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The Lazarus Effect

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Olivia Wilde in The Lazarus Effect (Lionsgate)
Olivia Wilde in The Lazarus Effect (Lionsgate)

What it's about:

The film follows a group of medical students who discover a way to bring dead patients back to life.

What we thought:

Being an avid horror fan, The Lazarus Effect did not produce the efficient amount of satisfying scares to keep my feet up on my chair. Don’t get me wrong, if you scare easily, then this will scare the shit out if you, but if you’re into your horror, then this film will feel like something you’ve seen before, something that’s been done to death.

The film is set in a laboratory in Berkeley, California and follow a group of scientists who have produced a serum that can bring the dead back to life. The group consist of Frank (Mark Duplass) and his fiancée Zoe (Olivia Wilde), who is the lead-scientists on the experiment, Nike (Donald Glover), Clay (Evan Peters) and videographer Eva, who documents the experiments.

As it goes with scientists, they were never supposed to take the experiment as far as they did, but hey, what will the movie be without scientists breaking the rules of nature to bring something back from the dead? The group manage to bring back a dog from the dead, and of course the university finds out about their little experiment. Cue scary corporate people swooping in confiscating all their research and findings. They do however manage to hide the dog and save it from the big pharmaceutical suits even though it has been acting strange since coming back from the dead. Think aggressive behaviour, refusing to eat, oh and standing over its sleeping human owners during the night staring at them scarily.

After all of their research being confiscated, the team decides to go back at night to replicate their experiment. And this is where everything goes horribly wrong. While handling the electric shock lever, Zoe is electrocuted and dies. Her fiancé then convinces everyone involved that they should bring her back from the dead. Zoe returns from the dead, but she’s not exactly herself.

Cue Carrie-like horror movie vibes. Zoe can now read minds, she can move things with her mind and she decides to kill everyone around her in a violent fashion. Her eyes turn black, she is haunted by a traumatic childhood memory, blah blah blah blah...

This is where it all goes to hell (literally). Olivia Wilde and Mark Duplass really try their best with what they’ve been given here: a predictable script with no imagination. If you’re a true horror fan, then rather steer clear of this one.

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