A small-time Massachusetts medical school is turned upside down when a creepy new student begins experimenting with a neon green anti-death serum. The toxic goo gets the job done, but its subjects (culled in secret from the basement morgue) are cranky about their interrupted dirt nap and prone to fits of stumbling violence. OK, they’re basically zombies.

If you happen to be seeking the perfect example of ‘80s horror, this checks all the boxes. Spaghetti-chunk special effects with high hopes but a basement budget? Yes and yes. Hammy acting, flat delivery and low-rent production values? Oh yeah. Gratuitous nudity? We’ve got tits aplenty. A reckless lack of good decisions and wildly amplified repercussions? Man, you don’t even know.

_Re-Animator_ is a ride, all right. The first two acts embody most of the worst stereotypes of the genre, plodding through eye-rolling plot details and steep mounds of bad exposition, but the home stretch validates everything. That climax is completely bananas, a delicious string of one-ups and double-downs that swings for the fences and hits like a shot of adrenaline straight to the heart. It’s rare to be so shocked and delighted by a movie this out-of-date. Most of it ain’t good, but the best bits are downright incredible.