If you like sci-fi, horror, comedy, or just think Olivia Wilde is sexy, then “The Lazarus Effect” is the movie for you. It packs all of the horror clichés you could ever ask for (such as the ball bounces across the floor on its own, or by a demonic force, or whatever), along with stoner jokes, and top-notch special effects. I find it hilarious that Mark Duplass (Pete from “The League”) is engaged to Olivia Wilde in this movie, because she is someone he could only dream of dating.

Basically, there are a group of medical researchers that make a breakthrough discovery. By using a “serum” that emulates Dimethyltryptamine (a drug that floods the brain when you die and also causes hallucinations), along with electricity, they can bring a dog back from the dead. (Not a spoiler, it’s in the preview.)

A huge corporation then steals their project and the main characters are then forced to break into the lab they used to work in to recreate their discovery and get it on camera.  Umm, too late by the way, but we have to somehow get them to try the experiment on a human being, so that the panic and terror can really begin. Apparently dogs just aren’t scary enough anymore (“Cujo”), or they just wanted to see Olivia Wilde with black eyes.  Either way, she ends up getting electrocuted and her fiancée (Mark Duplass) convinces the team that they have to do the experiment because he loves her and can’t let her die.

Lab geeks always live dangerously and break the rules, but they also break the laws of science, right? Meanwhile, the security guard who didn’t notice them sneak in leaves at the end of his shift and, conveniently, isn’t replaced by another security guard. They’re only a billion-dollar corporation that doesn’t want the secret of reanimation to be released without making tons of money off of it. But, the plot must go on… Seriously though, why would they have only one guard? The only logical explanation can be that the main characters had to be able to get away with all of the madness that ensues post-guard.

The scientists (one who was raised Catholic and wears a cross, and the other being the typical “I believe only in data and proof”) debate whether bringing people back from the dead is science or God. The whole time you are trying to figure out if the unsanctioned experiment is going to create a zombie, or demonically possessed, or some other weird Hollywood creation. It’s blatantly obvious that bringing people back from the dead makes them evil. Anyone who watches enough movies knows that. All hell breaks loose and they end up trapped in the lab with psychic and telekinetic (but still hot) Zoe (Olivia Wilde).

I would tell you what happens, but you are really better off paying to go see it. Well worth the $5. Students and Movie Rewards members also receive free popcorn on Tuesdays and Thursdays at Marcus Theaters. You can also just pay full price any other day, or at the location of your choosing.