The Lazarus Effect | Film review - Playing God turns things to hell

(Image credit: Daniel McFadden)

"Evil will rise"

It is never a good move in films when scientists start playing God. Sure enough, things go very bad in this slice of sci-fi horror, The Lazarus Effect, after researchers Mark Duplass and Olivia Wilde successfully bring a recently deceased dog back from the dead using their new ‘Lazarus serum’. In short order, tragedy strikes, the serum gets tested on a human subject and all hell breaks out. Literally so, given the supernatural turn the story takes. Along the way, there are a few good jolts and scares, but the modest budget and thin script finally drain the life out of the movie.

Certificate 15. Runtime 80 mins. Director David Gelb

The Lazarus Effect debuts on Sky Cinema Premiere on 19 March and is available on DVD & Download from LionsGate Home Entertainment.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGfOyzyK2cQ

A film critic for over 25 years, Jason admits the job can occasionally be glamorous – sitting on a film festival jury in Portugal; hanging out with Baz Luhrmann at the Chateau Marmont; chatting with Sigourney Weaver about The Archers – but he mostly spends his time in darkened rooms watching films. He’s also written theatre and opera reviews, two guide books on Rome, and competed in a race for Yachting World, whose great wheeze it was to send a seasick film critic to write about his time on the ocean waves. But Jason is happiest on dry land with a classic screwball comedy or Hitchcock thriller.