is one that they believe is potent with homoeroticism, and with this reading becoming recognized and legitimized by not only LGBTQ+ film scholars but by cast and crew alike in recent years, Re-Animator’s queer subtext has been officially Re-Inforced.
A Queer Lovecraftian Text
One of the earliest recurring examples of queer-coding in horror literature and film was depicted through the archetypal relationship between a mad scientist and his loyal male assistant. Their experiments together, deemed “deviant” by traditionalist society, often reflected the reality of the closeted queer experience, committing “acts against God” together behind locked doors in secret lairs, hidden away from the authorities and the prejudiced public eye.
The original Lovecraft short stories, “Herbert West: Re-Animator“, played heavily into these themes, with the unnamed narrator (the “inseparable assistant” and “closet companion” to West), claiming that the mad scientist was forced to “continue in secret the experiments he could no longer perform openly”.
Re-Animator screenwriter Dennis Paoli comments on this coding in The Lurker in the Lobby: A Guide to the Cinema of H.P. Lovecraft, admitting, “I think (Lovecraft’s) prose is very sensual. I think there are homoerotic relationships”. This set the stage for the Herbert West we know and love today (played masterfully by horror legend Jeffrey Combs), who decades later would breathe new life into this queer-coded horror trope through his bizarrely devoted relationship with his partner in crime, Dan Cain.
Under Herbert West’s Thrall
Against his better judgment and the desperate warnings from his fiancée Megan Halsey, Dan Cain almost immediately falls under Herbert West’s spell, compelled by West’s ambition and their shared desire to find a cure for death. This mutual fascination (and undeniable chemistry) develops quickly into something akin to a whirlwind romance, as West and Cain go from being classmates to roommates to (research) partners in the span of mere days. Bride of Re-Animator further domesticates the pair, as the codependent men not only work together in professional and private life but even buy a home together, bickering like an old married couple all the while.
As the partnership between West and Cain grows closer, so does their physical proximity to one another. The most famous homoerotic shot in the franchise occurs when, in a strangely intimate moment, the normally closed-off Herbert comforts Dan, in shock from their disastrous first human re-animation attempts, by wrapping a blanket around him and holding him close. This is one of many instances wherein Herbert physically invades the space normally reserved for the heterosexual love interest; the scenes where the scientist can be seen cowering behind and holding onto Dan’s arm during moments of re-animated mayhem mirror the actions of a scared horror movie girlfriend.
Just Two Dudes In a Lab
In the Integral Cut of the film, there is even a scene where the two men subtextually “go all the way” together. In this version of the film, Herbert uses a weak solution of his reagent to quell his need for sleep, and in one scene begins to suffer from withdrawal symptoms. While an obvious drug addiction metaphor, queer fans in particular have latched onto this scene, some interpreting West as a transmasculine character with this moment paralleling hormone therapy, while others focus on the scene’s intensely erotic implications. The phallic nature of a syringe’s penetration, the “live-giving” fluid it injects, and the scene taking place in a bedroom make Herbert’s begging and later full-body eruption all the more sexual—reminiscent of Megan’s reaction earlier in the film while also sharing a bed with Dan Cain.
Through this process, Herbert methodically and successfully decenters Meg (and later, other women) in Dan Cain’s life, rerouting Dan’s heteronormative life path in favour of one steeped in queer deviancy—of two men creating life together without the need for women. Herbert famously detesting Dan Cain’s love interests only adds fuel to this fire, the jealous mad scientist wishing that Dan would spend more time experimenting with him instead (winks).
Harry M. Benshoff elaborates on this generic theme in his seminal horror history book Monsters in the Closet: Homosexuality and the Horror Film, stating,
“The homosocial world of scientists is skewed by the presence of a woman. These lone women exist in (these) films ostensibly to diffuse the homoerotic tension of the situation, but ironically they more regularly draw attention to it.”
Competing For Dan’s Attention
This could not be more accurate when it comes to the world of Re-Animator, as the tug-of-war for Dan’s attention that Herbert and Meg find themselves in metaphorically reveals their similarities as characters. Both offer Dan the possibility of creating new life together, but only one method (heterosexual copulation) is deemed acceptable by society. Barbara Crampton, who plays Meg, suggests that the three characters exist in a “triangle” in the documentary Re-Animator Resurrectus, arguing that “Megan and Herbert West were foes fighting for the same man”.
Bride of Re-Animator amps up Re-Animator’s homoerotic subtext to the point of arguably just being text. The combination of Herbert’s now all-consuming jealousy over Dan’s love life and his desire to keep Dan all to himself comes to a head when Dan threatens to divorc— sorry, “break off their partnership” by moving out. Out of pure desperation, Herbert, in a gesture reminiscent of a twisted Valentine’s gift, extends to Dan the heart of his now-deceased lover Meg (a victim of the undead carnage of the Miskatonic Massacre at the end of the first film), proposing to create a new life with it. Despite being a genius, Herbert, too, has fallen for the myth of babies saving marriages.
