The Failed Media Tie-In Bin: MOVE YOUR DEAD BONES by Dr Reanimator

Not every movie can support a media tie-in.  That doesn’t mean that the people behind these movies won’t try. 

Take the motion picture soundtrack.  Especially in the 80‘s and 90‘s, motion picture soundtracks compiled not of the film’s score but songs jammed into the film were pretty damn popular.  Sometimes there weren’t enough songs in the movie, so the label jammed some songs ‘inspired by’ the movie.  Videos of certain songs would flood MTV and those local music video shows chockablock with clips from the movie.  It was all designed to get us out of the house and into the theater, stat. 

But sometimes a movie comes along that isn’t quite a good fit for this strategy.  And that brings us to the case of the 2003 Brian Yuzna entry Beyond Re-Animator.

Beyond Re-Animator is the third and (at this point) final film* in the Herbert West series.  Those of you who are fans of the Fast and Furious films may recognize that, in addition to Jeffrey Coombs, the film stars the diminutive Elisa Pataky, who was briefly Vin Diesel’s love interest in some of those films.  It has some interesting moments, but it’s not very good; on one hand, the thought of a prison warden forcibly re-animating prisoners on death row so they can spend eternity in a perpetual agony of execution is truly novel and chilling, but on the other hand this is a movie that features a rat puppet fighting a severed penis puppet.** As with most of Yuzna’s post-millennium output, it was filmed in Spain.  That’s the only reason I can think that producing a Eurodance techno-song as a tie-in was thought of as a viable idea.

Before you click on this thing, a little warning. It’s dreadful and is guaranteed to leave you in a fit of giggling...but like most Eurodance, it’s horrifically earwormy.  This thing will nestle in the crevices of your brain and not let go for days after you listen to it.  I accept no responsibility for you muttering ‘Move Your Dead Bones’ under your breath for the rest of the week, okay?

Enjoy.

* There are fabled whispers of a fourth script which features West being recruited by the CIA to re-animate the President of the United States, played by William H. Macy.  Given that the franchise has been rebooted recently--and is being rebooted again--I doubt this will ever see light of (digital) projector.
* * If you’re interested in hearing me discuss one of Mr. Yuzna’s best films as a director, I highly encouarge you to go here and listen to the Phase of The Honeywell Experiment that covered Society.