Daniel McFadden/Relativity Media
The Lazarus Effect—the creepy Olivia Wilde vehicle hitting theaters this weekend—is joining a proud horror tradition. And no, we’re not just talking about the growing Fright Night coffers of Blumhouse Productions, which is responsible for about 1,000 scary movies annually, including this one. No, no. We’re talking about the institution known as reanimation horror.
Reanimation horror is not the most populated of sub-genres. We’ve surely had more cabins in the woods, unbeatable super killers, and haunted houses. But reanimation has a special place in our hearts thanks to its scientific roots. Sure, it’s all ridiculous science with little to no connection to reality, but there are still a lot more lab coats than in your standard-issue slasher. And if there’s one thing we wish there were more of in horror flicks, it’s lab coats.
And while it might be a small subset, the reanimation genre also comes complete with its own recurring themes and concepts—and what is any horror movie if not an assemblage of familiar tropes arranged to be surprisingly frightening when presented in just the right way? Scary movies aren’t about new ideas, necessarily. They’re about taking the good old ones and giving them a novel polish. We watched a lot of reanimation movies to gear up for Lazarus (hey, we’re nothing if not thorough), and in the process unearthed the crucial elements of the sub-genre. Here are the narrative devices any movie should have to join the fraternity of the formerly dead.
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