
Year: 2016
Rated R
Rating: * * 1/2 Stars
Cast: Jim Gallagher Jr., Tony Goldwyn, Adria Arjona
A Columbia setting, murder by tape dispenser, the hero being the same guy who got offed by John Goodman in 10 Cloverfield Lane, kneel down executions during a Spanish version of Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive". Yeah it's all present in 2016's The Belko Experiment (my latest review).
So OK, here's the gist: Eighty employees are working at Belko Industries (a fictional company). They become trapped in the facility's huge office building. The walls are sealed off, the air conditioning has been shut down, the security guards are replaced, and an unknown intercom voice instructs the workers to kill thirty of their own or sixty will die instead. I guess you can cross off Hawaiian shirt day or any staff promotions that week. Bummer.
Now I like horror films. I like thrillers. Heck, I like a little dark humor as well. "Belko" is a mixture of all three. Just imagine 1999's Office Space and The Maze Runner having a cinematic offspring. Now imagine that same offspring turning into a raving sicko. In truth, a truckload of people die in The Belko Experiment. And hey, it's all for the study of human behavior done by lucid, social scientists. To call this movie disturbing is like calling Donald Trump's approval rating unsatisfactory. Both statements are inherently true.

In terms of casting for The Belko Experiment, well it reads like a list of veteran B actors who randomly show up in commercial movies from time to time. Yes I'm talking about Tony Goldwyn, John C. McGinley, Melonie Diaz, and Michael Rooker. Call me crazy but I think Greg McLean put Rooker in "Belko" just to remind everybody that he was in Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer. And McGinley, well wasn't he in Office Space mentioned earlier? Just a random thought.

Written by Jesse Burleson
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