THE BELKO EXPERIMENT PASSES THE TEST

Belko Industries is a company based in Bogota, Colombia that specializes in hiring Americans to work in foreign areas/companies. On what appears to be a normal day, the employees arrive to work at Belko only to notice significantly upped security measures, and all the local Colombian workers being sent home. Once inside the building, things resume as they usually would until a booming voice comes on over the intercom, instructing the workers to kill any two of their co-workers. It's all treated as a mean-spirited prank until the building goes on lockdown, impenetrable shutters slide over all the windows and doors, and people's heads start exploding. As the voice continues to deliver deadly instructions, it quickly becomes kill-or-be-killed as a battle for survival ensues.

Belko has a fantastic cast. Although the characters aren't completely fleshed out, I still found them believable and was surprised that some of the deaths really hurt. The best characters/actors were John C. Mcginley as Wendell Dukes (a creepy office flirt turned psycho), Michael Rooker as Bud (a kind, calm and intelligent maintenance man ), Tony Goldwyn as COO Barry Norris (He starts out as a nice guy but essentially turns into Carl from Ghost), John Gallagher Jr. as Michael Milch (The "Good Guy" who insists that the circumstances do not alter what is right and what is wrong), James Earl as Evan (a kind security guard), and Adria Arjona as Leandra (A kind-hearted but rational romantic interest who is involved in a frowned upon relationship with  Mike).

The Belko Experiment is penned by James Gunn, and some of his sensibilities shine through though I'll say in general this isn't all that strong of a script. It's directed by Greg McLean, who also directed Wolf Creek, and his tendency towards a dark tone is evident. The film is pretty fun, but also super-dark, very tense, darkly comic at times, brutal, gory and downright cynical. You may find yourself grasping the arms of your seat throughout as you can never fully tell exactly when the next person is going to bite the bullet (or axe, or tape-dispenser, etc). The message is ever present, though it is somewhat small and the big picture/point of the whole experiment is never really revealed.

The real draw of The Belko Experiment is the chaos, violence, and getting to watch how individuals or groups of people can react differently to the same tense situation. It's like a midnight movie that wants to have a message, but flounders when it comes to the particulars. You'll find yourself cheering at times, but feel bad for doing so because of the realization that you may be just as bad as some of the people on screen.  Graded like a test, I would give Belko a C+.

3.5 STARS