The Lazarus Effect

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The Lazarus Effect

PG-13

2015

1h 23m

Horror

Mystery & Thriller

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

14%

Tomatometer

108 Reviews

23%

Popcornmeter

10,000+ Ratings

Medical researcher Frank (Mark Duplass), his fiancée Zoe (Olivia Wilde) and their team have achieved the impossible: they have found a way to revive the dead. After a successful, but unsanctioned, experiment on a lifeless animal, they are ready to make their work public. However, when their dean learns what they've done, he shuts them down. Zoe is killed during an attempt to recreate the experiment, leading Frank to test the process on her. Zoe is revived -- but something evil is within her.

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Critics Consensus

The Lazarus Effect has a talented cast and the glimmer of an interesting idea, but wastes it all on insipid characters and dull, recycled plot points.

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Candice Frederick

Reel Talk Online

Sep 1, 2017

D+

The Lazarus Effect merely coasts by on a very thin script that is really just a placeholder to get to what is obviously its larger purpose: to frighten the audience so much that we forget that we're watching a bad movie.

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Lenika Cruz

The Atlantic

Jan 21, 2016

Given the low-budget film's bottle-episode feel, horror fans could've gotten extra mileage out of a disorienting and original psychological treatment.

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Ben Sachs

Chicago Reader

Mar 6, 2015

It's thematically thin but competently made and good for a few scares.

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Keith Garlington

Keith & the Movies

Aug 23, 2022

2.5/5

It simply does nothing original and leaves no real lasting effect.

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Brian Eggert

Deep Focus Review

Jun 9, 2022

1/4

With a runtime of 83 minutes, the movie is all build-up, while the payoff resorts to silly horror conventions, abandoning whatever scientific goodwill it had established.

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Richard Crouse

Richard Crouse

Feb 2, 2021

2/5

What it doesn't have is the sense of fun necessary to pull off the cheesy moments or the scares to sell it as a full-blown horror story.

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B P

@Bradster69 5 days ago

Not Bad, but Not My Favorite

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Benjamin H

@RT03626419 Aug 7, 2026

9 jump scares and zero good scenes. The opposite of what a horror movie should be. This movie will keep you begging for the end, both because of its scariness and its lack of any meaningful plot

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The W

@TheWagners Jul 5, 2026

Slop filled jump scares, nonsensical plot and the jumpcuts are absolutely atrocious. Don't forget that forgettable story. Not even good to watch if You're drunk.

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Nathan B

@RT64357426 Apr 20, 2026

It had potential but is let down by a pretty shallow script

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Ed B.

@EdLee Apr 12, 2026

The Lazarus effect, mediocre movie about scientists at university having experiments on deceased animals and ultimately their own, using serum that brings dead alive. Some freaky supernatural themes towards end. It’s not awful.

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Aiden

@Xridica Feb 28, 2026

Not the worst movie I've watched but still. Bad writing for characters, not scary even though it's meant to be horror, and way too fast pace for much suspense. More of a sci-fi thriller if you ask me. Still enjoyable in that light.

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David Gelb

Director

Mark Duplass

Frank

Olivia Wilde

Zoe

Donald Glover

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Evan Peters

Clay

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Critics Consensus: Focus is Sleek and Slick But Too Twisty

Mark Duplass Discusses The Lazarus Effect, Togetherness, and Raising the Dead

The Lazarus Effect: Trailer 1

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Synopsis

Medical researcher Frank (Mark Duplass), his fiancée Zoe (Olivia Wilde) and their team have achieved the impossible: they have found a way to revive the dead. After a successful, but unsanctioned, experiment on a lifeless animal, they are ready to make their work public. However, when their dean learns what they've done, he shuts them down. Zoe is killed during an attempt to recreate the experiment, leading Frank to test the process on her. Zoe is revived -- but something evil is within her.

Director: David Gelb
Producer: Jason Blum, Jimmy Miller, Cody Zwieg
Screenwriter: Luke Dawson, Jeremy Slater
Distributor: Relativity Media
Production Co: Blumhouse, Mosaic
Rating: PG-13 (Some Sexual References|Intense Seq of Horror Violence|Terror)
Genre: Horror, Mystery & Thriller
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Feb 27, 2015, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Jun 2, 2015
Box Office (Gross USA): $25.8M
Runtime: 1h 23m
Sound Mix: Dolby Digital

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