Over the weekend the rotting bodies over at Shock Till You Drop sniffed up some interesting news for Re-Animator fans- not only was producer Brian Yuzna getting ready for a 3-d remake of the first film, but a potential TV series was in the works as well.
Well Fangoria just got an exclusive look at the first images from the proposed show, with the clunky title of HERBERT WEST—RE-ANIMATOR: THE SERIES. William Butler (producer of the second and third Gingerdead Man films and director of Furnace) is behind it, and he tells Fango that the series will focus more on Lovecraft’s entire mythos than just specifically Re-animator. Yes indeed, there will be a main plot where Herbert West tries to reanimate the dead but this will also be a monster of the week show. They’re trying to get some high-profile directors like Stuart Gordon (which would do wonders for validating this) but there’s nothing set in stone yet.
And oh look how young and pretty the cast is.
Here’s the show outline as given to Fango. Try not to groan too hard.
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.