![]() In its early scenes, the film makes a halfhearted attempt to seem smart: The scientists’ chatter is filled with impenetrable technobabble about “membrane voltages” and “restitching neural pathways.” They have deep conversations about the soul and the afterlife. From the film’s very first shot - video footage of a dead pig being given high-voltage doses of electricity - we know that these crazy kids are about to start bringing things back to life. The idea is “to give health care professionals more time to do their jobs” - because, of course, mad scientists who trample the laws of God always start off with the noblest of aims. The film takes place mostly in a Berkeley lab where a group of young medical researchers are developing an experimental new serum designed to prolong the neural activity of coma patients. Sort of a Flatliners for the sensitive indie-actor set, The Lazarus Effect is a grimy, dopey, confused thriller that wastes a very likable cast. You could do (much) worse in this genre, but you probably won’t want to part with hard-earned cash on such mediocrity.Photo: Daniel McFadden/Back to Life Productions The film was inexplicably directed by David Gelb, who previously made the (excellent) award-winning documentary Jiro Dreams of Sushi.īy the end, The Lazarus Effect did nothing to offend me, nor did it offer up anything of interest. The Lazarus Effect is slickly-produced on a miniscule $3 million budget – that’s less than each of the last three Paranormal Activity movies cost to make (!) – but the result is sterile: the film looks like it could be any TV drama, there’s simply no feel for the material. What are the odds that somebody dies, and is then brought back to life? And that the surviving cast is murdered one-by-one? The five principles here are all likable, but the script (by Luke Dawson and Jeremy Slater) doesn’t give them anything to work with.Īfter the big evil corporation steals all of their work, our protagonists are left with a single bag of life serum and the urge to do one last experiment to, uh, prove that they can do it. Frankensteins and by the end they’ll be taught that you shouldn’t play with life and death.Īssisting Frank and Zoe in the lab are technicians Clay (Evan Peters, American Horror Story) and Niko (Donald Glover, Community), and along for the ride is student journalist Eva (Sarah Bolger), recording the trials. Now, there’s all the hoity-toity talk about science and medicine, but we all know this serum has but one purpose, and that’s to bring dead things back to life. They test their serum by attempting to resurrect dead animals. Mark Duplass ( The League) and Olivia Wilde ( House) star as Frank and Zoe, a husband-and-wife team of university scientists working on a serum that would assist in life-saving procedures by extending the amount a doctor has to work on a living patient. After endless genre films that either feature non-actors in found footage material or teens cast for looks rather than acting ability, it’s a breath of fresh air to see adult, talented, likable actors in a film like this, even if the film does them no favors. The film has precisely one thing going for it: the cast. We can forgive poor acting, low production values, and other flaws as long as a movie sends shivers down our spines.īut outside of a vaguely creepy dream sequence – which loses all its intrigue when it’s explained in excruciating detail by the end of the film – you won’t find anything remotely scary in The Lazarus Effect even the stingers – those moments when a cat leaps in front of the camera and the soundtrack yells “Boo!” – seem to have been toned down for mass consumption. There’s one thing a film like this needs to provide to be successful: scares. ![]() Flatliners meets Re-Animator in The Lazarus Effect, a dull, plodding, but mercifully short (clocking in at under 80 minutes, minus credits) horror film from Blumhouse, the studio behind the Paranormal Activity franchise, Ouija, Dark Skies, and similar fare.
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