Butler himself, on his way to Italy to shoot DEMONIC TOYS 2 for Charles Band (see item here, where he discussed the project under his alias Silvia St. Croix), came clean to Fango with further details. (Ironically, the 1985 RE-ANIMATOR film initially began life as a cable miniseries, before Yuzna, director Stuart Gordon and co-screenwriters Dennis Paoli and William J. Norris adapted it into a feature, which Band’s Empire Pictures released.)

 

“I was actually brought on board by Meredith Red, who is the show’s main creator and executive producer,” Butler tells Fango. “I am one of the many writers and producers on the show. We are talking to some high-profile directors to do the pilot, including Stuart Gordon. John Vulich [who created the FX for Butler’s FURNACE] is also involved.”

When you read the outline below, you'll notice that HERBERT WEST—RE-ANIMATOR: THE SERIES does not duplicate the action of RE-ANIMATOR’s copyrighted cinematic trilogy, but instead serves as more of a prequel to Lovecraft’s established literary West mythos. “The main thing we want to convey is that the series focuses far more on all of the stories of H.P. Lovecraft,” Butler reveals. “It’s much more of a monster du jour show rather than just the RE-ANIMATOR storyline, which will be the B plot.” The filmmaker could provide no further details on the images slipped to Fango, but this site will deliver additional details on HERBERT WEST—RE-ANIMATOR: THE SERIES very soon.

What BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER was for Gothic storytelling, HERBERT WEST: RE-ANIMATOR will be for sci-fi and horror.

He’s a teenage Dr. Frankenstein in a modern-day younger world, filled with sometimes terrifying scientific intrigue.

Fall—Freshman Year—Miskatonic University

The campus is finally reopening after 10 years of closure. It seems years ago, a student suddenly possessed with an uncontrollable rage broke out into a violent murder spree that left half the campus up in flames. Officials never found out just what filled the young man with the desire to kill so many.

Herbert West, a dark and mysterious young man, arrives on campus, instantly shining as a brilliant young student and the object of many of his female schoolmates’ desires.

We soon learn that along with his medical school, Herbert also has a secret passion that he relentlessly is pursuing. Late at night when everyone else is gone, Herbert conducts groundbreaking experiments…to learn the secret of life itself…to unlock the code that will allow him to reanimate the dead.

Charismatic, sexy and dangerous, Herbert’s obsessions eventually draw his young colleagues, friends and lovers into his dark world. They will all share in the rewards and consequences of meddling with things that man was not meant to—all the while dealing with their own growing relationships and unfolding subsequent storylines inspired by the fantastic works of H.P Lovecraft.

Soon, the group of friends discovers that their campus is also becoming an increasing hot spot for scientific and sometimes horrific phenomenon. It’s as if the place is becoming a portal for the unknown.

Could it be that Herbert’s secret experiments are the cause of these occurrences…or is it something much more indescribable?

Episode by episode, Herbert West and his newfound schoolmates struggle to unlock the secret to life as well as the unknown oddities that they will discover along their journey.

Alliances will be formed and broken—forbidden relationships will develop and complicate.

Some will not survive and others will wish they hadn’t. HERBERT WEST—RE-ANIMATOR is a fresh, contemporary take on all of H.P. Lovecraft’s immortal horror works.