Starring Olivia Wilde, Donald Glover, Evan Peters, Mark Duplass and Sarah Bolger, "The Lazarus Effect" follows a group of medical students who discover a way to bring the dead back to life.
If you had a chance to bring someone back from the dead, would you? This was a serious question I asked myself before and after watching this movie.
"The Lazarus Effect" probably isn't a horror film that you'll remember by year's end, but it also isn't a bad movie by any means. By default, any horror or thriller slated in the months of January or February is bound to be overlooked. Why? January, for instance, is the month after all of the major holidays. Everyone is settling down — not really heading out to theaters. Thus. Hollywood tends to drop the duds during the first month of the year, and February is the wrap-up of the awards season.
Not only are moviegoers focusing more on the "Oscar-buzz" films, but the romantic movies usually get first or second pick. Everything else is forced to take a backseat.
At least "The Lazarus Effect" makes an effort to be noticed. Some of the shots in this movie are bone-chilling. Director David Gelb knows how to convey the feeling of certain scenes through the lens. Despite a few cheap jump scares here and there, the whole movie is engaging.
One particular thing that I admired about this film is that it feels like an indie movie. The budget wasn't much ($3 million), and it will absolutely make a profit at the box office after its initial weekend. It also has a short runtime (only 83 minutes), so it's nice to get right to the point with no unnecessary fluff.
My only negative about "The Lazarus Effect" is that toward the climax, it starts to look and feel like another movie you may have seen. But overall, it's definitely an unexpected thrill ride. Even if it gets a bit hammy in the middle, it's easy to look past all of that and enjoy it for everything it is! I recommend you go check it out this weekend.
And if you're a horror fan like myself, don't miss out on what might possibly be the best little surprise of February.
3.5 Yaps