Exclusive first look & synopsis: HERBERT WEST—RE-ANIMATOR: THE SERIES!?!

News - Television

reanimatorseriesthumbWhile producer Brian Yuzna is developing a remake of his 1985 classic RE-ANIMATOR (in tandem with Ray Haboush’s Halcyon International Pictures, and set to be shot in 3-D!), development of a new TV series based on H.P. Lovecraft’s mad scientist Herbert West and various classic HPL stories is progressing simultaneously in Hollywood. An anonymous source sent Fango a few exclusive pics (see ‘em below the cut) and the official show synopsis for HERBERT WEST—RE-ANIMATOR: THE SERIES, a syndicated project currently in development at William (FURNACE) Butler’s Transition Films.

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.)

HERBERT WEST-RE-ANIMATOR: THE SERIES HERBERT WEST-RE-ANIMATOR: THE SERIES HERBERT WEST-RE-ANIMATOR: THE SERIES  

“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.
Comments (17)
  • Marit
    avatar
    Hi guys. A man without ambition is dead. A man with ambition but no love is dead. A man with ambition and love for his blessings here on earth is ever so alive. Having been alive, it won't be so hard in the end to lie down and rest.
    I am from Lebanon and learning to speak English, give please true I wrote the following sentence: "Provides online travel booking and discounted tickets for airline travel, car, hotel, cruise, and vacation reservations."

    Thanks for the help :), Marit.
  • Justin
    avatar
    I'm a big fan of H.P. Lovecraft's work but I'm also a fan of Buffy, a show which at times drew pretty heavily on the Cthulhu Mythos - so in all honesty I'm willing to give this show a chance. That being said if it turns out to be anything like Supernatural then yes, kill the bastards.
  • Hrbrt
    avatar
    This is SO NOT IT.
    DO NOT WANT.
    Don't we already have enough stupid "OMG look sooo creepy!" teen series that try to jump on the "mystery" train?
    Do NOT do this to Herbert! DO NOT WANT!!!

    LEAVE HERBERT ALOOONE!!!
    *cries*
  • Darkpriest
    avatar
    I heard Combs is involved with a real Reanimator film in development that has nothing to do with these hacks so there may still be hope for Reanimator.

    Lets start a petition not to make it a CW series. Those teen Dawsons creek genre things are terrible even if Timpone plugs them
  • Monstermanred
    avatar
    The last Reanimator was terrible and the plans that they had to make another movie spoofing the US and the president was an even stupider idea in my opinion. Its the same ol same ol, These guys cant come up with anything new or original so they're exploiting a classic and watering down the value of the original films in the process. Lets all prey this doesn't happen and Johnny Depp wouldn't be in some low budge series like this,
  • caeza e toro
    avatar
    i hope that no one tv channel wants to show that piece of shit.
    were are the owners of the rights o lovecraft´s work.

    poor Howard, is now twisting in his burial.
  • AndreDellamorte
    avatar
    NNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO O!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    I WILL F# WRITHE IN HIS OWN ENTRAILS, I WILL RAPE HIS CORPES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    AN EXAMPLE MUST BE MADE!!!!!!!!!!!
  • Dellamorte
    avatar
    What kind of ridiculous recycled bullshit tv drama is this!? As a horror fan this circus of sucked up pretty white kids lookin like rich kids posing for some kinda teen mag is an insult and a disgrace to horror genre fans. You think we cant see through superficial made up whores, codys and brads. Cmon this is a retarded rendition of an amazing film and its older fully repspected source of creation. Fuck all this silly tv shit. boooooooooooo. Argento rules, Troma Lives , PEACE IM OUT
  • sean
    avatar
    Just don't watch it. Don't fuel the fire.
  • miriahofthewind
    avatar
    I always wanted Re-Animator to come back but never like this!

    I think I'm going to cry.
  • ClockworkHorror
    avatar
    Is this because Dexter is popular? They figure they can do a show about an obsessed sociopath hellbent on bringing the dead back to life? It would be nice to see more mature themes in a TV show like this, and not have it be so Teenorific. They should re-examine their target demographic.
  • Matt
    avatar
    Do Not Change the colour of the serum it is GREEN
  • X Chris
    avatar
    Great, just what we need. "Re-Animator 90210"
  • Phil
    avatar
    How do you profane the works of both a classic horror writer and a great horror director? Take their work and turn it into a CW-style piece of drivel that has no connection to either of their incarnations, thus producing a new take likely to be appreciated by absolutely nobody.
  • Jessica
    avatar
    When did Herbert West become a Vulcan?

    I'm curious about this, but Jeffrey Combs IS Herbert to so many people, it's going to be hard to change that. If they could keep this on par with shows like Buffy in terms of writing and the dark side of the subject matter balanced with humor (like they did in the film) this will be great.

    I'll keep an open mind.
  • Elisa
    avatar
    Not quite sure how I feel about this yet. The young West is a nice homage to Jeffrey Combs (who should really get at least a guest shot for originally bringing the character to life onscreen), but the rest of the cast look and from the breakdown sound like any other teen-oriented show characters. Still, I might give it a chance.
  • Protecious
    avatar
    Please Highly Consider JOHNNY DEPP as the new Herbert West, back in the 90's when I am legend was trying to get off the ground it was once rumoured to be directed by Stuart Gordon starring Johnny Depp (who is said to be a huge fan of Re-Animator)
    Not just because he likes the movie, but Johnny Depp can play just about anybody in a great way.
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