Quartile rating: 5.5/10 · 1 rating
Medical researcher Frank, his fiancee Zoe and their team have achieved the impossible: they have found a way to revive the dead. After a successful, but unsanctioned, experiment on a lifeless animal, they are ready to make their work public. However, when their dean learns what they've done, he shuts them down. Zoe is killed during an attempt to recreate the experiment, leading Frank to test the process on her. Zoe is revived -- but something evil is within her.
The Lazarus Effect is a competent but largely unremarkable sci-fi horror entry. The premise borrows heavily from Frankenstein and numerous resurrection-gone-wrong genre predecessors, offering little that feels fresh. The plot starts with promise but devolves into predictable haunted-house-style horror beats once Zoe is revived. The cast — including Olivia Wilde and Mark Duplass — performs creditably given the thin material, elevating some scenes above the script's limitations. Cinematography leans on dim lighting and jump-scare staging typical of low-budget horror, serviceable but uninspired. The ending is abrupt and unsatisfying, feeling like a setup for a sequel rather than a resolution. Novelty is low — this is a by-the-numbers entry in the mad-science horror subgenre with no distinctive voice or singular craft to set it apart.