The Film
The Lazarus Effect, an interesting take on an age old fascination of man to bring back the dead and prolong life. It’s a horror / sci-fi.
A group of medical students, while trying to find a way to prolong the time doctors have to treat a patient, stumble upon a possible way to bring recently dead patients back to life. However, as would be expected, things will inevitably go wrong.
While not a story that will tax the brain by any means, the film is likely to promote some debate on religion and the ethics of modern day medicine.
There are a decent amount of “jump scares” in the movie, and even in subsequent viewings, those still manage to catch the viewer on occasion.
While engrossing, the film is a bit short, and one is left feeling cheated slightly. There is a lot more that could have been covered in the story, had the premise been pushed just a little more. The Lazarus Effect, however, is bound to appeal to lovers of horror and sci-fi alike, and it’s refreshing to see Olivia Wilde (who plays Zoe in the film) in a slightly different role, playing opposite Mark Duplass (Frank in the film).
The Lazarus Effect is an entertaining film, and one to pass the time on a lazy winter’s day.
Disc And Bonus Features
The disc is encoded at a high average bitrate, so can be scaled up to a larger screen via software or hardware if desired. However, the black letterbox bars are not a solid black. Looking closely, there are some visible dark green artefacts there. This don’t distract from the actual video image though. There was also a slight encoding issue at one point on the disc. This lasted only a brief moment, and does not cover anything vital.
Sound is presented in a 5.1 mix, however it makes very little use of the surround channels. The viewer also has the option to select a stereo downmix.
There are unfortunately no bonus features included on the disc.
The Lazarus Effect is now available to purchase on disc in South Africa.