Belko Experiment, The

I saw a preview of this and decided to watch it.I don’t regret watching it, I liked it as far as theories go, but I wouldn’t promote it for a movie night.I would be interested in sequels, though, which the ending could elude to, but I couldn’t find anything.

The Belko Experiment is highly unoriginal. Its plot structure is a basic horror conceit -- the lifeboat scenario, in which a group of people are trapped in a situation in which they must choose to cooperate, or turn on each other, in order to survive. This basic conceit appears in  Lifeboat , Lord of the Flies , and such  Twilight Zone  episodes as "The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street." Also in many trashy, low-budget horror and sci-fi films.In The Belko Experiment, 80 employees are trapped in an office building. They are ordered to kill first 2, then 30 of themselves. If they don't, twice as many will die by having their heads will explode (due to previously implanted mini-bombs). This notion of forcing ordinary people to kill each other was also used in the  Saw  series.Metal sheets descend around the office building, trapping everyone inside -- something we've seen before in  Dredd  (among other films).Who's behind this plot? Some unseen corporate or governmental organization. Reminiscent of the  Cube  series (and other films).So, no originality in this film. It's a decent time killer for hardcore horror fans. Well made gore and action scenes. But not a great film. Not a deep film.Yet as I was watching, some observations occurred to me....The Belko Experiment could have been a deep film, with much philosophizing as characters debate the moral price of survival, and moral issues such as self-sacrifice, suicide, and forced murder. The characters could have debated a lottery, giving rise to a scenario as in  Shirley Jackson's The Lottery . But there's none of that in this film. No deep dialog.It led me to thinking. This film is an unintentional depiction of the post-Christian West -- and it's not a pretty picture. By this I mean, 80 people face a great moral dilemma in Columbia, a once Catholic country. Yet NONE of these people even once mentions, or appeals to, God, Christ, religion, or the possibility of reward or punishment in an afterlife. No one prayers. The villains want only to survive. But even Mike -- the film's most moral voice -- doesn't appeal to God. He can only advocate ungrounded ethics. Ungrounded, in the sense of "This isn't right!" but without any greater philosophical or theological basis for it. Because of this, his moral appeals are baseless assertions rather than reasoned arguments. Shallow and trite.This is also a very PC film. The 80 people are diverse -- men and women, gay and straight, white, black, and brown. Yet ALL the villains -- those who organize to murder their coworkers in order to save themselves -- are white men. ALL of them. Isn't that racist?The film is also PC in its feminism. Overall (if not in every instance), the women are braver, smarter, and tougher than the men. When Mike insists that everyone should cooperate and refuse to kill each other, his smarter girlfriend, Leandra, tells him that people aren't like that. That they will turn on each other. Leandra proves right.Leander is not only smarter than the guys. She's tougher. She kicks ass, defeating men much bigger than herself -- even former special ops men -- despite being a petite gal with no training. She essentially saves Mike's life.Likewise, women are braver. When the villains choose people to kill, one woman snarls at a villain not to touch her, a last stand of defiance before standing bravely against the wall. It's a man (a white man) who blubbers and begs to be spared, having to be dragged to the wall, before a villain just shoots him in disgust, right where he is.The Belko Experiment is a reflection of our modern PC cultural zeitgeist. Evil white men. Kick-ass women. Zero Christianity. The filmmaker likely didn't even do this consciously. He more likely absorbed these PC values, and regurgitated them without thought.

Was very interesting.

Really good movie and happy with my purchase. This movie did NOT disappoint!

This wasn't, by any means, an original movie. There are a long list of "kill all of your friends or end up dead" movies, Battle Royale being probably the best. However, The Belko Experiment was also not a terrible, or even a bad movie. There was some fun stuff in there, and the characters were varied enough that most anyone could find at least one person to relate to. The writing was also good enough that they were able to define a lot of different personalities in a short period of time. The setting was an interesting touch. The stainless steel, office furniture, and white shirts provided a good background for the mayhem that eventually comes.My only complaint is this: We already know - from watching the trailers, and because we aren't completely oblivious to foreshadowing - that this is a slasher movie about folks going crazy in a corporate office space because somebody has taken over the building and given them an ultimatum. So why on earth does there need to be so much time dedicated to the "will they or won't they" question? I get that there are some ethical considerations, and we can't expect everyone in the building to go at it as soon as they get the chance, but that doesn't need to take up so much of the movie. They could've filled about 30 minutes with any number of things that would've added a lot to the film and would be more interesting than the moral conundrum that we understand from the start.So yeah, if you want something dazzling and inventive that will leave you with a new idea of what horror movies can be, this isn't what you're looking for. But, if you can take it for what it is: a decent movie that doesn't bore you, or absolutely beat you over the head with the blood and guts, The Belko Experiment will do the trick.

8-4-17 We knew going in the premise and that horror/gore would be involved. We knew that there'd be good innocents slaughtered and murderous villains finally well-murdered. We knew that maybe one or a few at most would be living at the end. We knew the number of people on the kill list. We knew heroes would be martyred. We knew that a veritable spectrum of human psychology would be presented -- a album of what humans do in an impossible moment. All this and so much more we might list that we knew going-in from being trained by previous films of this genre.To save me time -- check off everything you'd expect this film to have. It has it. Has it in a good way.Quite the luxury to have so many bodies to create -- the writers must have simply done everything of which they brainstormed.Except they have come off fresh, professional, paced, inventive, and they sussed at least 25 characters sufficiently to have us care about them......or want them dead before the others...... The film gives many complexities about everyone's morality -- it did not take easy outs or short cuts. Seemed pretty real-life given the artificiality of the circumstances at the onset. I'm sorry I only rented it. Should have bought and seen two more times to appreciate the many tidbits I didn't pick up on.We'll see. Might yet just buy it for an itch I already see coming that it can scratch.11-2-17 2nd viewing via Netflix....didn't buy, but sure wanted to see this again and the wait for Netflix was tough.Aaaaaaaaaaaaand, well well well, it was great as the first time. Remembered almost nothing after three months. Probably will need to do five months before next viewing. WORTH THE WAIT.

Great movie but not fake and way over done. I would watch again in the future

This is a very good movie to rent or own

This has gone under the radar for most, but its an excellent drama/horror which keeps you rooting and guessing for those you want to make it through. Neat little bits of humour - some of it quite black, also a decent soundtrack - all of which seem to have a theme.....California Dreaming at the end is brilliant!

Not a bad film, certainly keeps you on the edge of your seat.

Really good film. Fast paced horror. Hoping there will be a sequel

This movie bits sick

Good