Re-Animator

Re-Animator is a 1985 horror movie directed by Stuart Gordon an based off a story of the same name written by H.P. Lovecraft. The movie stars Jeffery Combs as Herbert West, Bruce Abbot as Daniel Cain, and Barbara Crampton as Megan Halsey. The plot follows Herbert West, who has recently transferred to Miskatonic University to further his medical education. There, he meets Daniel Cain, who will later become his roommate. Herbert shows Dan his reagent, which has the ability to bring organisms back from the dead. The two begin to conduct experiments together (as bros), and we watch as Herbert's obsession with his research slowly drives him mad.

There's a deleted scene where Herbert takes a diluted solution of his reagent as a kind of upper (since he just doesn't sleep, apparently), and I have barely seen anyone talk about it. Like, the whole scene is just Herbert looking up at Dan all pathetic like and getting cracked off of his glowstick juice-- it's amazing.

Herbert West has been one of my all-time favorite characters ever since I got to about 20 minutes into the first movie. His transgender aura and pathetic social skills captivated me. Like most of my favorite characters, I'm not exactly sure why I'm so drawn to him specifically. I do think that part of it is his loser vibes-- I can kind of project onto him that way. Not to mention, he is incredibly transgender (at least to me). Transmasc loser nerd with no social skills? Yes, please.

Herbert is my go-to character when I don't know who to draw, and I've also dabbled in some DanBert art. I'm so glad Re-Animator actually has a fandom; I don't know what I would do without my "Transgender Herbert West (Re-Animator)" tag on Ao3. I was actually gonna be Herbert for Halloween one year, but I wasn't able to get it together in time... Maybe one year.