They Should’ve Let This One Stay Dead
If The Lazarus Effect teaches us anything, it’s that some things should never be brought back from the dead — and I’m not just talking about the dog. I’m talking about this movie.
Directed by David Gelb (who made the excellent documentary Jiro Dreams of Sushi, proving that even filmmakers deserve a mulligan), this 2015 pseudo-scientific horror flick attempts to resurrect the Frankenstein myth for the Snapchat generation. It features an all-star cast — Mark Duplass, Olivia Wilde, Donald Glover, Evan Peters — all of whom look like they’re wondering if this experiment will end their careers.
It’s 83 minutes of lab coats, bad decisions, and supernatural nonsense, stitched together like a corpse in a freshman screenwriting class.
The Plot: Flatline Meets Flat Writing
We open on a group of attractive young scientists who have apparently never read Mary Shelley. Dr. Frank Walton (Mark Duplass) and his fiancée Dr. Zoe McConnell (Olivia Wilde) are leading a project to bring dead tissue back to life using a serum they’ve dubbed “Lazarus.” You know, subtle.
They’re joined by their assistants Niko (Donald Glover, before he became too famous for this nonsense), Clay (Evan Peters, who probably wishes he was back on American Horror Story), and Eva (Sarah Bolger), the wide-eyed videographer documenting it all.
After successfully reviving a dead dog — because nothing bad has ever come from reviving a dead animal in a horror movie — the team celebrates by ignoring every ethical guideline in modern science. The dog, of course, starts acting weird: cataracts vanish, aggression rises, and he stares at walls like he’s waiting for Netflix to load.
Then the university shuts down the project, a pharmaceutical company steals their research, and instead of getting lawyers, they do what every rational scientist does: break into the lab and play God again.
Predictably, Zoe gets electrocuted (in a scene so underwhelming it feels like the outlet just gave up), and Frank decides the best way to deal with grief is necromancy. He injects her with the serum, and presto — she’s back! Unfortunately, she’s also psychic, homicidal, and apparently part X-Men now.
Cue the killings, hallucinations, and moral lessons we’ve all learned from better movies.
Olivia Wilde: Too Good for This Corpse of a Movie
Let’s give credit where it’s due: Olivia Wilde tries. She really does. She gives Zoe a haunted, twitchy energy that hints at real pain, and for a few brief moments, you almost think this movie might explore grief, guilt, and the ethics of resurrection. Then she starts levitating furniture, reading minds, and murdering her coworkers like she’s auditioning for Carrie: The Postdoc Edition.
Her “I went to Hell” speech could’ve been chilling — if it weren’t delivered between bouts of telekinesis and bad CGI. She’s supposed to be tragic, but the movie treats her like a jump-scare delivery system with nice cheekbones.
By the end, she’s not a character; she’s a supervillain in yoga pants.
The Rest of the Cast: Scientists by Day, Fodder by Night
Mark Duplass plays Frank, a man whose scientific brilliance is rivaled only by his complete lack of emotional intelligence. His big moment of regret comes after he’s resurrected his girlfriend into a demonic god-being, which feels a little late, buddy. He spends most of the movie looking like a man wondering if he could’ve taken that sitcom role instead.
Donald Glover plays Niko, the token “nice guy scientist,” which in horror terms means he’ll be the first one to die trying to talk about his feelings. His death by locker compression (yes, really) is so absurd it almost loops back around to genius.
Evan Peters, meanwhile, plays Clay, the stoner tech guy whose main function is comic relief until he dies choking on an e-cigarette, which might be the most 2015 death imaginable.
Sarah Bolger’s Eva is the camerawoman who survives long enough to regret ever showing up to work. She exists mostly to ask questions like, “What’s happening?” and “Why are you doing this?” — both of which the audience is also shouting at the screen.
The Science: Sponsored by “Trust Me, Bro” University
The Lazarus Effect desperately wants to sound smart. It throws around words like “serum,” “synapses,” and “neural regeneration,” hoping nobody notices it’s one lab coat away from a Scooby-Doo plot.
Apparently, the serum doesn’t just revive dead tissue — it makes you telekinetic, telepathic, and a little bit evil. The explanation? “The brain evolved.” Sure. And I evolved past believing this script halfway through.
The science here is so bad it makes Jurassic Park look like a peer-reviewed dissertation.
The Horror: Jump Scares on Life Support
For a movie about resurrection, The Lazarus Effect is shockingly lifeless. The scares are straight from the bargain bin — flickering lights, sudden noises, and faces popping out of darkness like a haunted house in an abandoned mall.
The first act flirts with genuine tension, especially during the dog revival sequence, which could’ve been the start of a slow-burn ethical thriller. But then it pivots into X-Men: The Exorcism, and all the suspense evaporates into CGI smoke.
Zoe’s “hell vision” scenes are supposed to be terrifying, but they look like rejected cutscenes from a PlayStation 2 game.
By the time the film remembers it’s supposed to be scary, the audience has already achieved emotional rigor mortis.
The Message: Don’t Play God (or at Least Get a Better Script)
There’s a half-baked moral buried under all the glowing syringes — something about the dangers of scientific hubris and the trauma of guilt. But it’s buried beneath so much cliché that you need a shovel to find it.
The film could’ve explored the psychological cost of grief-driven obsession, the ethics of resurrection, or even the horror of facing your own creation. Instead, it turns into a mutant-on-the-loose flick where people die in increasingly stupid ways.
If Frankenstein had been written like this, it would’ve ended with the creature getting a telepathic makeover and vaporizing Victor with a bad pun.
Dark Humor: The Real Miracle of Resurrection
Let’s be honest — the funniest thing about The Lazarus Effect is how seriously it takes itself. You’ve got Olivia Wilde in full God-complex mode, Mark Duplass mumbling about neural pathways, and Donald Glover dying by locker compression like it’s a deleted Final Destination gag.
There’s also something inherently hilarious about a team of scientists who, after reviving a murderous zombie dog, think, “You know what this situation needs? More human trials.”
And when Wilde’s Zoe starts floating objects with her mind, the rest of the team looks surprised, as though this isn’t exactly what happens every time someone plays with resurrection serum in a horror movie.
Final Verdict: Pull the Plug
The Lazarus Effect had potential. The premise — exploring what happens when a resurrection experiment goes wrong — could’ve been a gripping blend of science fiction and existential dread. Instead, it’s a Frankenstein’s monster of better movies: part Flatliners, part Lucy, part Pet Sematary, and all disappointment.
It’s 83 minutes of decent actors trapped in a script that feels like it was resurrected from the cutting room floor of a SyFy original.
Still, if you squint, it’s almost worth watching for Olivia Wilde’s unhinged performance and the unintentional comedy that comes from watching scientists play God with all the responsibility of toddlers with a chemistry set.
Rating: ★★☆☆☆ (2/5)
Proof that sometimes, dead is better — especially for screenplays.
