If your date likes
to squeeze your hand whenever something on the big screen jumps and screams,
“Boo,” then The Lazarus Effect might
hold some value for you. Otherwise . . .
A small group of
scientists in Lazarus create a serum
that can bring people back from the dead. While the writers might travel plenty
of interesting paths with this idea, they failed to step in any real direction
beyond, “Science scares me
and makes God angry.”
The scientists,
much like the characters in Pet Sematary
(I know, I condemn these comparisons and then make them, myself), start with an
animal. They, in this case, resurrect a dead dog. The dog afterwards acts
strange and aggressive.
This further opens
the field for interesting debate, but the characters simply carry on with their
shallow, “Will this make God angry?” conversation.
One of the
scientists dies, and, wouldn’t you know it, they resurrect her. They afterwards
treat the hole that runs through her head, skull, and brain with a Band-Aid
(no, really), and then she gains telekinetic powers for no discernable reason.
She then starts to
kill everyone . . . because.
The comically
ridiculous response of the other scientists to split up and look for their
angry zombie faces magnification due to the fact that their lab (where nearly
the entire film takes place) offers only a few rooms.
I felt as if I
watched Jason from Friday the 13th
hunt teenagers in a small shoe store.
Lazarus makes noteworthy use of
lighting, and some of the scares (while not inventive) manage to actually
startle the crap out of you. The actresses and actors work hard. The visuals
work. This movie’s good points end there, unfortunately.
The story proves
so onion-thin that, short as it runs (and it runs short), it still seems artificially stretched for an eternity.
The movie’s
message (don’t research science; you’ll make the invisible wizard in the sky angry)
annoys me on a personal level.
The writers even
seem concerned that their audience won’t receive the message. To combat this
concern, they present us with a scene where the scientists must (because of
magnetism issues) remove their metal crucifixes before they perform their
wicked experiments.
Yet the story
never gives its audience a reason to like the invisible wizard in the sky, who
fails to lift a finger to save its characters.
Worse, we discover
that God sentences one character to an eternity in Hell because of a mistake
she made as a five-year-old.
It seems that the
writers felt no conviction towards their own communication.
Lazarus stands an uninventive,
jump-and-scream-boo, horror movie that preys on the fears of people who performed
poorly in science class.
I would pass on
this one, folks.
Thanks for reading.
Daughters of Darkwana received a sweet, succinct
review, which you can read here, http://www.thebookeaters.co.uk/daughters-of-darkwana-by-martin-wolt-jr/
Also,
the third book in my series, Diaries of
Darkwana, will hit Kindle just as soon as I find a new cover artist. I have
a few candidates already, thank goodness.
An
inside look at my novels (such as Daughters of Darkwana, which you can now find on Kindle) at Darkwana.blogspot.com
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