The Belko Experiment (2017) Review

Initial Release: June 17, 2017 (Germany)

Director: Greg McLean

Screenplay: James Gunn

Box Office: 11.1 Million

Budget: 5 Million

Many people online have compared this film to Battle Royale, a Japanese movie with a similar premise: a group of teens are carted off to an abandoned island where they are forced to kill each other, or everyone will die. What made that film effective was the characters and the grittiness of the cinematography. The characters were fleshed out, unique, and sympathetic. The violence was realistic and the drama was as well. Unfortunately, The Belko Experiment misses the mark by having a great premise, but a sub par execution.

During an average work day, the eighty employees of Belko Industries, a government-ran non-profit company, are suddenly sealed in the isolated high-rise building. A voice suddenly appears on the intercom instructing them to kill a certain number of their co-workers, or a larger number of the group will die. What seems like a practical joke is made real, and people begin to die when the countdown hits zero. Now they must survive a deadly game of kill or be killed in a race against the clock.

James Gunn, the man behind the incredibly successful Guardians of the Galaxy films has his roots in horror. He was a writer for films like Thirteen Ghosts, Dawn of the Dead,Slither, and the over-the-top video game Lollipop Chainsaw. So, just looking at the premise of this film makes you chuckle. A game in which office workers have to murder each other to survive. It’s silly, and what could have been a smart satire on survival-thriller films like The Hunger Games, was instead your run-of-the-mill slasher. Take Cabin in the Woods for example. It was a legitimate horror film that used the conventions of a typical slasher to its advantage for comedy. I truly believe The Belko Experiment should have been like this, including the over-the-top ending, like Cabin in the Woods.

Similar to The Hunger Games and Battle Royale, the characters form factions to have a better chance at survival. Unfortunately, no noteworthy relationships are set-up before the chaos starts that would make the story more entertaining to see unfold. The office "hot chick" has a stalker, and she also happens to be dating the main character, which is funny because I said "she's going to be the love interest" right when she appeared in the film, and I turned out to be right. So what ends up happening is very little of the film is unpredictable. Maybe the biggest flaw in the film is that the office is required to get a tracker placed in their heads, and the company justifies it by saying "it's so we can find you in an emergency". No one in their right mind, no matter how well payed you are, would agree to do that. And what makes this impact the film is that if the characters had not agreed to that, the one conducting this "game" would have no hold over the people. The could just say "Nah, we're good. We don't want to kill each other." I feel like there could have been a much more effective and creative way the filmmakers could have had the game-maker give the characters an ultimatum.

The word I decided to use to describe my experience watching this film is “disappointing”. First thing I saw that excited me was the name Michael Rooker in the credits. The man is an incredible character actor and I couldn’t wait to see what they did with him. He’s literally the first character killed off, although his death might have been one the more memorable ones. The poster advertises a man murdering someone with a tape dispenser, so I couldn’t wait to see what unique and creative ways the people find weapons. James Gunn is known for his films having over-the-top violence; just go see his film Super. Sadly, the only thing done with this concept is a character unscrews a paper cutter and injures someone. THAT’S IT! What ends up happening is that most of the kills are by gun. Yawn. There is also a character that manages to make it to the end, by some miracle, but instead of having some sort of unique way to die or survive, they just kill them off and the movie moves on. It's a build up with no pay off. What ultimately happens is you just don't care about any of the characters, because we know close to nothing about them. Now, there was one scene I happened to have loved, because it was what I had hoped the whole film would be like. The scene is gloriously gruesome and leaves an emotional impact on the viewer. The characters are forced to decide which people to kill off, based on their age and if they have children, so you're struggling to choose a side you agree with and if their actions are justified, or if you think they've gone insane.

I would say this film is entertaining if you set your expectations relatively low. The film has so many moments that are well set-up, but ultimately fall short. The ending especially could have been so much more interesting, but you end up saying to yourself, "Really? That's it?" Although, I'll give credit where it's due; the gore effects were well done and had me cheering at certain times.