The Lazarus Effect (2015) 1h 23m

Why does this movie poster have two taglines?  Why aren't Mark Duplass, Evan Peters, and Donald Glover listed on this poster as well?  Is she really possessed because I'm not sure if we ever get confirmation of that?  Why does this image remind me so much of the Resident Evil movies? So many questions, so few answers.  Just a red faced woman staring at my nightstand as I type this.  I think she's wondering if I'm ever going to finish all the books there with bookmarks in them (spoilers: probably not).

The Lazarus Effect introduces us to an odd mix of individuals working on an experiment to reanimate dead animals.  Finally the process works with a dog but shortly after their grant is cancelled and the lab and experiment are confiscated by big pharma.  In order to get their data back they break into the lab to recreate the experiment but Oliva Wilde is killed in the process.  Mark Duplass brings her back to life but upon her return things aren't entirely okay with Ms. Wilde.  Crazy brain functions, penchants for violence, psychic powers, and her soul possibly still residing in Hell lead to some crazy highjinks as this movie made me wish I was watching Flatliners.

I think that my big issue with The Lazarus Effect is that I can't really shit on it, but at the same time I wasn't impressed by it.  There are tons of these movies that come out each year backed by a huge budget and a good cast but they don't bring anything interesting to the table.  They're safe, and when it comes to horror I don't want safe.  I want a horror movie that keeps me up at night, that I can't watch alone in the dark.  I want new and terrifying things that I'm awed and frightened of.  Films like this are the equivalent of someone trying to scare you with a ghost costume made out of a bed sheet.

I give The Lazarus Effect 1 Lazarus Pit out of 5:

Resurrección (Resurrection) (2015) 1h 42m

Argentina... where the hell did you come from with this film?  Damn!  Resurrection (or, it's original title, Resurrección, which I'm not typing over and over because of ASCII laziness) was not what I was expecting to get into but I'm glad I did.

Resurrection revolves around a priest in the 1800's that is traveling to Buenos Aires to help victims of a plague.  His journey passes by his brother's home and he visits, only to find the wife has locked herself and her daughter in the chapel and the brother is sick with the plague.  After kicking a weird healer out of the home, the priest becomes infected while giving his brother his last rites.  From there we don't know what is real, a dream, or supernatural in regards to the daughter begging to escape as the others want to kill her.

I'm a sucker for religious imagery and Resurrection has that in spades.  There exists the obvious such as stigmata wounds, or crucifixion poses, but it goes much deeper than that.  There tends to be a lot based around the "father," in the literal sense.  Fathers and grandfathers are brought up a few times and their actions and consequences of doing what's good for the family.  There is also the sense of god giving man free will and standing back while the devil tempts them.  Faith becomes a common thread too as it is tested in relation to faith in god, man, science, etc.  Finally, my favorite done here is a moment reminiscent of "Father, if you are willing, let this cup pass from me..." the night prior to Christ's crucifixion.

Damn catholic upbringing...

The film looks great, the subtitles are actually good, and there's a scene with a woman that gets set on fire and then shot that was cool.  She was trying to kill the priest so it's not as if she's some innocent person.  Also, chickens don't give a fuck about any plague.  They are the fucking supermen of this film as they will just random be downstairs doing chicken stuff.  Bring on Resurrection 2: The Cluckening of Christ!

I give Resurrection 4 Holy Chicken images (by pjusis on DeviantArt) out of 5:

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