The Tragedy of Building Your Crush Their Ideal Lover
Herbert and Dan are certainly the fathers of Re-Animator; however, this parenting metaphor doesn’t fully fit in the case of the Bride, as there is a deep sexual component to Herbert proposing her creation. While the two men are connected on all other levels, Dan’s love life is a barrier that Herbert is unable to fully breach. He can only distract and disrupt through his reanimation-induced chaos. Indeed, much of Bride’s runtime is spent with Herbert hilariously seething in the background while Dan flirts with women, even venturing upstairs to watch Dan have sex with his new flame, Francesca. The normally cocky and confident scientist appears confused and almost bruised at the sight.
By building Dan his ideal lover limb from limb, Herbert is able to involve himself in the one facet of Dan’s life he does not have access to, further strengthening the romantic implications of Herbert’s initial gesture. Bruce Abbott even makes note of this in the film’s commentary track, quipping “This really borders on being sexual for Herbert. Very much so”, as Herbert places down the surgical sheet on top of their operating table. If that wasn’t enough, nearing the climax of the film, when Herbert is egging Dan on to inject the Bride with their reagent, he makes note of all of her attributes, including her skin being “so soft, so warm” — the same pillow-talk Herbert overheard Dan using on Francesca. Scenes like this show how Herbert perpetually (and literally!) seduces Dan to do his bidding, and how Dan can never resist him. Talk about romantic.
Re-Animator Is Queer And They Don’t Care Who Knows It
Bride of Re-Animator’s homoeroticism is so blatant and inescapable that even the film’s director and co-writer Brian Yuzna was forced to comment on the matter back in 2021. During an Instagram Q&A, Yuzna acknowledged Herbert’s jealous girlfriend tendencies, even going so far as to call West a “cock-blocked admirer of Dan”. He even admitted, “Some part of Herbert still pines for a soul mate, a friend, a colleague, an intimate. And Dan satisfies that need for West. Does that make him queer? Well, maybe, at least to the degree that such common mortal desires remain in him.”
Yuzna is far from the only official source to comment on the rise in popularity for “Danbert” (the duo’s official shipping name), and overall queer analysis on the franchise. Actors Jeffrey Combs and Barbara Crampton have discussed the matter on shows such as The Last Drive-In with Joe Bob Briggs and Dead Meat’s James A. Janisse and Catherine Corcoran’s podcast Scream Dreams, wherein the hosts for both shows seemingly cosigned (or at the very least enjoyed) this homoerotic reading, with Combs and Crampton being well aware of it. During The Last Drive-In episode, Joe Bob Briggs hilariously shouts, “Herbert West is just not interested in women at all!” at Jeffrey Combs while debating on the source of Herbert’s jealousy. Briggs even comments on how the movie shines when the two scientists act like “an old married couple”, Combs interjecting with the nickname “The Bickersons!”.
Queer subtext is practically a special feature on Arrow’s 2016 Blu-ray release of the film. The hysterical commentary track between lead actors Combs and Abbott indulge in the domestic “bliss” of their characters, with Bruce Abbott quipping “Love the apron betty!” over a scene of Herbert, clad in his medical gown, watching over a buff, shirtless Dan Cain — “Thank you, darling!”, Combs cheerfully replies. This release even includes an essay penned by LGBT film programmer Michael Blyth that openly examines this domesticity, directly stating that Herbert “bears a repressed sexual tension toward his colleague”.
You Can’t Bury This Gay
At the end of both Re-Animator and Bride of Re-Animator, Herbert West, like the queer-coded villains in classic cinema, is vanquished, metaphorically punished for being a threat to the heteronormative world around him. But the “bury your gays” trope does not work on Herbert West. He not only returns in every sequel, but his morbid queer agenda lives on through both Dan Cain taking the reigns and embodying the new Re-Animator, and through the series’ queer audience championing him. We don’t just love Herbert for his queenie cattiness, disgust at heterosexuals, and indulgence in campy melodrama—we love him for fighting back against conservative modes of thought limiting social progress.
Herbert’s speech after being accused of “blasphemy” in Bride of Re-Animator remains a fan-favorite scene for queer audiences to this day, and for good reason. Delivered with intense conviction by Combs, “I will not be shackled by the failures of your God” has become a slogan of resilience and resistance for these fans. Whether symbolic of the metamorphosis of trans identity or the moral panic regarding gay marriage and identity, West’s words ring powerful and prove why LGBTQ+ horror fans reclaim the Re-Animator franchise as their own. To queer and trans people, Herbert West did defeat death, as 40 years later, he still gives us life.
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