Harlan Coben’s Lazarus (2025) TRAILER REVIEW: Sam Claflin, Bill Nighy, Alexandra Roach, Kate Ashfield, Karla Crome

The trailer begins with Dr. Joel Lazarus (Sam Claflin) meditating over the view from a glass office.

“Dr. Lazarus!” a male nurse called him.

It cuts to the outside. Daytime. They are inside a large institution. It’s a campus with a large, white building. The green area is large and spacious. The area is surrounded by metal railings with barbed wires.

Dr. Lazarus entered an office labeled Secure Psychiatric Unit. Inside, Lazarus sat opposite a bald, bearded, middle-aged patient.

“What thoughts would you like to discuss?” Lazarus asked the patient.

“God. I’d been speaking with him.” said Arlo James (Jack Deam).

“And what have you been speaking with God about?” Lazarus asked.

Arlo smirked, “You! He said you were a fake — like father, like son.”

It cuts to the faces of the two Dr. Lazarus — Dr. Jonathat Lazarus (Bill Nighy), with a blank expression, and Dr. Joel Lazarus, who looks anxious.

“I asked him to punish you. And you know what he said?” Arlo said.

“What did he say,” Lazarus asked.

Arlo smiled but did not answer the question.

The screen turned black, but you heard the voice of her sister.

“Laz, it’s Dad. He’s dead.” Jenna said (Alexandra Roach) on the phone. That’s her older sister.

I think he got the call right after he spoke to Arlo. Because you still see him staring at Arlo as he enters deep inside the mental institution. Arlo slowly turned around to face him.

“He took his own life, in his office,” Jenna said.

It cuts to Lazarus at night, walking towards his Dad’s office. It cuts to the elevators of the building opening as Lazarus went in.

“Something doesn’t feel right,” you hear Lazarus’ voiceover. “There’s been a lot of suspicious deaths over the years….My Sister”

It cuts to a wooden coffin with red roses on top. On the gravestone, you read…

Sutton Lazarus

1980–1998

“It was 25 years ago,” Seth (David Fynn) said. He is a detective and Laz’s childhood friend. It is revealed that they are talking at a party in suits.

You see an old newspaper clip about Sutton (Eloise Little). The headline says…

Suspect released in school girl murder, police says no further leads

“Yeah. But two unsolved deaths.” Lazarus said. “And for both of them, the culprit is never caught.”

HOLD ON there, Lazarus. Technically, it’s one unsolved death — Sutton. But Dad’s death seems to be definitive. Unless he is suspicious of someone. Could it be Jenna?

It cuts back to the party. Laz and Seth found a quiet nook. “I think whoever killed Sutton, killed Dad.”

“That sucide note. ‘It’s not over.’ *Is that some sort of code? It is messing with my mind.” Laz said.

“Care to elaborate?” Seth asked, and he is a bit pissed.

It cuts back to Dad’s office. It is dark. Laz checked out items and documents. However, someone is walking in from the back. Laz turned around, and it’s DAD, walking straight at him and staring at his face.

“You okay, Son?” Dad asked.

But it cuts to Laz and Seth talking at a diner. Seth held his head with his right hand. “Ghosts?” Seth asked.

“Right in front of me,” Laz said. “I’ve been seeing people who have died. Seeing them like I’m seeing you, right now.”

It cuts to Laz’s ‘I see dead people’ visions. First, there is a curly red-headed male in his 30s. Next is a crying Caucasian male in his late 20s. Next is a woman in her mid-20s with dark brown hair.

“They were murdered,” Laz told Seth.

“So, are you in medication?” Seth asked.

To be fair, if a friend told me that they are suddenly seeing ghosts, I’d be doubtful too.

I’m not sure if Lazarus has visions about how the murders happened. But they have a scene about the curly, red-headed guy. His girlfriend or wife SMASHED his head with a marble sculpture.

It cuts to a burial. You see men in black suits carrying a wooden coffin. However, lurking behind some trees, you see a dead guy. A long-haired Caucasian in his mid-30s. His visions of the dead are just regular people with regular clothes. It’s not like the Sixth Sense or Beetlejuice, where the dead are BLOODY and MESSED UP.

“All my professional knowledge is telling me this cannot be happening. It must be a trick on my mind. But I’m seeing them.” Lazarus said.

Let us remember, Dr. Joel Lazarus is a Psychiatrist. When it comes to mental health professionals, we have a higher expectation when they experience things like visions, hallucinations, or the occult. We expect that they could handle it better compared to regular people. But maybe that’s what makes it scarier. If a Psychiatrist says that they see dead people, most people would ASSUME that it must be ‘true.’

It cuts to Laz at home with Jenna. They are washing dishes. “We live on once we leave these bodies,” Jenna told him.

This must be a flashback. It cuts to Laz talking to his Dad. “You can’t tell people you’re seeing ghosts, Son. They’d put you in the ‘loony bin’.”

But I WAS WRONG.

Laz started crying, “I just want my Dad back.” He then hugs his Dad. THAT’S WILD.

‘I’m dead. But you can see me, Son. Don’t tell people about it. They’d put you in a ‘loony bin,’ is essentially what Dad is saying.

“This whole thing looks like you went mental after your father’s death,” Seth told Lazarus.

That’s a crucial line of dialogue. Lazarus is a thriller, but it’s also a metaphor/allegory for grief and losing someone you love.

It cuts to Lazarus punching someone in the face near a lake.

It cuts to Lazarus talking to a woman on the street. “You don’t think I know I could be loosing my mind,” he told her.

It cuts to Lazarus using his blazer to tie to his fist. He PUNCHED the glass of a residential door to break into someone’s house. I think he sensed someone in the basement. Laz picked up a pair of grey house scissors, ready to stab as he entered the basement. In the basement, they DID NOT SHOW US what Laz saw. However, it cuts to a different scene with 3 people in HASMAT suits in the basement, carrying out a body.

It cuts to Lazarus and Seth in a car. “Did you find a dead body?” Seth asked. “You better start talking, because YOU….LOOK….GUILTY!”

It cuts to armored policemen raiding his father’s house.

A disturbing heartbeat sound began playing.

Tug-Tug!

Tug-Tug!

Tug-Tug!

It cuts to the scene earlier with Lazarus talking to Arlo. Things got HEATED. Lazarus GRABBED Arlo in the collar and pulled him up.

It cuts to hands holding a BLOODY sickle.

The screen turned black.

When it comes back.

“Dad, who murdered you?” Lazarus asked his Dad.

Dad closed his eyes and turned away.

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