David Gelb Talks The Lazarus Effect and More!
David Gelb, prior to directing The Lazarus Effect (review) for Blumhouse, was best-known for his food doc, Jiro Dreams of Sushi. But he managed to make an effective thriller, which was released in theaters and now is making its way to Blu-ray.
In The Lazarus Effect, medical researcher Frank (Mark Duplass), his fiancee 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 dead dog, they are ready to make their discoveries public. But when their dean learns what they’ve done, he shuts them down. That doesn’t stop them, though. 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.
Dread Central: Now that The Lazarus Effect has been out there, and all the reviews are in… has your opinion of the film itself been altered?
David Gelb: No, the reviews don’t reflect how I view the film. It’s always nice to get good reviews and we do have some lovely ones from USA Today and the Los Angeles Times amongst others, but I’m aware that I can’t control how critics view the film and so I don’t beat myself up over it. My last film had 99% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes. Go figure.
DC: What’s been some of the coolest or more interesting fan feedback you’ve gotten?
DG: Most of the feedback I’ve been getting is from twitter, and the best stuff is when people describe how much Olivia Wilde freaked them out. One person tweeted an image of their phone saying their clock reset to 6:66 AM after the watching the trailer. That stuff cracks me up.
DC: Since you’ve done so many food documentaries, and now a horror movie, I must ask – are you a fan of the “Hannibal” TV series? It’s like a cooking show with corpses!
DG: I have not yet seen “Hannibal” but it does seem like the perfect intersection between food and horror programming! I should probably take a look. I love Netflix (my new show food documentary show “Chef’s Table” is currently streaming on Netflix) particularly because it gives smaller films, particularly documentaries, a terrific way to find their audiences. People will always still go to movie theaters for the spectacle of cinema. The prevalence of streaming entertainment certainly hasn’t prevented fans from going out and seeing Jurassic World. I think a really interesting test will be what happens with the new Brad Pitt movie that Netflix just acquired.
DC: What was it like to work with Jason Blum on the release of the DVD/Blu-ray and how did the team select which “extras” would go on it?
DG: The scenes and bits for the Blu-ray were all considered during the edit. When you have a cool scene that doesn’t quite fit in the movie, it’s a bit of a consolation to be able to tell ourselves that it will be resurrected for the Blu-ray. Unfortunately no commentary track on this one.
DC: Now that you’ve successfully completed a creepy horror movie… are you eager to do another one? What’s next? If it’s not a horror movie, then what would be your ideal project?
DG: I’m looking a two different narrative films that I will hopefully get to make in the next couple years. One has some fairly intense horror elements, and the other is actually comedy set in the classical music world. The ideal project for me is to make something that I would want to watch, and since my taste is pretty eclectic I think my work will continue to be all over the place.
Synopsis:
A group of researchers led by Frank (Mark Duplass) and his fiancée Zoe (Olivia Wilde) have achieved the unimaginable: bringing the dead back to life. When Zoe is accidentally electrocuted in a horrific accident, Frank and his team use their experimental serum to resurrect her. But their attempt goes horribly wrong—unleashing terrifying powers within Zoe that put all of their lives in grave danger.
Special Features
- Creating Fear: The Making of The Lazarus Effect
- Playing God: The Moral Dilemma (Blu-ray only)
- Deleted/Extended Scenes (Blu-ray only)
- Includes Digital HD (Blu-ray only)
Categorized:News
