Short and sweet, The Lazarus Effect is about a group of medical students who are experimenting/researching with bringing life to the deceased. Bringing people back from the dead. Sounds familiar, right? Well yes, but this isn’t exactly a Flatliners remake. If you look at movies as a cocktail these days, where they mix genres, or concepts, and throw them together to try and come up with something “original”. If I have to describe this movie with that in mind, it would be like this: one part Flatliners, two parts Lucy, with a twist of Carrie.
But this is not necessarily a bad thing. The medical students are led by Frank (Mark Duplass) and Zoe (Olivia Wilde), who are engaged, but the wedding was put on hold when they got a grant to run the Lazarus experiments. We open the movie with the group recording their experiments with animals. The team is rounded out by Nico (Donald Glover) and Clay (Evan Peters), with a film student, Eva (Sarah Bolger), brought in to document their research. They make a break through and manager to bring a dog back from the dead, even going so far as curing the stage 5 cataracts that led to the dog being put down in the first place. But something is a bit odd with the dog’s behavior. Before the group can really research these oddities further, they are shut down by a pharmaceutical company who bought out the company that provided a grant to the Frank, Zoe and the gang. This means that they lost all of their research, records, notes, videos… everything. So they decide to break into the lab and record the experiment again, just to show the world that they were the ones who made the break through.
Of course, this is where things go awry. During the experiment, Zoe dies. A grief stricken Frank decides to run the project with Zoe. He manages to convince the others in the group to go along with it, and sure enough, Zoe comes back from the dead. But with some side effects. What have the students unleashed with bringing Zoe back? That’s where the Lucy portion comes back in as the serum used in the experiments seems to be unlocking access to her brain, with the explanation that humans can only access 10% of their brain is a myth. The theory here is that human can access all of their brain, but only 10% at a time.
I have to say that I was extremely impressed with the movie. I went in with a preconceived notion that it would be another run of the mill horror movie, but I am not even sure you can qualify it as a horror. I think suspense with supernatural elements is a better way to describe it. And I was blown out of the water. The one thing that made me want to see the movie was the cast, and that Blumhouse was behind it. Duplass and Wilde have a good chemistry together, and I am a big fan of Peters of Glover; though I am a little worried about Evan Peters being type cast because of his roles in American Horror Story. He definitely plays the part well, though.
The cinematography was excellent, making good use of classic angles and transitions that seem to be a little forgotten or left by the wayside for computer generated effects these days. But there is a traditional field to the film. The score was excellent as well; it didn’t overdo the suspenseful music. In fact it was very subtle at the points where it really needed to be. If I had one gripe with the movie, it was that they the “nothing there, pan away then back, bam something’s there” shots a little too much. I am not sure of the technical term, but I am sure you will see what I mean if you watch the film.
Is the film worth seeing in theaters? I am not sure. If you’re a fan of the actors, or Blumhouse films (like Sinister or The Purge), then you may want to see it in theaters. But there wasn’t really any eye popping effects that would make it an absolute see on the big screen. Definitely entertaining, and worth the watch though, if this is your genre of movie. There were some good effects, and Olivia Wilde proved to me once again why I love her as an actress. Definitely check it out, at the very least when it hits the shelves and digital media in a couple months.
4 stars out of 5
Second review by Jennifer Fiduccia
The Lazarus Effect stars Mark Duplass as Frank (lead researcher), Olivia Wilde as
Zoey (his partner in both research and life, they are engaged), and their team,
consisting of Donald Glover (computer ace Niko), Evan Peters (Clay) and Sarah Bolger
(Ava, shooting a documentary film on their project).
Frank and Zoey have created a serum that they want to market to use in order to
‘give doctors more time to save lives’ but are having a hard time perfecting it to
work.
When they finally manage to bring a dog back from the dead, they are excited until
the dog has some unexpected side effects.
Through means that are not quite made clear, their research project is shut down,
and their research stolen by a pharmaceutical company.
In order to try and prove the work was theirs to begin with, the team sneaks back
into the lab to re-create the experiment.
A tragic accident occurs and Zoey dies. Frank goes a bit crazy at her loss and
injects her with the serum. She comes back to life, but is not ‘normal’.
The rest of the movie shows the results of the serums effect on Zoey, and her
transformation into something with more than human brain power.
The movie is rated PG-13 and will probably attract that age group but I wouldn’t let
a 13 year old of mine see it.
Walking into the theatre I was worried because I’ve never seen ‘a scary movie’ in
the theatre on the big screen. I needn’t have worried at all.
It wasn’t exactly that scary, it had its few moments that made me jump, but nothing
nightmare worthy.
I thought that it was predictable and even at just over an hour and a half it felt
almost too long simply because it was boring and predictable.
I personally would give the movie 1.5 out of 5 stars
