The Belko Experiment (2016)

 

The Belko Experiment (2016)

The Belko Experiment follows 80 employees at the Belko Corporation, who unknowingly are entered into a game of life and death as they are forced to kill off each other as part of a horrific quest for survival. 

The Belko Experiment is an oddly unique film because it feels very much apart of the 2000s horror/thriller scene, a type of movie that simply just isn’t made that much any more (with the progression of standards it seems). It’s this kooky mix of The Office, Saw, The Cabin in the Woods, and Final Destination, all wrapped into one massive, bloody bundle. And if that sounds like an oddball combination of tones, it is and not always in a good way. From the beginning, the whole thing feels off (lack of backstory I presume) but it makes the entire cast feel stiff and awkward, like they just started a new job, all at once.

 

It’s desperately lacking in answers or a clear beginning and end too, and so even though you’re coming for the kills, there’s an air of unsatisfaction when all is said and done.

Looking past the rough bits though, when we get into the meat of the film, it has its moments, chock full of bloody, deliberate gore and kills that only seem to get better as the movie progresses into guerrilla warfare territory. The kills are inventive, crazy, and downright brutal (which is the whole reason anyone watches this, be honest).

We get a pretty solid cast, though pretty underutilized, starring Brent Saxton, Sean Gunn, David Dastmalchian, Michael Rooker, John C. McGinley, Adria Arjona, Tony Goldwyn, and John Gallagher Jr.  Goldwyn and McGinley get the most room to really flex and go ham, and while Gallagher isn’t bad, his performance is plagued by a serious case of plot armor that should have had him dead within the first batch of kills (and annoyingly continued from there).

The Belko Experiment, directed by Greg McLean (and written by James Gunn, if the cast wasn’t a dead giveaway), is no doubt an exciting, violent, and bloody affair but what it lands in action, it fails to deliver any answers that make the whole thing a bit muddied by it’s questionable end. 

6/10