Movie Review – The Lazarus Effect

A group of medical students have been working diligently on a project that would bring life to a recently deceased subject. The medical implications from any such success would be astounding as well as groundbreaking. Dealing with the undiscovered and unknown can lead to grave consequences as this group of hopeful medical pioneers are about to find out. The Lazarus Effect comes to life in theaters on Friday, February 27th.

Frank (Mark Duplass) runs point as this group attempts to successfully reanimate the corpse of a dog. He is assisted by his fiancée, Zoe (Olivia Wilde) as well as two other students, Clay (Evan Peters) and Niko (Donald Glover). The group eventually achieves positive results by way of bringing a dog back to life. All of the progress is captured on video by Eva (Sarah Bolger) who was recently allowed to shoot a documentary following the group’s work. Unfortunately due to a couple of unforeseen occurrences everything goes south in a hurry.

The Lazarus Effect is mostly predictable, as are most horror/thriller movies these days. That does not, however, keep audiences from experiencing some positives. There are a few jump moments with the emphasis being put on the word “few”. The concept behind the film’s events is interesting, even if it doesn’t translate that well to the screen. The overall story has a feel of incompleteness and a loss of focus. Nothing about the acting stands out which leads to a complete absence of empathy in regards to the character’s development or fate. Fear and tension are replaced by indifference and boredom. The shorter runtime (83 minutes) is actually one of its only saving graces. When you pretty much know where a movie is headed you just want it to get there so you can be done with it.

While not being classified as a terrible movie, The Lazarus Effect still leaves much to be desired. With the group of actors assembled, the talent was there to at least evolve into a middle of the road suspenseful movie, but instead it flatlines. There is not a single aspect of this movie that stands out or gives it just cause to become a topic of water cooler conversation. Due to its overall blandness it would appear that this thriller is heading directly towards a quick release on video. My recommendation would be to wait until then to check it out.