Story time: my obsession with film stemmed in 2006 when I was scared of a trailer for the film “Final Destination 3″ and did what any logical person with a computer would do when they’re ten, I researched it. Through this I became acquainted with movie databases and began branching off of genre films into film as a whole, which in turn somehow ended me here. Since then, I’ve always owed some sort of allegiance to the horror genre, I have always enjoyed horror films, but it’s hard to deny that lately they’ve been lacking. With the inclusion of more teen friendly, watered down PG-13 horror films, it’s hard to say that the craft is still in place rather than the studios mass producing these films for a quick buck.

When I initially heard of “The Lazarus Effect”, it was called “Reawakening”, but then later it was called “Lazarus”, then later it was called “The Lazarus Effect” and switched from Lionsgate to Relativity Media for release. From this point on it would seem to be a problematic production, but what stuck out in this was the cast assembled, utilizing a more recognizable cast of primarily comedy actors, such as Olivia Wilde, Mark Duplass and Donald Glover (also known as Childish Gambino), to lead a straight faced horror film. This was equally impressive and quite an intriguing choice for a film such as this, which kept me interested from the start, I almost found it too good to believe at some points.

Wilde leads the film as Zoe, a doctor working with her fiancé, Frank, played by Duplass, on a serum that will help bring deceased organisms back from the dead with a serum they call the Lazarus Serum. With their team of medical students, played by Evan Peters and Glover and a documentarian, played by Sarah Bolger, they embark to bring a dead dog back to life with this serum. After a successful first attempt, they are shut down by their investors and perform one last experiment in secret when an electrical error occurs, resulting in the electrocution and the death of Zoe. Distraught, Frank performs a last minute experiment on Zoe, injecting her with the Lazarus Serum and bringing her back to life, but the team learns soon thereafter, that something is seriously wrong with Zoe and they might pay for it with their life.

“The Lazarus Effect” is an excellent low budget horror film, utilizing the best of it’s cast, director and screenplay. The film never delves into anything it can’t pull itself out of, never going into overly ambitious territory and keeping to a strict, back-to-basics technique for delivering scares, keeping the jump scares to a minimum and keeping those jump scares present ones with actual substance and scares. Wilde gives an awesome performance as Zoe, incorporating her sometimes funny side with pure evil badassery. The rest of the cast pulls their typical charm and acting style into their performances, nixing the comedy for a much more dramatic approach, without sacrificing charm.

I found the screenplay to be entirely inconspicuous, which might be one of the best compliments I can give a script to a horror film like this. Usually with low budget films of this caliber, the screenplays can take one of two directions, 1. A painfully written, plot hole filled atrocity with horrible dialogue and terrible pacing, or 2. An entirely overblown, pretentiously written film that thinks it’s far more compelling than it actually is. The fact that I didn’t notice anything with the screenplay whilst watching the film might be the best thing about it, it knew what it was and found the perfect balance to keep it afloat nicely.

Director David Gelb utilizes his documentary experience to create a film that feels real enough, while not having to resort to the found footage format, which is saying a lot when a horror film shot traditionally feels more like a treasure than those shot with handheld cameras. Gelb uses a glossy and pale palette, and has a clean, effectively sterile look about it. Thumbs up for Gelb.

“The Lazarus Effect” is an incredibly solid horror film, but best enough, it’s scary, relying more on dread and tension than that of horrifically staged jump scares. It also runs with it’s PG-13 rating without feeling constrained within it’s parameters, it just happens to be a horror film without any strong language, or without any graphic violence and it doesn’t feel like any of that was needed to create a better film. My biggest fear with this film is that Blumhouse goes straight to make a sequel, as much as I enjoyed “The Lazarus Effect,” it would be like how I felt with “Insidious: Chapter 2,” and as much as I did enjoy that sequel, it devalued the ending of the first film that I loved so dearly.

With it’s impressive cast, competent directing, VERY swift pace (I actually wish the film had gone farther than it’s meager 84 minute runtime) and a nicely written screenplay, I found “The Lazarus Effect” to be one of the best PG-13 horror films made to date, refusing to constrain itself within the censorship, and remaining a comfortable, and equally effective horror film. “The Lazarus Effect” is still keeping me thinking as I write the review, unlike most films of this caliber, it’s staying within me past the credits and into the night and persisting in the darkness is a rarity now, especially without an R rating.

4/5

NOTE: Look at Olivia Wilde’s eyelid in the poster, you can make out “John 11″ in her veins, referencing the chapter in the bible in which Jesus resurrects Lazarus from death. It also flashes the same thing at the end of the trailer as well.

Photo courtesy of Relativity Media.

Directed by: David Gelb
Starring: Mark Duplass, Olivia Wilde, Donald Glover, Evan Peters, Sarah Bolger.
Runtime: 84 minutes
Rating: PG-13 for intense sequences of horror violence, terror and some sexual references.

Relativity Media presents, a Blumhouse/Mosaic production, a film by David Gelb, “The Lazarus Effect”