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Herbert West
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Created by
H. P. Lovecraft
Gender
Male
Nationality
American
Creator
H. P. Lovecraft
Portrayed by
Jeffrey Combs
Occupation
Scientist
Played by
Jeffrey Combs
First appearance
"Herbert West—Reanimator"
Movies
Re‑Animator, Bride of Re‑Animator, Beyond Re‑Animator
Similar
Randolph Carter, Kuranes, Abdul Alhazred, Nodens, Yig
31 dr herbert west horror icons top 50
Herbert West is a fictional character created by H. P. Lovecraft for his short story "Herbert West—Reanimator", first published in 1922. There have been several film adaptations of the story including Herbert West as played by Jeffrey Combs in the Re-Animator (film series) which include the 1985 Re-Animator film and its two sequels, Bride of Re-Animator and Beyond Re-Animator.
Herbert West is the inventor of a special solution that when injected into a main artery of a recently deceased person causes the body's mechanical, living functions to return. However, most subjects that have undergone the "re-animation" process have turned violent and, after failed attempts to return to their own graves, have terrorized the communities into which they were reanimated. In Lovecraft's tale, Herbert West was ostracized by his fellow medical students because he believed he could overcome death and had only one friend: the unnamed narrator of the story.
Re-Animator films
The character of Herbert West returned to popular media in the Stuart Gordon film Re-Animator and its sequels, starring Jeffrey Combs as Dr. West. These films transplant the character into the modern day (1980s-2000s) rather than the Prohibition era and changes his hair from Lovecraft's specified blond to brown, but otherwise the character remains unchanged. The film is also set over a fairly short period of time where West and Cain are still medical students, whereas the short story played out over the span of decades from the years of medical students, practising doctors, war-time physicians and eventually retirement. In the first two films the equivalent of West's nameless companion is Dr. Dan Cain, played by Bruce Abbott, who finds himself embroiled in West's experiments.
Comics
Adventure Comics, an imprint of Malibu Comics, published two series related to the films starting in 1991. First was a 3-issue comic-book adaptation of the first scripted by Steven Philip Jones. Then followed an original 4-issue prequel titled Re-Animator: Dawn of the Re-Animator written by Bill Spangler.
Dynamite Entertainment first featured West in the 2005 four-issue series Army of Darkness vs. Re-Animator, where he faces off against Ash Williams, hero of the Evil Dead film series. There was also a Re-Animator #0 prequel. In 2013, West again joined Williams in the one-shot Army of Darkness/Re-Animator. West was then featured in his own 2014 four-issue series simply called Reanimator.
Herbert West is the Doctor that Mayor Harvey Dent sees in the Batman Elseworlds comic book series, The Doom That Came To Gotham
Herbert West makes a guest appearance in the Devil's Due Publishing series Hack/Slash (#15-17) in a crossover "Hack/Slash vs. Re-Animator" where the main heroine, Cassie Hack's father is an assistant to Herbert. During one of his experiments, he reanimates her mother the Lunch Lady, who almost starts a killing spree. However, with Cassie's help, he destroys and eventually disappears from Cassie and Vlad's sight. It is hinted that the government was now interested in his work.
West is a main character in the Zenescope Entertainment comic Chronicles of Doctor Herbert West, essentially a modern retelling of the Lovecraftian novel in which the hidden narrator is now Megan, who is his lover and girlfriend while in his college years, and his obsession with death is now explained as the byproduct of a childhood trauma: while going to Church with his devout family, he saw his mother and sister run over by a bus. He renounces the idea of an immortal soul reaching a heavenly afterlife, swearing he'll find a way to bring back his loved ones. It appears to currently be on hiatus.
Randy MilHolland's webcomic Something Positive contains a musical adaptation of Herbert West in the "Out of Tune" storyline.
Video games
The online flash game Deanimator is based on H. P. Lovecraft's original character.
The Splatterhouse video game series features a mad scientist called "Dr. Henry West", owner of "West Mansion", the setting for the series. This Dr. West was also conducting experiments to resurrect the dead.
West is a main character in the Japanese video game Operation Darkness, a WWII-era tactical-RPG/third-person shooter about an Allied special forces unit that possess supernatural abilities. West is the team medic. (In the English version of the game, West is renamed "Herbert East.")
In the video game Obscure 2, the player picks up a keycard in the hospital belonging to a man named Herbert West.
In the endless runner game Zombie Tsunami, the player at one point unlocks a potion called "Herbert West's Finest Reanimation Serum".
Novels
The character of Herbert West has had brief cameo appearances in Kim Newman's Anno Dracula series novels The Bloody Red Baron and Dracula Cha Cha Cha, serving as a colleague of Dr. Moreau, Jakob Ten Brincken, and Doctor Septimus Pretorius.
Herbert West is the main character in novels by Audrey Driscoll entitled The Friendship of Mortals (2010), Islands of the Gulf (2012) and Hunting the Phoenix (2012).
West is an important, but peripheral character in Pete Rawlik's novel Reanimators (2013), in which his previously unnamed colleague is identified as Daniel Cain, using the name assigned him in the Stuart Gordon movie. The novel tells the story of a previously unknown rival of West's, as well as the secret history of Lovecraft's Arkham country.
Film
West is also a character in the Swedish Lovecraftian horror film Kammaren. The scriptwriters did a Swedish take on the name and it became Herbert Vest. He was played by the Swedish actor Kaj Stenberg.
Anime
Herbert West is a main character in the hentai anime Mystery of the Necronomicon. Before he is revealed as a modern-day Herbert West continuing his horrible experiments, he disguises himself as "Toshiaki Nezu", a book collector.
The Lovecraft-based anime series Demonbane reimagines Herbert West as a guitar-playing lunatic mad scientist.
Music
"Herbert West" is the title of a 2007 song by UK band Heartwear Process.
"Herbert West" is also the title of a 2008 song by US band Pipe Supply, named by Jiggly J. Slickwood as a tribute to the Re-Animator movies.
"Herbert West" was also the name of a rock band based in Barrow-in-Furness in the 1980s.
Other
Herbert West has a main role in the parody musical A Shoggoth on the Roof, published by the H. P. Lovecraft Historical Society.
The Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab has a perfume called "Herbert West" in its A Picnic in Arkham collection.
"Herbert West" appears in the radio drama series Our Fair City as a slightly crazed re-animator/scientist.
