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Movie Review: The Lazarus Effect (2015)

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As you’ve probably noticed, movie trailers have become way too long over the years. Rather than getting us excited about movies, they all too often tend to spoil the best parts, making you feel as if you’ve already seen the movie before you’ve even seen it. You’re likely to feel that way as you watch The Lazarus Effect, though the problem isn’t so much that the trailer spoiled all the good bits.

Rather, the problem is that the movie genuinely has so little to offer that it feels like a trailer for the next generic horror movie, stretched out to an impossibly dull 80-minutes. If you’ve seen the trailer for this one, you have literally seen the entire movie.

Directed by David Gelb, The Lazarus Effect centers on a team of medical students perfecting a serum that, in so many words, brings the dead back to life. Not long after successfully re-animating a dog, a freak accident in the lab kills one of the team members, and in a last ditch effort they attempt to bring her back from the dead – with predictably disastrous results.

The most curious thing about The Lazarus Effect is that it features a pretty solid cast of young talents, with fan-favorite actors like Olivia Wilde, Mark Duplass, Donald Glover and American Horror Story‘s Evan Peters comprising the research team. What’s curious about that is the way the movie proceeds to thoroughly waste them, making it feel like one of those movies they all took part in long before they had anything else going on in their careers – by all accounts, however, it wasn’t shot all that long ago.

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Olivia Wilde is the star of the show here as Zoe, the chick who dies and then becomes all possessed and what not. The script gives Wilde very little to do before her character’s death and even less to do after, which is a shame because she’s an extremely likeable and talented actress. Same goes for all the other actors in this thing, who are all given almost nothing to work with. The characters, such as Peters’ stoner, are as underwritten as they come, to the point that their names have already escaped my brain.

Though the way it wastes the talents of its stars is one of the biggest bummers of The Lazarus Effect, it’s quite frankly the least of the movie’s problems. The script rushes so quickly to the point where Zoe is brought back from the dead that it’s impossible to really care about anything that’s going on, and once she re-animates, the movie reveals itself to be just another paranormal possession movie – albeit in a slightly different wrapper.

As the trailers completely gave away, Zoe becomes a black-eyed supernatural being once the Lazarus serum is injected into her, and that’s the point when the once dull movie becomes offensively bad, especially to anyone who has ever seen a horror movie. Jump scares and ‘creepy’ flickering lights dominate the latter portions of The Lazarus Effect, as Zoe walks around like a demonic robot and dispatches her friends in the most uninspired and yawn-inducing ways possible.

The Lazarus Effect

It feels weird to even be relaying so much of the plot here in my review, but again I must remind you that I’m really not spoiling anything. The trailer for The Lazarus Effect promises a movie wherein a girl dies, comes back to life and then does some creepy things, and the movie delivers on that promise by literally doing nothing more than what you saw in those two-minutes. It’s as one-note as horror movies come – the sort of movie that perpetuates the idea that horror movies are made for idiots.

What’s most offensive is how little The Lazarus Effect has to say, being that it’s dealing with such a fascinating and deep topic of discussion. Rather than delving into that rich idea of human re-animation and bothering to say anything about the topic, the movie takes the lazy approach of being nothing more than another movie about a supernaturally-empowered chick who kills people. It also doesn’t bother to make much sense, even within its own world, but I digress.

By the time the end credits roll across the screen, you’re likely to be rolling your eyes, as The Lazarus Effect takes a turn for the intelligence-insulting and laugh-inducing in the final act. It’s yet another one of those horror movies that is cut from a mold and caters to the lowest common denominator, and you’ll probably leave the theater wondering why the hell you even bother going to see new horror movies on the big screen.

The Lazarus Effect is little more than a reminder that the best horror movies are now found on VOD. So save your money and stay home. The popcorn is free, the rentals are cheap and, best of all, you can rest assured that nobody will come sit down on your couch and ruin the experience with their incessant chatter. Does that sound good to you? Because it sounds great to me.

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Brad Dourif Says He’s Retiring Except For One Important Role

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Brad Dourif has been doing movies for nearly 50 years. Now it seems he is walking away from the industry at 74 to enjoy his golden years. Except, there is a caveat.

Recently, digital entertainment publication JoBlo’s Tyler Nichols talked to some of the Chucky television series cast members. During the interview, Dourif made an announcement.

