At least they tried. A bit.
The Lazarus Effect aspires to be Flatliners 2014, or at least Hollow Man. While it is not near the first it nearly matches the Hollow Man… Sequel.
Then it throws a little Pet Sematary and Event Horizon in for noise and distraction.
Drs Frank (Mark Duplass) and Zoe (Olivia Wilde) are on the verge of unlocking the process to reanimate once living tissue. Just as a breakthrough is imminent, the higher ups worry about the impact this discovery will have upon profits, and they seek to take the material and equipment for their own use.
Frank and Zoe are determined though and with the help of the rest of their largely faceless crew – all of whom I have already forgotten – they seek to replicate the experiment and outcome.
But when replicating things goes awry, the results are… Different. And not in a good way.
A promising first stanza builds hope, hope that is dashed with the frenzy of noise and confusion that closes the film.
Duplass is low key and serious as always. Wilde does the wide yes, big forehead thing that suggests she will never crack the A list, and as mentioned the is precious little to point out that wasn’t lazily lifted from elsewhere.
The Lazarus Effect ironically falls victim to it’s own plot line; by trying to resurrect Flatliners via Hollow Man, and changing just a little about what made them work, it becomes itself the noisy bothersome mess.
Final Rating – 5.5 / 10. The noise and distraction aren’t the experiment. They are the signs of desperation and failure.
