A good horror movie should keep viewers on the edge of their seats through almost the entire film. However in that sense, The Lazarus Effect falls short.

This 83 minute horror film is set at a university where a team of researchers are experimenting with a new serum they developed that has the capability of bringing the dead back to life. The movie opens with the team experimenting with a recently euthanized dog and bringing him back to life. However, the team starts to realize strange things happening with the dog as the dog’s cataracts disappears and he starts wondering out at night.

The plot shifts when one of the researchers Zoe (Olivia Wilde) is electrocuted in the lab. Her soon to be husband and colleague Frank (Mark Duplass) decides to bring her back to life. They succeed, but the team starts to sense there is something wrong when Zoe begins acting strangely.

Wilde acted the best in the film as she portrayed a character in distress, who was confused about why she did not feel the same as she did before she died.

Donald Glover, most famous for his role as Troy Barnes on the television show Community, stars as Niko, a researcher with the team who has an infatuation with Zoe. Unfortunately, Glover acted in the movie with more recognizable characters in the cast and his role seemed somewhat insignificant at times.

Overall the movie did not impress due to the long plot setup time of the film. Although it is only 83 minutes, the film took too long to get to the thrilling parts of the movie, which hurt the lasting impression.

The makers of this film had an interesting idea for a movie, but it falls short in providing an edge-of-your-seat type thriller that would have made the film more captivating to watch.