The Lazarus Project



It took the deaths of thirty innocent people for the police to finally catch notorious killer Simon Phoenix (Wesley Snipes), and he wasn't even the one responsible for their deaths. Sgt. John Spartan (Sylvester Stallone) was nicknamed the Demolition Man for his reckless destruction of public property in the search for fugitives from justice, but never before had he caused the deaths of the people he vowed to protect. Spartan called the wrong bluff and thirty hostages died. He and Phoenix were both sent to a new maximum security facility for the worst offenders, a cryo-prison, where inmates are frozen and locked away to serve their time.

46 years later, during a scheduled parole hearing, Simon Phoenix mysteriously escapes. The current police department is ill-equipped to handle a killer as aggressive as Phoenix, so they thaw out the guy who took him down in the first place: John Spartan. Armed with a non-lethal stun wand and a chance for redemption, Spartan sets out to find his man. What nobody realizes, however, is that Phoenix's escape was engineered by Dr. Cocteau, the man responsible for rebuilding San Angeles as a mecca of peace and ultra-sensitivity. However, Cocteau saw to it that Phoenix's normal prisoner rehabilitation program was replaced with all manner of knowledge in fighting, terrorism, mayhem, and various San Angeles access codes, all in an effort to kill Cocteau's primary social adversary, Edgar Friendly.

With all of his new powers, skills, and knowledge, Simon Phoenix became an even deadlier (and more efficient) killer. He quickly re-assembled his gang and found ways to gain the power and wealth he lost so many years ago. He emerged as the most dangerous man in San Angeles, able to fight anyone and cause murder/death/kills in mass quantities. Eventually, the SAPD's strategy to fight fire with fire would pay off, as John Spartan's unrelenting chase of Phoenix would lead back to the cryo-prison where the two would battle it out. In the end, the prison would be blamed for creating an even greater monster in Simon Phoenix, and the society in which it existed would need to evolve. Because, really, what kind of a world is it where you can't exchange bodily fluids?