“Herbert West—Reanimator” (1922)
Retro Review #66: The story that gives you a completely different context from which to process the call, "Bring out your dead!"
“Herbert West—Reanimator” (1922)
+ Novelette ⭐ by H. P. Lovecraft ⭐, 32p
+ 1️⃣/? works in Re-Animator multiverse ⭐
A >
GPA: 13.33 (A >) [n/a] / HOF: 1 [n/a]
EQ 👍A+ | 📖A+ 👥A- 📽️A+ 🎼A+
DW 😎8.7 | 🌚13 🌝8
POPCAP 💯n/a 🍿n/a 🧢n/a
L-R 💻⬇️1️⃣ 👀⬇️1️⃣ 🛐⬇️2️⃣
We are on schedule to release the Retro Review of Re-Animator (1985) tomorrow. I found the time to read and review the novelette it is based on, so I hope you enjoy this bonus Retro Review.
Before The Walking Dead, and before Night of the Living Dead, there was “Herbert West—Reanimator”. This 1922 novelette was released as a six-part serial in the pulp magazine Weird Tales, and is one of the first fictional depictions of zombies reanimated from the dead by scientific processes, as opposed to dark magical forces.
This is the first time I have ever read anything by author H. P. Lovecraft, and it’s certainly about time. I’ve seen more than one adaptation of his tales, and even played a couple of tabletop games based on his fiction.
I have to say I enjoyed it. I like horror if it is particularly scary and/or funny (Dark Whimsy anyone?), and this little serial did well at both.
Now Lovecraft himself complained about the serial format, since he was editorially forced to begin each chapter with a quick recap and end each chapter with a cliffhanger. Tough luck, H. P. The editors are right. That’s how you do serial fiction. No points against that from me.
Critics call it one of Lovecraft’s worst works, with the arguments being that it’s too cliché and that it’s over the top.
My response is that if that’s his worst, I want to read more.
Too cliché? This was written in 1922. This story invents the clichés that became clichés due to being so on-target that multiple writers over the decades have borrowed or flat-out copied them.
Too over the top? Lovecraft claimed this was a parody of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Parodies are over the top on purpose. That’s where they get much of their humor.
“Herbert West—Reanimator” isn’t laugh-out-loud funny. The humor is tongue-in-cheek and subtle. A lot of readers probably would not find anything amusing in the story at all. That’s okay. This is definitely not a story for everyone.
This is especially not for anyone who dislikes the horror genre. There’s a creepy vibe throughout, and the death, violence and gore intensify as the story continues towards its conclusion.
The violence and scariness unfold at a level that I would ordinarily recommended for adults only, but considering there’s not strong adult language or any sexual situations, you may or may not find it tolerable for a mature teen, if not ideal.
The story does show off a little bit of Lovecraft’s racist, elitist, and anti-Christian biases.
In the Viewpoint block after the body of this review, I’ve used the emoji for humanism to represent the viewpoint of this work, but that is an approximation which is not exactly correct.
Lovecraft originated and promoted a belief system he called cosmicism.
Cosmicism and humanism share most of their beliefs. They are both characterized by atheism, disbelief in anything supernatural, hostility towards religion, and a tendency to embrace elitism and socialism.
The difference (which makes little difference in practice) is that humanists believe that mankind can progress through reason and secular ethics, while cosmicism proposes that humanity is insignificant and not a part of any greater purpose in the universe, even if such a purpose might exist.
Since both systems exhibit, practically speaking, the same biases and political inclinations, labeling Lovecraft’s viewpoint as a humanist one seems close enough, if not one hundred percent correct.
Going forward, if I read more Lovecraft, I hope he spends more time creating entertaining stories than pushing his anti-Christian belief system. In the story of “Herbert West—Reanimator”, the beliefs were evident and very slightly offensive, but were only promoted lightly, not pushed heavily, so I was still able to enjoy the story.
If you like your Dark horror flavored with some tongue-in-cheek Whimsical parody, you can read “Herbert West—Reanimator” at the link below, and you might enjoy it too.
Onwards!
+ first read 2025-04-28, dS
+ ⏳🧛🪐🌎⚛️⚕️🧌💀🌑🥸😛
+ ❌0️⃣ Problematic for teens and sensitive adults. | UN
+ 😡-1^ 😵💫+0 🤬+1 🤭+3 🫣+3
+ 👀⬇️1️⃣ ➖😐😐
+ ✝️ -2 ➖💣💣
+ ✡️ -1 ➖(🤬)
+ 🗽 -1 ➖🤎
Last updated 2025-04-28
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