March 17th marks the fifth anniversary of the release of Greg McLean’s lightly satirical, bleakly humorous, and gory The Belko Experiment. Featuring a what-would-you-do type premise and a mile-wide mean streak, it deftly blends a clearly-defined psychological approach with graphic violence. The result is a visceral, if borderline unpleasant, thrill ride. Written by James Gunn before he burst into the mainstream with Guardians of the Galaxy, the picture courts our sympathy for its ensemble cast before subjecting them to unrelenting carnage.
Outside of Bogata, Colombia, a group of American office workers commute to their secure high rise for what should be a normal day of mind-numbing corporate drudgery. Today is different, though. While security is usually tight because of the high rate of ransom kidnappings in the area, the intensity of the cautionary measures being taken now is our clue that this won’t be an ordinary day at the office. Soon a deadly experiment will get underway, as eighty employees will be locked inside their formerly boring and unremarkable workplace and forced to murder their colleagues at a wholesale rate. Relationships are tested as the human will to survive is put under a detached microscope. Escaping alive will require a brutality previously unknown to this meek collection of middle-class administrators, custodians, security guards, and IT professionals.
Drawing upon the famous Stanford Prison Experiment for inspiration, the film relocates the implications of that controversial study to a genre setting. Ever-so-slight dystopian sci-fi elements place the proceedings in a situation that could occur in our world ten minutes from now. We are thrown into these unexpected and deadly circumstances with the characters, creating an immersive atmosphere while subtly encouraging us to wonder how we’d react in this sudden kill or be killed environment. The film is crackingly effective at this aspect. However, some distancing is employed by the fairly nasty black humor. This approach breaks up some of the grim tone while adding its own layer of anarchic pessimism.
Performances are pretty great across the board, with the standouts being Tony Goldwyn as a ruthless alpha executive, John C McGinley as the office creep, and Sean Gunn as a jumpy stoner. There are a handful of other recognizable faces as well, such as Michael Rooker, David Dastmalchian, Adria Arjona, Brent Sexton, and Abraham Benrubi. McLean masterfully ratchets up the tension with a brisk pace, offering few breaks to make sense of the situation. Production design is top notch with sets looking appropriately mundane and practical makeup effects unleashing queasy imagery. Tyler Bates’ score punctuates the dark humor and adds fuel to the office apocalypse fire.
Humanity’s animalistic instincts are laid bare in Greg McLean’s The Belko Experiment. The film begs you to identify with the predicament of the characters and is mostly successful at mentally placing you in the action. Lampooning office culture and emphasizing the absurdity of our lives, this is a nasty little flick that offers no easy answers. A feel good movie, this is not. I really like it, but I wouldn’t say I enjoy it. You would think with James Gunn’s increasing popularity that film fans would talk about this flick more often, but it feels more like a hidden gem at this point. Recommended for fans of Cube, Saw, and Fight Club.
Michael Cavender