Here is yet another example of taking a sub-standard plot and enhancing it with an interesting choice for director and an even more interesting cast. THE LAZARUS EFFECT is a curious twist on the Dr. Frankenstein story in which a group of young university researchers are attempting to develop a serum that brings life back into the lifeless. Their original idea was that this extra time would give health care professional longer to repair or revive a person before they were officially dead. But once they see the seemingly positive results of their animal experiments, they begin to see the ramifications it could have on more than just hospital use.
Mark Duplass and Olivia Wilde play Frank (get it? Frank, as in Frankenstein?) and Zoe, who head up the team, who work more or less in secret until they stray a little too far from their stated research parameters and a wily pharmaceutical company moves in and takes all of their lab equipment, computers and everything else related to the tests. But those sneaky kids—who also include Donald Glover as Nico, Evan Peters as Clay, and newly hired videographer Eva (Sarah Bolger)—have kept a stash of the key ingredients to their serum and immediately break back into the lab and stage the experiment one last time.
My biggest problem with THE LAZARUS EFFECT are the key personality traits of each researcher, and how incredibly unprofessional they are, outside of the fact they are bringing dead things back to life. Frank and Zoe are in a relationship, but are constantly at odds with each other about what they are doing. She's a tad religious, so naturally this idea of snatching souls from the other side is troubling to her. Nico has a crush on Zoe, so he's quietly undermining Frank's decisions; Evan is a stoner; and Eva is just a device to give us another camera angle. But the biggest concern about Zoe is a recurring dream/memory that she has every night about a fire she witnessed as a child in which many neighbors were killed. Her guilt and anxiety over the incident has clearly impaired her judgment and later that comes into play in a rather nasty way.
During this final experiment, a mishap ends up killing Zoe, so naturally the clear-headed Frank decides on the spot to bring her back to life using their barely tested methods, which works but leaves them with a Zoe that is not like their friend. She's having visions and seems immediately able to do and see things with her mind because of the serum's impact on her brain. The film stumbles through vague religious and scientific discussions about what happens after death, what happens to the soul and body's energy when death occurs, and the many definitions of hell.
The man who directed THE LAZARUS EFFECT is David Gelb, who helmed the extraordinary documentary JIRO DREAMS OF SUSHI a couple years back, and I'll give him credit for allowing the characters to discuss, however briefly, many of the philosophical and medical thoughts on death and what comes after death, if anything. But it doesn't take long for the film to collapse into standard-issue horror gimmicks—plenty of loud noises to make you jump, but not a lot of genuine tension and atmosphere beyond various re-creations of the apartment fire, which becomes a staging ground for a showdown of sorts between Zoe and those who are trying to make her dead again.
I almost wish the film has been 10-15 minutes longer, if only so we could have gotten to know these sketches of characters long enough to care about them being in danger later in the film. When Zoe died, I barely cared, and I certainly didn't feel an ounce of Frank's grief, the way we really ought to. As it exists, THE LAZARUS EFFECT feels like we're rushing through a slightly better sci-fi/horror movie. There are certainly elements that work well enough, but I have a feeling there's a better-paced and emotionally rooted version somewhere out there. It's so short that it never wears out its welcome, but our investment in these characters and their dilemma is so minimal that it's impossible to feeling anything lasting about this movie. It's a close call, but the film can't overcome its shortcomings.
