06 of 31 Horror Films I've Never Seen 2016: The Lazarus Effect (2015)

Some films are just mean.  The kind where no one is redeemed, where no real lesson was learned, and where the force of evil, or violent destruction, wins in the end.  There are plenty of them in the canon of Horror and they appear to be making a come back in more recent years.  David Gelb's The Lazarus Effect falls into this category.

The build up is key to the carnage that follows.  The story follows a team of scientists who have spent 3 years working on a serum they have dubbed 'The Lazarus Serum' on a private grant.  Their initial goal of the serum is to bridge inactive brain function during crises to help aid resuscitation, essentially, giving people a better fighting chance of survival, but over the years the experiment evolved into a resurrection agent.  Frankenstein meets the Pharmaceutical age.  The characters are introduced with all of their quirks, but the story centers on Zoe (Olivia Wilde) and Frank (Mark Duplass) the creators of the serum.  When their experiment is ripped out of their hands via corporate espionage by a Big Pharmaceutical company they race against the clock to duplicate their experiment but a malfunction electrocutes Zoe and a grief stricken Frank tries the serum (against advisement from his team) on her.  You can probably see where this is going.

While the plot is mostly predictable, as most films tend to be these days, it is delivered in a most engaging way.  There is a subtext of spirituality and science; how they clash, compete, and cohere.  Questions of moral responsibility, emotional instability, loyalty, and distrust are constant when Zoe is brought back from death via the serum, but there's not much time to dwell, because the drug's negative side effects quickly cause a highly sped up and advanced evolution to occur in Zoe's brain and the entire team suffers the consequence.

And oh do they suffer in a most brutal fashion.  Like most horror films there is a moment where it seems that the innocent will overcome the obstacle, but like most things in reality, this moment is fleeting.  Otherwise the film could not live up to the descriptor of "mean spirited."

Well meaning scientists don't quite stand a chance against a now telepathic resurrected woman who believes that she was sent to Hell during the hour she spent lying dead on the floor.

The cinematography and editing makes use of all the best tricks in the book with creative lighting gags, subliminal imagery and sound, and dynamic camera movement.  You're never quite sure where Zoe is going to pop up until she does it.  Add in some lovely supporting actors in Donald Glover, Sarah Bolger, and Evan Peters, a delightfully sinister cameo by veteran character actor Ray Wise, and you have a pretty entertaining film that is not afraid to rip your heart out and squeeze.