The Belko Experiment

The Belko Experiment is one of those movies that I remember seeing advertised on TV, but as quickly as the movie came into theatres I forgot about it just as quick. That is until I saw it at my local Redbox. 

A few weekends ago I promised my girls they could pick a movie out so while I was standing there helping them, I saw this movie was in stock and wouldn't you know Redbox threw a 50 cent off coupon at me upon renting the kids movie.

I purposefully didn't look up much about the movie prior to watching it. I wanted to be surprised. I couldn't remember much from the original trailer that was aired on TV so all I had to go by was the movie poster and it's tag line, "Office Space Meets Battle Royale".

There isn't a lot of backstory on who the Belko Company is, other they than are a company that stands to supposedly make this world a better place. The movie takes place in Bogota, Columbia where 80 Americans are working in a Belko highrise. It appears to be your typical day at the office until a mysterious voice comes over the building's intercome insisting that everybody plays along in a deadly and twisted game.

I wasn't familiar with many of the actors/actresses outside of John C. McGinley, Michael Rooker, Sean Gunn and Tony Goldwyn. The story was written by James Gun (Slither, Guardians of the Galaxy) so I knew the movie at least had that going for it. One of the movie's main characters is Mike Milch, played by John Gallagher Jr. I kinda compared him to John Krasinki's The Office character, Him Halpert. He puts forth a pretty good effort in the movie and you can't but help root for him as many of his co-workers go over to the "darkside" when the stakes of the game (or experiment if you will) takes a turn.

If you work in a highrise or in an office type envirnoment then you may act differently to this movie than others that can't relate to the setting. Parts of the movie are a little disturbing at times and you do stay on the edge of your seat during most of the movie. The violence can be graphic at times and blood does splatter. Not overly gory however.

Overall I really enjoyed this movie. It didn't seem to follow the traditional horror / thriller / suspense movie mold. I like the idea behind the story and the fact that we don't get much info on the Belko company just piqued my curiousity that much more...especially after witnesses the area. If you're looking for something just a little different that most modern horror / thrillers, give The Belko Experiment a try.