THE LAZARUS CHILD

The Hywood family is shaken by a tragic and intense drama since their little daughter, Frankie, was hit by a truck and fell into a deep coma that leaves little hope for a recovery. The only solution is offered by neurologist Elizabeth Chase, who is working on a new system to wake people from comas, based on establishing contact through an intermediary sent to communicate with the patient's subconscious. Little Ben, Frankie's older brother, volunteers to act as the intermediary because he feels responsible for the accident and believes he is the person dearest to his sister. It is truly incredible to notice how, in certain cases, advertising campaigns can influence the fate of a product, even going so far as to pass it off as something entirely different, thus deceiving the expectations of the buyer (or in this case, the viewer) in a rather brazen manner. In short, advertising spots are often capable of generating real and authentic scams! This is exactly the case of "The Last Door" ("The Lazarus Child" in the original), a film distributed in our market in 2006 and which was made out to be something it absolutely is not. The various ads and slogans (starting with the unsettling tagline on the poster that reads "Do you have the courage to open it?") presented it to us as a new and terrifying supernatural thriller tinged with horror elements; they advertised it as if "The Last Door" were to be a terrifying film in the vein of "Omen - Il Presagio" (the poster terribly recalls Donner's film) or, staying in more recent times, of the mediocre "Godsend" by Nick Hamm. There is nothing to say, the sponsorship was so well orchestrated that it led us to believe that "The Last Door" was a thriller/horror genre film, a well-deserved applause to the convincing and persuasive advertising campaign. But if we have been victims of a deception, if we have absolutely nothing to do with a horror nor with a thriller, what is this film really about? "The Last Door", well yes, is nothing more than a very flat dramatic film, with just a few microscopic splashes of science fiction, that often and willingly turns into overly sweet interludes typical of films where the usual "family dramedy" explodes. Already...no possessions, no demonic entities, no reincarnations, no Last Doors opening onto parallel dimensions but only a girl in a coma, a hospital, a family that cries and a heroic little boy with existential turmoil (unbearable!) ready to give his life to save his little sister. However, after overcoming the disappointment (or scam, to say the least) and realizing that we are dealing with a product that is the exact opposite of what one could expect, one can still proceed to analyze and judge the film considering its real merits but, doing so, it must be equally clear that, regardless of the genre, the film can be considered anything but successful. If the story itself is already little intriguing, one must add the fact that it is overwhelmed by a screenplay incapable of giving, in any situation, the right rhythm (the film leaves room for multiple yawns despite the short runtime) but above all totally unsuccessful in outlining the character development of the protagonists. All the characters are thrown into the spotlight without any depth, with the aggravating circumstance that the few times they try to delve into their past, they exceed in situations so stereotypical as to be only banal (this is the case of the tragic past behind Dr. Chase). One is surprised to note that in such a film actors of a certain caliber such as Andy Garcia ("Il Padrino parte III", "Ocean's Eleven"), Frances O'Connor ("Timeline", "A.I. Intelligenza Artificiale") or Angela Bassett ("Strange Days") took part but unfortunately even their presence does not manage to salvage the film as they appear terribly unmotivated, little interested in the project and unable to showcase their acting skills to the best of their abilities. In short, "The Last Door" turns out to be a real disappointment from all points of view and that, beyond the deceptive advertising campaign, remains a rather uninteresting work and so good-natured as to be only boring and irritating. Its viewing is strongly discouraged.