Editing Re-Animator (section)

===R-rated version===
When ''Re-Animator'' was originally released in theaters, the filmmakers did not submit it for rating by the [[Motion Picture Association of America]] (MPAA), for fear that it would receive an [[X rating]]. However, this presented advertising restrictions, since many media outlets had policies against promoting unrated films.<ref name=AFI/> In early 1986, the filmmakers submitted a re-edited version of ''Re-Animator'' to the MPAA, which received an R rating.<ref name=AFI/> In the US, the vast majority of home media releases of the film used the unrated version.<ref name=Hallcom/><ref name=cens/>

The R-rated version runs 93 minutes and has much of the gore edited out and replaced with various scenes which had been deleted for pacing purposes, including a subplot involving Dr. Hill hypnotizing several of the characters to make them more suggestible to his will (in this version, Dean Halsey is hypnotized early on to turn him against West, and then later is hypnotized again after he has been re-animated; in the theatrical film, the re-animated Halsey's submission is merely a result of the lobotomy). In addition, a short scene was added showing Herbert West injecting himself with small amounts of the reagent to stay awake and energized; this may have affected his thinking over the course of the film.<ref>{{cite AV media|title=Re-Animator|date=October 18, 1985|medium=Film|publisher=[[Empire International Pictures]]|trans-title=R-Rated Cut|people=[[Stuart Gordon]] (Director)}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.dreadcentral.com/reviews/246321/re-animator-blu-ray-2/|title=Re-Animator (Blu-ray)|publisher=[[Dread Central]]|first=Anthony|last=Arrigo|date=August 10, 2017|access-date=November 11, 2020}}</ref>

The unrated version is often labeled as a "[[director's cut]]", which strictly speaking is false: director Stuart Gordon was not allowed to determine the final cut on any version of the film. However, Gordon has expressed his preference for the unrated version over the R-rated version.<ref name=cens>{{cite web|access-date=2016-03-20|title=Movie-Censorship.com: Re-Animator|url=http://www.movie-censorship.com/report.php?ID=5046980|publisher=Movie-Censorship.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Gallagher |first=John Andrew |chapter=Stuart Gordon |title=Film Directors on Directing |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |year=1989 |page=95 |isbn=9780275932725 |chapter-url-access=registration |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/filmdirectorsond00gall/page/98}}</ref>