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[tab title="Movie Review"]

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Bringing the dead back to life is tricky business. Director David Gelb (last seen behind the lens of the documentary Jiro Dreams of Sushi) doesn’t unearth any new treasures with The Lazarus Effect, his narrative film debut. He does; however, manage to dig up enough scares within the film’s thankfully tight 84-minutes to make the film slightly thought-provoking. Given that the horror genre has few offerings in late February, his film might just be a fringe success at the box office regardless of its Rotten Tomatoes score. While foolish, The Lazarus Effect isn’t completely regrettable.

The unsubtle screenplay, written by Luke Dawson and Jeremy Slater, is actually character-driven and takes as much time building suspense as it does wasting it on jump scares. A rare thing these days. Also rare is the fact that the screenplay mixes the narrative with some found-footage to provide some interesting shifts in its construct. Mark Duplass and Olivia Wilde share the role of the mad scientist. Only one becomes the monster as their quest for answers to their questions about the afterlife and a person’s sole. See the beautiful Wilde become Frankenstein should be the tag for this one. Her transformation into the resurrected is pretty incredible. Anyone who follows her tweets knows exactly what I am talking about. Scary.

Because Gelb has an eye for constructing images around the line of a story – being a documentary filmmaker – the careful observer in the audience will notice steady directorial choices that link geometric images to characters and characters to fanciful deliriums as technical talk becomes psychotic babble. It’s alive!! It’s ALIVE!!! Duplass turns reason into insanity and Wilde turns into the horrific. And it is all handled with wo-time Emmy Award-winning cinematographer Michael Fimognari’s dramatic lighting and lensing. The co-stars Evan Peters, Sara Bolger, and Donald Glover turn in performances that are not nearly as forgettable as they are as written.

I’m not saying The Lazarus Effect is without faults. There are more than plenty of “COME ON!!!” moments that can rattle the thinking man and take him out of the atmosphere of the movie BUT – just as with Oculus – the unnatural occurrences will pull you back in (if you allow it). Speaking of Oculus, if you liked that one, you will like this one. Gelb’s movie is on the same level. It’s cheap, outlandish, and (yet) somehow eerily effective as bottom-of-the-barrel staple genre offerings. If I’m pressed, this is actually 2.5 stars. You know going in to it that you will get exactly what you have paid for: schlock, schlock, schlock.

Gelb’s film might be full of recycled parts. It’s Flatliners meets The Fury meets Frankenstein and, well, you get the point. There’s nothing solidly original about the film and everyone, including its overqualified cast, knows that. You might think twice about seeing a film that has been on a shelf for a couple of years and “passed on” to another, lesser known studio for wide release. I wouldn’t blame you. But if you are looking for a $10 escape, there are worse things out there that also use 10% of your brainpower than The Lazarus Effect.

Surrounded by dead pigs and dead dogs and haunted by dreams of burning dolls, watch two scientists challenge biblical beliefs and bring back to life what should always remain dead in The Lazarus Effect.

Playing God is not without consequence.

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[tab title="Film Details"]

MPAA Rating: PG-13 for intense sequences of horror violence, terror and some sexual references
Runtime: 83 mins
Director: David Gelb
Cast: Olivia Wilde, Mark Duplass, Evan Peters
Genre: Thriller
Tagline: Evil Will Rise
Memorable Movie Quote: "We're going to fix this together, OK. Just you and me."
Distributor: Lionsgate
Official Site: https://www.facebook.com/thelazaruseffect
Release Date: February 27, 2015
DVD/Blu-ray Release Date: June 16, 2015.
Synopsis: The Lazarus Effect follows a group of researchers led by Frank and his fiancé Zoe who've achieved the unimaginable - bringing the dead back to life. After a successful, yet unsanctioned, trial on a newly deceased animal, the team is ready to unveil their breakthrough to the world. When the dean of their university learns of their underground experiments, their project is unexpectedly shut down and their materials confiscated. Frank, Zoe and their team take matters into their own hands, launching a rogue attempt to recreate their experiment, during which things go terribly wrong and one of their own, Zoe, is horrifically killed. Fueled by terror and grief, Frank pushes them to do the unthinkable: attempt to resurrect their first human test subject. Initially, the procedure appears a success, but the team soon realizes something is wrong with Zoe. As her strange 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 wrath of her return.

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[tab title="Blu-ray Review"]

Blu-ray Details:

Available on Blu-ray - June 16, 2015
Screen Formats: 2.40:1
Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish
Audio: English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
Discs: 50GB Blu-ray Disc; Single disc (1 BD)
Region Encoding: A

Okay, so the beautiful transfer is better than the film itself. No surprise there. Using the AVC codec, the 1080p transfer from 20th Century Fox is surrounded by strong black levels that absolutely solidify the creepiness of the narrative, being what it is. Colors, very bright in the beginning, become fairly limiting and that is by design as the madness of this Frankenstein tale takes over. Shadows are deep and outlined. Skin tones are good, too. The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 sound mix presents the dialogue up front and absolutely kills it with the immersion as the rear speakers kick in.

Supplements:

Commentary:

• None

Special Features:

There really isn't a lot but, with the longest running at about 15 min, do we really need a lot of bonus material for a silly horror film like this one? Survey says NO. What we do have are three deleted scenes that were trimmed for a reason, a typical making-of featurette that features interviews with cast and crew as they discuss the film and its themes, and a short discussion with cast and crew about the morality involved in resurrecting the dead. Also included is the theatrical trailer and an Ultraviolet code to download the movie.

• Deleted and Extended Scenes (4 min)
• Creating Fear: The Making of The Lazarus Effect (15 min)
• Playing God: The Moral Dilemma (8 min)
• Theatrical Trailer

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[tab title="Trailer"]

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