This film plays on the anxieties created by
pushing the bounds of medical technology. The first two-thirds of the movie are
genuinely uncomfortable to watch, as a scenario plays out that is frighteningly
real. Neuroscience, animal testing, halting bodily deterioration for the
advancement of medicine… These are true to life concepts that are being played
out in laboratory settings, sanctioned by society as necessary and even
groundbreaking.
Throw in modern science and medical
advances that were unthinkable almost two hundred years ago, and you have a
modern take on Mary Shelley’s genre-spawning novel, ‘Frankenstein; or, The
Modern Prometheus’. The same fear still exists now, as evidenced by some
elements of The Lazarus Effect. Humans still have an unstoppable curiousity
about manipulating natural processes, which includes a fear of death and how to
negate death. The Lazarus Effect spends the first part of the film examining
just that, and raising questions such as the intermingling of science and
religion, and the ethics of (in the film’s case) resurrecting an animal verses
resurrecting a human. (Part of the discomfort experienced as the viewer came
from this; why do we feel it’s acceptable to subject animals to experiments that
we would not normally subject humans to)?
The last third of The Lazarus Effect is
where the film loses out. It veers away from uncomfortable questions into a
more purely horror viewpoint. And a more unrealistic series of events, although
perhaps still probable. After all, neuroscience is still a long way from unraveling
how the human brain functions. If the film would have stuck with this theme
more completely until the end, it would have avoided falling into the
genre-stereotype that it does. There’s a bit of a backstory thrown in that
somewhat ties to the plot, but the breakdown of Zoe into a demonic being, and
some poorly constructed CGI effects take away from the overall experience of
the film.
Worth watching: Maybe
(Especially if you enjoy the idea of
medicine and science being pushed to the limits and ultimately going wrong).
