The Belko Experiment (2017) Review
THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
We know death can be something past our control, but it is quite relatable that the last place you want to die is where you work. PLOT 2017’s The Belko Experiment takes place in Colombia where a total of 80 (mostly American) employees of Belko Industries start another day at work and a new change is already upon them when new armed security turns away local staff. Once everyone is inside, an intercom voice from an unknown source announces there must be two workers to be killed or else double will be killed in the next 30 minutes. Everyone remains confused upon announcement as cell reception is disconnected the same time the building gets sealed and the air conditioner get shut off. Maintenance workers Bud & Lonny try breaking through with their blow torches, but no results come to their liking. The company COO Barry Norris and stoner cafeteria worker Marty Espenscheid doesn’t believe any of it to be real until the 30 minutes pass by and four random employees are killed as the intercom promised. They are slain from the implants going off on their heads they were previously told to be trackers. Mike Milch tries taking his off on his own but is warned by the intercom it’ll go off if he tries. So, he has no choice but to stop doing so. Once he does, fellow employee Terry Winters and Human Resources head Vince Agostino find a slew of many cameras monitoring them. Barry even requests to the only security guard inside, Evan Smith (James Earl), to have access to the company’s armory, but he chooses to refuse by resigning. As Mike gets stitched up, a new announcement is made that 30 more people must be sacrificed or it will be double in the next two hours; The voice also demands to stop tampering with the implants and cameras or they won’t be warned like Mike. Everyone starts to panic some more to the point where Lonny gets so paranoid that he kills Bud on accident with a wrench to the head. When he gets spotted by the new hire Dany Martinez, she kills him in self defense by slamming him into a pipe. The rest of the staff debates on who should be sacrificed as Barry is all for it but Mike refuses to kill anyone. This leads to Barry trying to break threw the armory with Bud’s blow torch, but Mike disables it with Evan’s gun. Although his girlfriend Leandra Florez, Barry’s assistant, believes it was a reckless move on his end to do that, she chooses to help him set up a sign outside to signal for help. That doesn’t work either when shot at by the guards outside. Evan gets fatally stabbed by the top executive Wendell who gets the keys from him and gives them to Barry so they can be armed and decide who should they kill before their time is up. Dany gets spotted by another coworker named Bradley, but he chooses to spare her. This gives her the chance to turn off the lights and result in everyone making a break for it, saving Mike from being killed by Terry. Ultimately, only 29 are killed by each other during the given amount of time and the intercom proceeds to 31 more being killed form the implants including the likes of Terry. The intercom then announces the final round for whoever to gain the most kills out of 16 people left. With Barry and Wendell having the most kills than anyone else, they continue relentlessly killing more to save themselves. Barry even snaps the neck of his assistant Lorena who fails to seduce him to save herself while Vince shoots his own assistant Raziyah Memarian (Mikaela Hoover). Dany tries hiding above the elevator, but has to move after Roberto Jerez (David Del Rio) dies trying to evade Barry. Wendell kills Marty and his friend Chet Valincourt (Abraham Chenrubi), but he still meets his demise when Leandra axes him down. Liezle (Alietta Montero), another cafeteria worker, gets killed by Vince before he gets shot by Barry. In turn, Barry also fatally shoots Dany and Leandra. As the latter professes her love to Mike, he lets out his anger by bludgeoning Barry with a tape dispenser. As this makes him the last man standing, the building is unsealed and is taken by the security to the hangar next door. He meets the man behind the intercom’s voice, who explains was planned to study human behavior. As he questions Mike on his emotional state, the latter acts fast by using the implants Marty & Chet had scavenged and plants in the pockets of security and the Voice before triggering them from the remote panel and shooting his way out. As he leaves, the film ends with the reveal Mike is one of other survivors watched by another group through security that commence a second stage. THOUGHTS James Gunn has proven to be a versatile writer over the years and while working with Marvel Studios kept him occupied, he left the directing duties to Greg McLean of Wolf Creek who arguably got the vision right of what was in store. Throughout this film, it’s a gritty psychological thriller that leaves you guessing how long people can abandon their ethics to take care of themselves. The pacing was just right thanks to Tyler Bates’ chilling score and impressive editing by Julia Wong because you feel the tension get worse for everyone as it can be a challenge to figure out the order on who will and won’t make it to the end. It’s a whole case of pragmatism vs morality and you just keep asking can you keep it together when you’re forced to go against your peers as shown here. I’m honestly not sure if I can give a legit answer, but it is quite compelling to see two sides of the coin. I won’t call this thing perfect, but there’s not really a plot hole for me to pick on as everything makes sense the more you pay attention. Having an armory is questionable but given the location, it’s valid to not second guess and hiding is genius if you really don’t want to kill or be killed. With a strong ensemble, you’re instantly hooked. The fact Gregg Henry as the Voice gives this twisted philosophy that humans need this social experiment for the better is haunting and it’s scarier knowing he’s not the only one who feels such, given that there are other experiments going on around the world. Tony Goldwyn surprised me a lot as Barry who easily becomes most remorseless given his Special Forces past quickly tapping into survival mode. John C McGinley showed Wendell to be most naturally sadistic when given the opportunity, whereas Owain Yeoman & Brent Sexton equally showed their form of desperation as Terry & Vince. Sean Gunn was right in the middle in going from relaxed to straight up resourceful even when his theories don’t sound right on the mark. You even get like the first frown in David Dastmalchian quickly break down as Lonny and be the first to truly get the carnage going by accidentally killing his only friend, the strategic one, Bud, played by Michael Rooker. I was honestly most pissed when it came to Dany dying because Melonie Diaz proved being cautious can get you places and it sadly didn’t last. Hell, devastation even kicks in harder when it came to Leandra because while breakout Adria Arjona is able to be vigilant enough to confront Wendell who was constantly harassing her way before this hellhole of an experiment goes down, she did her best in being most calm given the circumstances. Nevertheless, she got to be avenged by the one guy who held out the longest in killing anyone period. John Gallagher Jr. is fantastic as Mike because he’s that everyday man who doesn’t have those dark thoughts to begin with and like everyone else, he reached his limit when he felt that he had no choice. I don’t want to see him go through stage two given he’ll be up against many more innocent people that never asked to be in the same predicament as him. But if he does make it, it’ll sure be well deserved. In short, The Belko Experiment is an excellent horror thriller for making you question everything you think you know of morality and then some. If that’s the kind of storytelling you’re into, check this out.
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