The Belko Experiment (2016)

Perfect cast and a good story

Memorable, crazy movie

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film

Crackerjack horror/thriller is highly derivative, but highly entertaining for fans of these sorts of films. A group of Americans office workers find themselves unexpectedly locked inside a high-rise office building and ordered by a mysterious voice over the intercom that they need to murder two of their co-workers within two hours or there will be "consequences." Everyone thinks it's some kind of prank until four of their co-workers' heads explode (everyone has been implanted with a tracker/explosive device). That's when the mysterious voice comes on again to announce "By 2:47 pm, in two hours, we want 30 of you dead through whatever means necessary. If 30 of you are not dead, we will end 60 of your lives through our own methods." That's when this office space turns into Lord of the Flies. Such a set up could easily have become a predictable routine slog of violence, but "The Belko Experiment" was directed by Greg McLean, who memorably directed the highly effective Australian horror film "Wolf Creek" (and to a lesser degree the fun giant alligator film "Rogue"). McClean does an excellent job of building suspense leading up to the explosive episodes of violence. The film was written by James Gunn, who wrote the the surprisingly good "Dawn of the Dead" remake along with writing and directing the underrated "Slither" and the very popular and somewhat subversive "Guardians of the Galaxy" films. Gunn also wrote the underrated comedy "The Specials," which is the film that "The Mystery Men" should have been. What I'm trying to say about Gunn is that he's someone who has solid horror and genre chops, but he's also someone who brings a fair amount of subversive and dark humor to his films, which elevates "The Belko Experiment" from being a simple ripoff of "Battle Royale" to being a dark satire on office politics. And on a straight horror level, I need to give McClean and Gunn credit for some of the deaths coming as genuine surprises, which is not something you get see often in most horror films. However, the situations and the characters are highly derivative and something you've seen many times before. People argue about what to do. Everyone realizes there's no escape. Co-workers find themselves breaking off into factions. Character-wise, there's the jerk boss (an excellent Tony Goldwyn), the nice pretty girl (Adria Arjona), the boss' toadie (the great John C. McGinley), the creepy janitor (Michael Rooker), the comic relief stoner (Sean Gunn), and there's, of course, the relatable normal-guy hero (John Gallagher Jr.). These character stereotypes are elevated by a stronger cast than you'd expect from low-budget thriller, but seeing that "The Belko Experiement" is from Blumhouse Productions (Get Out, Insidious, The Purge, Split, Upgrade), and is best horror film production company since Hammer, you should expect a quality film and that's exactly what you get. Although "The Belko Experiment" is not for all tastes, if you're into these sorts of extreme horror/thrillers, it's is a must see!

Misleadingly drawn in by what seemed to be an interesting 10min intro, I was taken on a downhill ride into moronsville. Had I realised that second rate shock/horror Aussie director Greg McLean was involved I may have avoided this nasty mess. His over-the-top obsession with all things repulsive sinks any mistaken notions that something intelligent may come out of this foolish effort. Writer/producer James Gunn appears to have taken ideas from several other works where dumbed-down crowd mentality takes over when life threatening danger is present. His ultra low-brow dialogue and situations are designed to manipulate viewers into a cheap, blood spattered gore fest - from this point on, wall to wall ugly movie making is then guaranteed by this low grade director. This time, you can trust the NY Times and the Verve reviewers - they got it absolutely right. I also take my hat off to IMDb poster; Popcorninhell who beckons audiences to: "Rise above people, rise above". Everyone involved with products like these should be sued for Terrorist Related Activities. Anyone, other than easily pleased blood-nuts should stay away from this sub-par no-brainer for their heads sake.

The Belko Experiment, Saw meets Battle Royale. Not a patch on either of those films, but the slightly lo-fi production really gives this an edge and it's very effective. Kill or be killed. Good guys, bad guys, really bad guys. It's a moral bloodbath!

John Gallagher, Jr. ('The Newsroom', "10 Cloverfield Lane") stars in this attempted satire / bloodbath, referred to in one quote as "Office Space" meets "Battle Royale". He plays Mike Milch, just one of 80 employees working in an American corporate office in Bogota, Colombia. (Just what it it that this company actually does, nobody knows.) One day, the regular security detail is gone, and a disembodied voice (Gregg Henry) informs the people in this heavily isolated building that they have now been placed in a genuine do or die situation. The building is sealed off, and now these office drones are ordered to either start killing each other, or get the "tag" implanted in each persons' head to be detonated.This is nothing we haven't seen before, to be honest. Written and co-produced by James Gunn ("Slither", "Guardians of the Galaxy"), who was originally set to direct, it's yet another examination of human behaviour. More to the point, it's the portrayal of human beings under extreme stress. Who has what it takes to survive? Who's willing to murder other people non-stop in order to ensure their own survival? As Gunns' story plays out, some people naturally consider their lives more important, and panic is pretty much the order of the day. Mike is one of the few individuals who tries to keep a level head.Directed by Greg McLean of "Wolf Creek" and "Rogue" fame, "The Belko Experiment" may be patently unpleasant and ridiculous, but it's never, ever boring. One problem is that with so few characters for whom one can actually root, the viewer is likely to end up wanting to see EVERYBODY meet a glorious, hideous demise. But who, knows, that may have been the point. The movie is certainly good for some non-think, over the top, visceral mayhem with tons of digital splatter. It wastes little time, beginning the story proper with just a bare few introductions to characters.Say what you will about the characters involved: this viewer had to develop a grudging respect for the head honcho played by Tony Goldwyn ("Ghost"), who adopts an utterly ruthless attitude and racks up an impressive kill count.Other familiar faces include the always reliable John C. McGinley ('Stan Against Evil') and Michael Rooker (the latter a Gunn regular, as is Henry), as well as Rusty Schwimmer ("Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday") and Abraham Benrubi ('E.R.').Punctuated by some amusing black humour, "The Belko Experiment" managed to keep this viewer interested despite the familiar scenario.Six out of 10.