WM2061

2020

Movies and TV

Herbert West is a fictional character created by H.P. Lovecraft. He first appeared in the six-part short story series "Herbert West—Reanimator," published in 1922. West is a brilliant but morally bankrupt medical student and later, a physician, obsessed with conquering death and achieving artificial life through reanimation.

West's defining characteristic is his unwavering dedication to his macabre experiments, often at the expense of ethical considerations and human life. He is portrayed as cold, detached, and arrogant, viewing himself as superior to his colleagues and society as a whole. His experiments involve gruesome procedures and a potent reanimation serum that often results in monstrous and uncontrollable creatures.

The character has been adapted into various media, most notably the 1985 horror film Re-Animator, directed by Stuart Gordon, where he is played by Jeffrey Combs. Combs' portrayal cemented West as a cult horror icon. He is a pale, intense man whose relentless pursuit of scientific breakthroughs leads to horrific consequences. The film and its sequels further explore West's obsession and the increasingly grotesque results of his experiments.