Rejuvenator, The (1987)

...aka: Rejuvenatrix

Directed by:
Brian Thomas Jones

Corman's THE WASP WOMAN had been ripped off so many times before that I figured this low budgeter didn't stand a chance. I was wrong! Ruth Warren (Jessica Dublin, who also appeared in several Troma films at this time) is a wealthy, but depressed, former movie star whose career has seen better days. Thankfully she also funds Dr. Gregory Ashton’s experiments in reversing the aging process and he (John MacKay, from Hal Hartley's great comedy/drama TRUST) offers a special serum created from human brains that ends up making her young again. She changes her name to Elizabeth (and is now played by younger Vivian Lanko) and starts making plans for a comeback, but there are some serious complications. When the serum wears off, she becomes a nasty monster who needs live human brains in order to return to normal, but as her tolerance grows, more and more people die, and things get really out of control.

.

Director Brian Thomas Jones goes entertainingly over-the-top, paces his film just right and gets the most out of Ed French's terrific, throbbing, swelling make-up FX. Fairly well acted for the budge range (especially by Lanko and MacKay) and humorously written by Simon Nuchtern. Don't miss it! With James Hogue, Roy MacArthur and Kurt Schwoebel, all of whom appeared in PRIME EVIL (1988), Katell Pleven as Ashton's assistant, Marcus Powell. and Louis Homyak (the promiscuous, cannibal-virus-spreading suburban dad from the fun FLESH EATING MOTHERS).

★★★