Top Horror Experiments Gone Wrong
Scott Hallam
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The Lazarus Effect is coming to Blu-ray and DVD on June 16th, and when that happens, viewers will be able to experience an experiment gone oh, so horribly wrong. To celebrate The Lazarus Effect making the jump to your home theater, we’ve decided to revisit our Top Horror Experiments Gone Wrong list.
Many moons ago we released our Top Horror Experiments Gone Wrong, and it was a rollicking success. But with The Lazarus Effect, a movie about an experiment gone wrong after a group of medical researchers bring someone back from the dead, making its way to Blu-ray and DVD, we thought this would be a perfect time to resurrect this list of experiments that went sadly off the rails. We can now rework this list and pay tribute to the newest addition to the experiments gone wrong premise with the release of The Lazarus Effect (review).
(Left to right.) Sarah Bolger and Olivia Wilde star in Relativity Media’s “The Lazarus Effect” © 2013 BACK TO LIFE PRODUCTIONS, LLC. Photo Credit: Suzanne Hanover.
The Human Centipede 2 (Full Sequence) (2011)
It was a bad idea when Dr. Heiter attempted to assemble the first human centipede in the original film, and we noted as much on our first Experiments Gone Wrong list. However, to give him a modicum of defense, he did have a lifetime of surgical training and experience, not to mention a house full of medical equipment. When Martin decides to put his own ‘pede together in THC2, it’s an experiment doomed to fail from the start… Actually, we’re not even sure what would have made this a successful experiment, but the fact that it was done in a dirty warehouse by a mentally feeble man using a staple gun as his main surgical implement meant no level of success was possible. So maybe Martin wasn’t the best surgeon, but what he lacked in style he made up for in wit, charm, and pizazz.
28 Days Later (2002)
We don’t often reflect on just what 28 Days or Weeks Later actually represents. Those who think back will remember a well-intentioned group of activists breaking into a Cambridge research center with the honorable intention of freeing some caged chimpanzees that were being used for medical experimentation. Certainly these activists should be applauded for their bravery and willingness to go to great lengths to free these animals that were unable to defend themselves from humanity. However, there has to be a bit of an asterisk on the accolades heaped on these individuals as they did, unfortunately, unleash a virus that would wipe out entire populations as we knew them. Bad move there, team. So our film is based 28 Days Later, after the release of the disease. But certainly, more blame must go onto the scientists who were creating the Rage Virus. What the hell possible good could come from something called the Rage Virus. It doesn’t sound like fun to me… even though it did involve a barrel of monkeys… hmm? But when your primary job is to work on an experimental project that makes something called the Rage Virus, things can only go badly. Trust us.
Stephen King’s The Stand (novel 1978, miniseries 1994)
Much like 28 Days Later, Stephen King’s The Stand is another super-virus story that occurred simply because one single soldier (a slippery fella named Charles Campion) made it off an Army base alive after the release of an insanely potent and contagious disease, which was actually a weaponized form of influenza. Unlike the Rage Virus, at least this one had the bit more palpable name of Project Blue (and often nicknamed Captain Trips, which is still pretty tame and unthreatening, almost cute.) Of course, as we all know, the sweet sounding Project Blue superflu would go on to kill 99.4 percent of the world’s population. And, once again, we’ve got to ask, what was the goal here? You’re working on a disease that will pretty much wipe out the Earth’s population if released. Just what is the goal here? Anyway, it’s another group of scientists who just can’t seem to keep their super disease in their own petri dish, and out into the world it went. And you thought you felt irresponsible when you accidentally bumped the car in front of you at the red light when you were texting and driving. Try wiping out the population of the world and see how you feel. That’s a bad day.
Sharktopus (2010)
Why does it seem like every time the United States tries to weaponize something in a movie, it goes horribly wrong and either infects the whole world or, in this case, goes on a marauding killing spree for the ages? The legendary Sharktopus was the brainchild of a group named Blue Water, who was commissioned by the U.S. Navy to somehow genetically combine a great white shark with a giant octopus that they could use during combat. We’re not exactly sure how they were planning on using Sharktopus for combat purposes, but the beast getting completely out of their control was almost a guarantee. Of course, Sharktopus manages to elude his captors and feast on beachgoers on his way to Puerto Vallarta. Although this has to be considered another experiment gone wrong, kudos must be given to the scientists who not only managed to combine shark and octopus, but then also trained the creature to walk on his octopus legs, Doc Ock style. Impressive!
Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011)
Here we have another biological experiment that goes awry. What a surprise! At least in this case, the goal wasn’t the weaponization of uber-intelligent monkeys, but rather a much more noble cause: the elimination of Alzheimer’s Disease. So we have a biotech company, Gen-Sys, testing a viral-based drug named ALZ-112. One thing led to another and a very special chimp emerged. He was named Caesar, and he was intelligent enough to not only eventually speak but raise the social position of his fellow chimps, apes, and other non-human primates to damn near boss level. Again, it’s hard to fault Team Gen-Sys, but they did make the fatal mistake of putting a little bit too much of the ol’ smart juice in serum ALZ-112, which made for some very troubling situations. It seems the lesson to learn here is that no matter how righteous the cause, screwing with the pure nature of things is damn near always playing with disaster because “…some things aren’t meant to be changed.”
Pet Sematary (1989)
Wild experiments don’t always need to go down in some lab or sterile environment, and they don’t always need to be conducted by trained scientists. In Pet Sematary the unfortunate Louis Creed does a bit of his own home-cooked experimentation when he brings his daughter’s creepy dead cat, Winston Churchill (Church), up to the Micmac Burial Grounds to see if the magic Jud Crandall told him about was real. Louis found out just how real the place was, and it damn near killed him. Well, actually, it did kill him, but it also tortured the hell out of him before that. Born first out of a desire to keep his child unaware of the death of her favorite pet and then out of the anguish of a broken heart, Louis never thought about what the repercussions of his experiments toying with life and death would be. And, as could have been expected, the cost of this game was a very, very pricey one. “Sometimes, dead is better.”
Big Ass Spider! (2013)
This title pretty much sums it up, and the addition of the exclamation point is no accident. This is indeed one big ass spider! The legendary Ray Wise plays Major Braxton Tanner, a tight-lipped U.S. Army officer who is in pursuit of the rapidly growing titular arachnid. No matter how much our heroes try to extract the information from Tanner as to just where the spider came from and why he was getting so big so quickly, Tanner is hesitant to reveal the answer. Eventually Tanner relents and is finally forced to shed light on the origin of the spider, and if this isn’t a slap yourself in the forehead with surprise moment, then you’ll be hard pressed to find one. We discover the big ass spider was originally a stowaway in a crate of fruits. This particular crate was treated with alien DNA (holy shit, alien DNA, now that’s creativity!) that science hoped could be used to stop the world food shortage. Yep, you heard that right… alien DNA to cure a food shortage. Only in America! Well, the spider got ridiculously large, and it was discovered that the only way to kill it was to shoot a rocket up its ass. Again, science run amok at its best.
Firestarter (1984)
Just in case you didn’t get the point about the dangers of weaponizing things that weren’t necessarily meant to be weapons, we want to bring you one more example before we wind up this list. In Firestarter the government attempts to weaponize a little girl. No, obviously Charlie McGee isn’t your average little girl. She just so happens to have the power to set things on fire with her mind, which makes her quite appealing to the United States Government. Charlie is the product of her parents, both subjects of voluntary drug testing which gave her mother the power to read minds and her father an amazing power of suggestion. But Charlie is the one the government group (nicknamed The Shop) who sponsored the parents’ original experiments really wants. The Shop wants little Charlie and her ability to set a blaze wherever she deems fit. And, as the climax of the movie once again proves, it’s bad to take advantage of those who don’t want to be turned into killing machines and try to force them down that path against their own will. If there’s a reason you want to weaponize them, you should probably fear them as well.
Splice (2009)
Okay, let’s take what you’ve learned from reading this list and test your knowledge. Let’s say we have a pair of genetic engineers (red flag #1 right there, no?). These particular genetic engineers are working in the medical field but have visions of fame as their end goal (oh boy, if that’s not red flag #2!). Now these fame-seeking genetic engineers are splicing animal DNA in order to create strange hybrid creatures for a medical company called N.E.R.D. (Nucleic Exchange Research and Development… damn, that sounds shady!) With your expertise on what types of experiments might be successful and which might be unmitigated disasters, where do you think this one falls? If you guessed unmitigated disaster, you’d be absolutely right. A hybrid creature named Dren was the result of much testing, and as you would imagine, Dren turned out to be quite the handful, once again proving you just don’t mess with Mother Nature.
The Lazarus Effect 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)
