Where to begin... Let's start with the Bible thumpers who've already written. This I find the most hilarious particularly after seeing the film. The lead character is in fact, surprise surprise, a Christian. So before you go all haywire with the "why are we glorifying evil comments" you might... I don't know... want to see what happens in the movie, because in many ways your arguments about death and should we mess with it are addressed. Moving on.... I have yet to find a horror film that really just does it for me. My biggest issues are the "Why the heck is that character doing that" sort of thing. This film, I found, was better than many at covering gaps- but it still had them. It followed a lot of the traditional horror genre camp but actors turned in an okay performance and I thought it had decent potential... it just didn't use it. The most consistently horrifying thing is just how much Zoe needs a chapstick... I guess the undead have super dry lips... But I digress. (although seriously it's that distracting, which is a shame because Olivia Wilde is actually half way decent- if someone gave her actual material to work with she'd probably ace it as she usually does) Often with this producer team I find that they have really clever horror film concepts, they just fall apart on the follow through. This film, more than any other they've made in my opinion, was basically just a set up for a franchise. It's fine- but you expect it, and in that respect it lacks any redeeming qualities to make it a good movie just on it's own. Mark Duplass is one of my favorite actors since "Safety Not Guaranteed" but he really feels like he's being forced to phone it in on this one. It doesn't feel like it's his fault, it just feels like poor writing. I'm giving it 3 stars for the occasional jump,some pretty nice visuals, and an interesting concept (even if the pay off wasn't there for me).
Review of The Lazarus Effect
