Lazareth (2024) Review – A Gripping Fight for Survival
Director: Alec Tibaldi
Stars: Ashley Judd, Sarah Pidgeon, Katie Douglas, Asher Angel
Running time: 86 minutes
Written and directed by Alec Tibaldi, this engaging thriller successfully blends several different genres, to intriguing effect. The setting is post-apocalyptic (or at least post-pandemic, the recent Covid outbreak a clear influence), but the film also explores potent coming-of-age themes and parental anxiety, alongside other more generic thriller ideas like home invasion.
Ashley Judd (who also served as producer) plays Aunt Lee, who looks after her two orphaned teenage nieces – feisty Imogen (Katie Douglas) and older, more serious Maeve (Sarah Pidgeon) – in a remote house in the woods, following a deadly pandemic. She’s fiercely protective of them, to the point where she won’t let them accompany her into town when she has to drive there for supplies.
Having been raised in the cabin since they were very young, the girls know nothing of the outside world, so when they find an injured teenage boy (Asher Angel as Owen) in the woods, they take him back to the cabin and nurse his wounds in secret. Lee is understandably horrified, but things quickly get worse, when it transpires that Owen has enemies who are looking for him.
The title of the film comes from the name Lee has given to their cabin home, and the family treat it in an almost reverential manner, giving thanks to Lazareth for looking after them every night. This creates an interesting ambiance, because it gives Lazareth an almost cult-like atmosphere, which works very well, particularly in the final act.
In addition, the film explores the theme of parenting, and going to extreme lengths to protect your children, including controlling their exposure to certain information. On a similar note, the coming-of-age elements are handled extremely well, exploring ideas of sexual jealousy and eroticism to strong effect.
If there’s a problem with the film, it’s mostly that the aforementioned home invasion element feels like a wasted opportunity, or, more accurately, a watered down version of what was originally in the script. Without giving too much away, the film seems to have intended the climax to show that Lee and the girls are just as violent and deadly as their attackers, but that doesn’t quite come across.
The performances are extremely strong across the board, with Pidgeon and Douglas both clearly destined for bigger things. For her part, Judd is solid as Lee, though she’s a little one-note at times.
In short, this is an engaging, well acted sci-fi drama that delivers a variety of thrills and earns extra points for its surprising ending. It also marks out writer-director Tibaldi as a genre talent to watch.
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