The Rejuvenator

The Rejuvenator (1988)

(out of 5)

directed by:  Brian Thomas Jones
starring:  Vivian Lanko, John McKay, James Hogue, Katell Pleven, Jessica Dublin, Lous Homyak, Marcus Powell
Genre:  Sci-Fi/Horror
Format:  VHS - Personal Collection

     Nothing gets me more excited to watch a new film then when the new film is from the 80s.  Being that this is the time period when I started really watching and getting into horror films there really is no wonder as to why.  This particular entry is called the Rejuvenator and what a breath of fresh air it was for me.  No it's not really all that well made but for me anyway it enters into the so-bad-it's good category.  I mean one look at the creature designs and I already knew that going in.  Yes a little better acting and writing would have made it more of a From Beyond classic status but not every film makes the mark. 

    The film follows the experiments of a Dr.  Ashton (McKay) and his patient Ruth Warren (Dublin) and their quest for eternal youth.  Ruth is a wealthy actress who is fed up with losing her beauty and figure to the aging woman she sees in the mirror.  She is played by Troma's own Jessica Dublin who played Mrs. Junko in Toxic Avenger 2 and 3 and she really is the only good actor in the whole film.  The rest even John McKay our lead character are very mediocre at best.  It begins with Dr. Ashton being told by his boss at the clinic where he performs his research that he is running out of time providing results with his research and also that Dr. Ashton is using too many cadavers for his experiments.  Ashton then begins to panic and combined with the demands of his patient to continue on with his research using her as a guinea pig the good doctor decides to inject Ruth with his new youth serum.  Immediately Ruth begins to see the glorifying results of his experiment when she is transformed into a woman with the looks and body half her age. 

     Then Dr. Ashton's assistant Stella (Pleven) discovers a problem with one of the rats that was injected with the same serum.  The rat became horribly mutated and extremely violent until given dose after dose of serum as if they were heroine addict.  And the same soon happens to Ruth who now calls herself Elizabeth in an effort to conceal her "old" identity.  The main problem with this of course is that the good doctor was using brain fluid from all the dead bodies he was using up not create the serum.  So the doctor begins buying large amounts of illegal dead bodies to satisfy Elizabeth's thirst.  It's not long before Elizabeth begins to change into a series of horrific monsters with a variety of bad and so-so effects.  Meanwhile the doctor who is falling in love with her cannot get enough cadavers to make up new serum every time she transforms.  So after a gory murder spree Elizabeth discovers she no longer needs Dr. Ashton and learns that she can just rip out her own victim's brains and suck the juices she needs. 
     There isn't much more pressing to say about this film I enjoyed it as a comfort novelty from the eighties but nothing, not even the effects were that superb.  I did like a song that was played by The Poison Dollys in a club scene when Elizabeth was searching for a victim. Typical hair band metal of the time period only they are actually women instead of men dressed like women.  So go in not expecting a whole lot except true 80s fun and you'll have a blast.