THE LAZARUS EFFECT – The Review

Imagine if you had the power to bring a loved one back from the dead. But as a result of this resurrection, the person brought back to life is not quite the same as they were before their demise. The “playing God” formula has been around from the original FRANKENSTEIN to PET SEMATARY and RE-ANIMATOR but it’s likely never been done with less style, imagination, or coherence than the new horror/sci-fi dud THE LAZARUS EFFECT.

“This pig smells like shit” is the profound opening line of THE LAZARUS EFFECT, which centers on Frank (Mark Duplass) and Zoe (Olivia Wilde), an engaged pair of university research scientists who have achieved the impossible—bringing the dead, foul-smelling Porky back to life! After another successful test run on a recently deceased pooch, Frank, Zoe, and their team (Donald Glover, Sarah Bolger and Evan Peters) are ready to unveil their breakthrough to the world. When the dean catches wind of their unsanctioned experiments, the project is suddenly shut down and their research confiscated. Undeterred, the fivesome sneak back into the lab and launch a late-night attempt to recreate their experiment. But things go (surprise!) terribly wrong when poor Zoe is electrocuted and dies. Fueled by one minute of grief, Frank convinces the team to do the unthinkable: resurrect her. At first the 30-second procedure appears a success, but the team soon realizes something is wrong with Zoe. She levitates, her eyes turn all black, she finishes Frank’s sentences (uh oh – my wife does that!). As her creepy new persona reveals itself, the team quickly becomes stuck in a gruesome reality. They are no longer faced with the question of whether they can bring someone back to life, but rather, the murderous wrath of her return.

While I recognize that horror stories have to stretch credibility in order for them to work, the big problem with THE LAZARUS EFFECT is that screenwriters Luke Dawson and Jeremy Slater and director David Gelb stretch credibility so far, it snaps apart in all the wrong places. How do these young scientists so effortlessly sneak back into the hi-security lab they’ve been banished from? They bring Zoe back, but why exactly does she suddenly have superhuman powers? They borrow the “humans only use 10% of their brains – but all of hers is lighting up!” concept from LUCY but that explanation is abandoned almost as soon as it’s brought up. And once Zoe is revived, turns sour, and goes on her killing spree, then what? Will she continue going on a rampage, just killing anyone and everyone she comes across? Is she alive or dead? Does she smell like shit too? Any answers are passed off as ambiguity where it’s really just a lot of plot holes and unresolved storylines. Then there’s the musical track by Sarah Schachner that runs high to loud, weird, histrionic outbursts to underline every plot element and predictable jump scare. THE LAZARUS EFFECT is underlit, claustrophobic, and stagebound – 90% of it takes place in the single cheap lab setting and while the filmmakers seem more concerned with mood and atmosphere than philosophical substance, there are enough speeches about science and ethics in the first 15 minutes to make one think the story might actually go somewhere.

THE LAZARUS EFFECT is never for a moment scary but it’s not campy (death by E-Cig aside) or fun either, sporting some mild carnage that’s careful to stay within its PG-13 limits. It’s poorly written and mean-spirited with interchangeable characters too underdeveloped to root for or sympathize with. While I’ve liked Duplass and Ms Wilde in other roles, they can’t overcome the lousy script, nor do they even seem to try. Duplass’ low energy works in offbeat indies like THE ONE I LOVE or SAFETY NOT GUARANTEED, but here he’s barely awake while Wilde seems content to simply give her sinister eyebrows a workout. THE LAZARUS EFFECT is a dreadful and tedious horror drama with no purpose. The only good thing I can say about it is that it’s only 83 minutes long, but don’t waste your time.

1 of 5 Stars