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In “The Lazarus Effect,” What Happened to the Dog?

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Arguably one of the most interesting characters in The Lazarus Effect (2015) is the dog, Rocky, who is successfully brought back to life with the Lazarus serum that serves as the film’s motivator. Of course, his resurrection not only cures his cataracts, but turns him into a quasi-Cujo who likes to snarl, stare at people while they sleep, and inexplicably steal potato chips from the kitchen’s top cabinets.

After Zoe (Olivia Wilde) is killed, resurrected, and made evil, the dog that consumed so much of the film’s early screen time disappears. There’s an explanation for where he went, but all over the internet (such as here, here, and here) people are asking what happened to Rocky, implying the brief scene which contains the answer is easily overlooked.

The dog died at the hands of “evil Zoe” in a scene that was both quick and off-camera. Shortly after she is resurrected, she encounters the animal in the laboratory’s bathroom. He snarls at her, she snarls back, the camera moves outside the room, and there’s a quick and identifiable canine yelping noise. The assumption is Zoe killed the dog, and he’s never seen or heard from again.