#Celebrating the Deadly Duo of Stuart Gordon and Jeffrey Combs

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• Meg Shields
• August 11, 2020

A video tribute to one of genre film’s most enduring team-ups.

Peanut butter and jelly. Coffee and doughnuts. Stuart Gordon and Jeffrey Combs. That last pair is a match made in heaven, one of the most iconic team-ups in horror history.

With a repertory mindset, Gordon is no stranger to long-term collaboration, repeatedly joining forces with the likes of Barbara Crampton, Dennis Paoli, Charles Band,  Brian Yuzna, and David Mamet. His alliance with Combs produced some of the grizzliest, funniest, and most audacious characterizations in genre film: from the scene-chewing machinations of the mad doctor Herbert West in Re-Animator to the pathetic wounded masculinity of Castle Freak‘s John Riley. United by a background in theatre and a shared appreciation for going over the top, when Gordon and Combs get together, it’s magic. They’re electric, eccentric, and invariably unforgettable.

The video below works through the duo’s intertwined careers, from their iconic Lovecraft adaptations (Re-Animator, From Beyond) to their shared fascination with Edgar Allen Poe (The Pit and the Pendulum, “The Black Cat,” Nevermore … An Evening with Edgar Allan Poe). The video also makes sure to mention the pair’s more esoteric collaborations like Robot Jox and Edmund. It’s a touching tribute that underscores one of the genre’s greatest team-ups, bonding two creatives who consistently found ways to serve each other’s talents, leaving a lasting legacy of their wake.

Watch “Stuart Gordon & Jeffrey Combs – Deadly Duos“:

Who made this?

JoBlo Horror Videos is a part of the JoBlo Movie Network. The YouTube channel features original video series produced by the horror movie-loving fanboys over at Arrow in the Head. Created by Steven Espinoza and Chris Vander Kaay,  Deadly Duos celebrates the iconic pairings of filmmakers who have worked together multiple times, be they composers, producers, actors, or directors. Each episode unpacks the impact of the duos on horror history: from beloved classics to the obscure and forgotten. You can find a playlist of the Deadly Duos series here.

More Videos Like This

• Here’s another entry in the Deadly Duos series, on one of the most iconic working relationships in genre film and the gold standard for friendship goals: John Carpenter and Kurt Russell
• A thirty-minute interview with Stuart Gordon and his other long-time collaborator Brian Yuzna
• I adore Gordon’s Castle Freak, an electric, terrifying, and unforgettable film about what else? A castle freak. Here’s the ten-minute making-of documentary for my fellow freaky fans (and to whet the appetites of initiates)
• Here’s JoBlo Horror Videos’ video tribute to Stuart Gordon after his passing
• Back Stage spoke with Gordon and Combs about Nevermore, their one-man show about Edgar Allan Poe
• A Shout! Factory exclusive: Combs on the “life-expanding” experience of filming From Beyond In Italy
• Here’s Stuart Gordon on the cheap, lurid and sensationalistic William Castle classic Mr. Sardonicus