“Dourif said that he’s retired from acting,” says Nichols. “The only reason he came back for the show was because of his daughter Fiona and he considers Chucky creator Don Mancini to be family. But for non-Chucky stuff, he considers himself retired.”

Dourif has voiced the possessed doll since 1988 (minus the 2019 reboot). The original movie “Child’s Play” has become such a cult classic it’s at the top of some people’s best chillers of all time. Chucky himself is ingrained in pop culture history much like Frankenstein or Jason Voorhees.

While Dourif may be known for his famous voiceover, he is also an Oscar-nominated actor for his part in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Another famous horror role is The Gemini Killer in William Peter Blatty’s Exorcist III. And who can forget Betazoid Lon Suder in Star Trek: Voyager?

The good news is that Don Mancini is already pitching a concept for season four of Chucky which might also include a feature-length movie with a series tie-in. So, Although Dourif says he is retiring from the industry, ironically he is Chucky’s friend till the end.

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Editorial

7 Great ‘Scream’ Fan Films & Shorts Worth a Watch

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The Scream franchise is such an iconic series, that many budding filmmakers take inspiration from it and make their own sequels or, at least, build upon the original universe created by screenwriter Kevin Williamson. YouTube is the perfect medium to showcase these talents (and budgets) with fan-made homages with their own personal twists.

The great thing about Ghostface is that he can appear anywhere, in any town, he just needs the signature mask, knife, and unhinged motive. Thanks to Fair Use laws it’s possible to expand upon Wes Craven’s creation by simply getting a group of young adults together and killing them off one by one. Oh, and don’t forget the twist. You’ll notice that Roger Jackson’s famous Ghostface voice is uncanny valley, but you get the gist.

We have gathered five fan films/shorts related to Scream that we thought were pretty good. Although they can’t possibly match the beats of a $33 million blockbuster, they get by on what they have. But who needs money? If you’re talented and motivated anything is possible as proven by these filmmakers who are well on their way to the big leagues.

Take a look at the below films and let us know what you think. And while you’re at it, leave these young filmmakers a thumbs up, or leave them a comment to encourage them to create more films. Besides, where else are you going to see Ghostface vs. a Katana all set to a hip-hop soundtrack?

Scream Live (2023)

Scream Live

Ghostface (2021)

Ghostface

Ghost Face (2023)

Ghost Face

Don’t Scream (2022)

Don’t Scream

Scream: A Fan Film (2023)

Scream: A Fan Film

The Scream (2023)

The Scream

A Scream Fan Film (2023)

A Scream Fan Film
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Movies

Another Creepy Spider Movie Hits Shudder This Month

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Good spider films are a theme this year. First, we had Sting and then there was Infested. The former is still in theaters and the latter is coming to Shudder starting April 26.

Infested has been getting some good reviews. People are saying that it’s not only a great creature feature but also a social commentary on racism in France.

According to IMDb: Writer/director Sébastien Vanicek was looking for ideas around the discrimination faced by black and Arab-looking people in France, and that led him to spiders, which are rarely welcome in homes; whenever they’re spotted, they’re swatted. As everyone in the story (people and spiders) is treated like vermin by society, the title came to him naturally.

Shudder has become the gold standard for streaming horror content. Since 2016, the service has been offering fans an expansive library of genre movies. in 2017, they began to stream exclusive content.

Since then Shudder has become a powerhouse in the film festival circuit, buying distribution rights to movies, or just producing some of their own. Just like Netflix, they give a film a short theatrical run before adding it to their library exclusively for subscribers.

Late Night With the Devil is a great example. It was released theatrically on March 22 and will begin streaming on the platform starting April 19.

While not getting the same buzz as Late Night, Infested is a festival favorite and many have said if you suffer from arachnophobia, you might want to take heed before watching it.

Infested

According to the synopsis, our main character, Kalib is turning 30 and dealing with some family issues. “He’s fighting with his sister over an inheritance and has cut ties with his best friend. Fascinated by exotic animals, he finds a venomous spider in a shop and brings it back to his apartment. It only takes a moment for the spider to escape and reproduce, turning the whole building into a dreadful web trap. The only option for Kaleb and his friends is to find a way out and survive.”

The film will be available to watch on Shudder starting April 26.

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