Resucitados

Sadly this is an ultimately unrewarding film, to read the plot, you'd be forgiven for expecting something dark, original and interesting, when in reality it's generic, flat, and badly realised.

The production values are a little poor, and the storytelling is disjointed, lacks any sort of core plot, at times it seemed to make no sense.

A few times they could have gone for real scares and horror, sadly no such moments ever happened. The dog could have been good.

Quite poor. 4/10

I really wanted The Lazarus Effect to be good. It has a great cast and an interesting premise, and I love horror movies so why should this be any different? Well first of all calling it a horror movie is a bit of a stretch. Yeah, there are "scares" but they're all the cliché flickering lights, someone coming up behind someone else's back, fake out, cheap ass easy jump scares that we've seen a million times and you can see them coming from a mile away.

The best thing this movie has going for it is its atmosphere. It all takes place in an empty laboratory and there are some moments where you feel the claustrophobia of being trapped in a place where dead bodies are kept and weird surgical instruments all over the place. But none of that psychological horror is expounded on. It's just like one second I'm like, "hm, this could actually go somewhere" and then two seconds later a freaky face pops on screen and it's like ugh, why bother.

The acting in this movie is fine for what it is. Aside from the two leads, Evan Peters was the only character I cared about because he was the comic relief but he just isn't given enough to work with. Everything about the movie feels rushed. The characters aren't developed enough. The movie is barely 80 minutes long and it still has dull moments. It also borrows a lot of elements from other horror movies. A good chunk of the movie is straight up "Event Horizon" in a laboratory with some "The Shining" and "Lucy" sprinkled here and there. Sure there is some creepy imagery but it's stuff we've seen a million times. If they had actually built up tension instead of relying on stupid jump scares then maybe the imagery would have some effect. As it stands, it's just like... what a waste.

I can't give this movie a lower score because it did have potential and I liked the cast. There are some moments that are admittedly cool, however brief they are. Oh, and none of the movie makes sense. It starts off plausibly with these doctors performing weird experiments but as soon as sh*t starts to go down, any sense of realism goes out the window. The Lazarus Effect isn't terrible - there's just no reason to see it. Go see "Event Horizon" or "The Shining" if you're in the mood for some real psychological scares.

A team of researchers discovers a serum that can wake the dead. They try it out on a dead dog and sure enough it comes to life, a bit in a bad mood more but nonetheless. Then the university shuts down the program and a corporation takes over and grabs all their research.

They decide to break into the lab and recreate the experiment by resurrecting another dog, this time around with a girl who gets to film everything. When Zoe, one of the doctors, flips on the switch she's electrocuted and dies. Her fiancée can't accept it so he decides to experiment on her and see if he can reanimate her. Sure enough, she also comes back but also not particularly thankful.

There's also something else going on with Zoe. When she was a little girl, she witnessed a room-full of people burn to death when the apartment caught fire and she couldn't help them. She's been traumatized by the experience till now. Slowly though, she starts developing powers. She can complete other people's sentences, she develops telekinesis. And eventually she starts killing her team mates. Of course she takes out the power so it's all dark. The survivors will try to battle her.

At some point the camera girl is taken to the event of the burning apartment and there's a neat revelation.

The Lazarus Effect is a short horror movie with a good premise and the lovely Olivia Wilde. One bit of science was pretty intriguing. But from there things go by the numbers--no lights, people confined in one or two rooms, no character to care for, no interesting dialogue. The movie is well-directed although clearly they could and should have done more with the story.

First of all, you'll probably get more entertainment out of these user reviews than you will by seeing the actual movie. To clarify...aren't all possession movies inherently pro-Christian since the inclusion of demons and hell implies that there is are angels and heaven (since Lucifer was cast out of heaven and became the devil)?

As someone that has seen lot of REALLY bad horror films, I can safely say that The Lazarus Effect isn't all that bad. It's got a pretty decent cast in Mark Duplass and Olivia Wilde, but it's a cheap horror film. You get the predictable jump-scares, you get the dialed in dialogue, what else did you expect?

You don't go to see horror films because they're particularly well written or original. This movie is literally just a hodgepodge of movies like: Carrie, Lucy (the whole 10% of your brain thing), The Phoenix Project, Pet Semetary, Flatliners, etc.

I actually somewhat enjoyed this, but you realistically need to set your expectations 6 feet under. Maybe this film will find a way to resurrect some of your faith in the horror genre that way. It sure as hell isn't going to resurrect the $10 bucks you spent on the ticket at the theater.

Additionally, what ever happened to the novelty of watching a film before reviewing it?

Read the full review and others like it on the Drive-in Zeppelin website

Any five to ten minute excerpt from this movie could easily lead a viewer to conclude that this is a well made horror or suspense thriller. The production values are high, the performances good, and so on.

The problem is that the parts of the film don't fit together. The sequence of action has the usual slow build and accelerating pace of any good thriller, but while the set-up is promising, and the events proceed logically enough as interesting and sympathetic characters are frightened, threatened or killed off, the reasons underlying the events remain obscure.

Hints and suggestive exposition are introduced, and then forgotten. There are explicit references to religious-themed horror fantasy, speculative science, and even a few elements of a possible conspiracy. An elaborate backstory is gradually revealed, and then abruptly dismissed. The conclusion doesn't really conclude anything: there's a decisive ending, but no resolution, no revelation, not even a clear idea of the probable consequences.

It's possible a re-edit could address these issues and make it a decent film. As it stands, though, it just doesn't work.