The Lazarus Effect

It is amazing how much science is developing, especially in medical treatments. Just knowing that one day, we might be able to help people, making their lives better thanks to new ways of treatments. We have come a long way, but i have a feeling a lot more will happen in the future, so i am really excited to see what will come. There will always be questions on what is possible to achieve, and where do you draw the line in helping someone ? When it comes to bringing a person back to life, this is nothing that i belive can happen in real life, and i don´t think it would be something positive. Once we die, we are not supposed to come back to life, because that is nature´s way. Experiments on humans have been in many different types of films. One of my personal favourite ones is Re-Animator from 1985. This was a film that mixed a serious issue with dark comedy and horror influences. I loved the idea of a special substance that can bring body parts, or bodies, back to life. I also remember The Hollow Man with Kevin Bacon, simply because this film had some medical perspective in the story. The difference with this film was that it was not about death, more about how far you can go with experiments once you have no limits ? But what if you loose someone, and you know you might be able to bring that person back to life ? The Lazarus Effect is an horror film that takes on this subject. This is the first horror film from director David Gelb, and one of the producers is Jason Blum, who also worked as an producer on The Purge: Anarchy. Since i am a horror fan, and love medical themed movies ( if they are good of course ), is The Lazarus Effect a film that manage to give us a treat, or is this a film that leaves a sour taste ?

Medical researchers Frank ( Mark Duplass ) and his fianceé, Zoe ( Olivia Wilde ), have discovered a serum, that is given the code name Lazarus. This serum was meant to be used to help coma patients, but instead they decide to use the serum on dead animals, to see if they can come back to life. Frank and Zoe work together on this experiment with Niko ( Donald Glover ), Clay ( Evan Peters ) and their videographer Eva ( Sarah Bolgers ). An experiment begins on a dead dog, who after a while come back to life. All their hard work have proven to be successfull, and the celebration can begin. The dog seems fine at first, but his behavior is changing. Suddenly one day, Frank and his team finds out that their university decide to shut their project down. Not only that, it is now decided that a major pharmaceutical corporation has bought out the company that funded their research. Frank refuse to stop everything, especially since he needs to prove that they are the people who have all the evidence that the serum works. So, he decide that they need to do one final experiment, waking another dog back to life. As they begin the experiment, Zoe gets an electrical shock and dies. Everyone is shocked, and end the experiment. Frank decide to try the experiment on Zoe instead, something that the rest of the team does not aprove. Eventually they have no choice, and begin the experiment. They manage to get Zoe back to life, but is she really Zoe, or is she someone else ?

While watching The Lazarus Effect, one film comes to my mind straight ahead. Does anyone remember the film Flatliners from 1990 ? In this film it was medical students, trying to see if they can see what is going on if someone is close to death, and can come back to life to explain what they have experienced. The Lazarus Effect might have a different theme on the map, but this near death experience is also here, since one human does come back to life. In the first 20 minutes, we get to learn about the main characters, and this is a good thing. To make a story interesting, make sure to show your audience that you care about the characters. After about 10 minutes later, the horror infleunces kicks in. Even if i have seen this formula before, in different films, this one manage to deliver some entertainement value. The experiemnt on waking a human back to life is the most interesting part, since this is a very sensitive issue, and the question remains if this should be possible ? Should we really be able to have this power to control human lives ? Director David Gelb have only directed one film in the past, a documentary film known as Jiro Dreams Of Sushi, a very interesting documentary about an 85 year old sushi master, who is one of the best sushi chefs of Japan. The Lazarus Effect is his first try to make a main stream movie. That he choosed to direct a horror film, is quite interesting. I would not say that The Lazarus Effect is original in any way, or tries a different view on medical experiments, but from an horror perspective this works pretty well. One of the reason why this film works, is the actor Olivia Wilde. You might remember her from the tv series House. Her performance in The Lazarus Effect give this film some stability, since she is good at playing different characters. I also enjoy seeing Mark Duplass, do a very different character from his previous work. If you have not seen him in Safety Not Guaranteed, go and buy that film, it is wonderful. The few moments that i found myself not pleased, is when we get to see what happens when Zoe begins to attack her friends. I would have liked some original ideas, some surprises. Still, if you like horror films, and love medical experminets, this is a film that might fit your taste. One thing is for sure, i am not bringing anyone back to life, we alredy have one zombie walking around, known as Keith Richards in The Rolling Stones. He is more pale than a glass of milk, that can´t be human right ?

Rating: DDD