The fact that the flick works reasonably well in the long wind up to its failed climax makes that dropped ball finale all the more frustrating. The filmmakers don’t have a particularly deft touch for staging set pieces and rather than offering a disturbing climax, The Lazarus Effect devolves into a check list of obvious genre cliches with very little in the way of ingenuity or visceral impact.
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The movie devolves into a series of speeches, hallucinations, and tasteful slasher kills that were presumably designed to feel nostalgic for late 80s rubber fantasy horror, yet ultimately feel like a cop out. Olivia Wilde turns into a killer with superpowers and no matter how hard the actress tries to deliver the goods, she just doesn’t have much of a monster to play. When The Lazarus Effect finally delivers the goods it transforms from a Mary Shelley-style philosophical horror flick into one of those dreadful post- Elm Street supernatural slashers. Sure the bulk of the movie works and it flies by at a trim 83 minutes including credits, but unfortunately horror movies kind of depend on spooktacular pay offs, now don’t they? While long-time documentary director David Gelb handles characterization and atmosphere with ease, he seems a little lost when the time comes to give his audiences the murder set pieces that they’ve been waiting for. It’s enough to get you all excited for a fire n’ brimstone spook out finale, but when it finally comes the results are disappointing. In general, the movie feels far stronger than it has any right to. Early experiments with the dog lend some subtle scares and a chilly atmosphere. The cast is far better than the material (as is the Blumhouse way when their movies are cooking like Sinister or Oculus) and they make an age-old genre yarn feel like something vaguely fresh and naturalistic. In the early going, The Lazarus Effect is actually a pretty charming little B-movie. Unfortunately, she stopped off in hell before the return and comes back with blacked out pupils, a bunch of superpowers, and a handful of morally righteous speeches. Wilde dies by accident, so they go ahead and bring her back to life. Undeterred, the gang decides to attempt one last experiment in the middle of the night (always a good idea). Unfortunately, that draws a bit too much attention from the powers financing the scientific shindig, so the dependably creeptacular Ray Wise shows up to shut things down. It’s a miracle with some creepy side effects, but ultimately a triumph. So along with a pair of 20-something assistants ( Community’s Donald Glover and American Horror Story’s Evan Peters) and a plucky young documentary filmmaker (Sarah Bolger) they go ahead and bring a dog back to life. He’s a hardcore rationalist scientist convinced that there’s no life after death so why not extend life? She’s a born again Christian following a traumatic childhood event worried about the spiritual implications of their work just not enough to stop the experiment, of course. To complicate matters and set up Mary Shelley approved themes, they also have a philosophical split. What a shame.Īwkward comedy specialist Mark Duplass and Tron sexpot Olivia Wilde star as the pair of scientists determined to beat death with a special serum. It’s rare to find a horror movie that’s better in set up than climax, but this is one of them. Unfortunately that potential disappears once the movie finally gets to the scare section. It’s actually not a bad concept for a little horror movie and as the narrative engine revs up, The Lazarus Effect even feels loaded with potential.
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Once again, a gang of scientists who have clearly never read Frankenstein decide that they’ll be the ones who finally figure out how to conquer death, only to end up bringing some hellfire back from the beyond the grave. The latest production from the good folks at Blumhouse takes that lesson extremely literally. If horror history has taught us anything, it’s that scientists who attempt to cheat death get always get burned.