Directed by Greg McLean
Written by James Gunn
Cast: Adria Arjona, Abraham Benrubi, Tony Goldwyn, Michael Rooker, John C. McGinley, John Gallagher Jr., Josh Brener, Sean Gunn, David Dastmalchian, Owain Yeoman, Gregg Henry
Soundtrack: Tyler Bates
I don’t know if I’ve ever actually shared this with anyone, but one of my biggest fantasies in relation to winning a big time lottery jackpot is securing the rights to some defunct production company and/or distributor and releasing films under that name (looking at you, The Mirisch Corporation).
Evidently, someone at MGM had the same idea, because that company has very quietly revived the old Orion Pictures name, and the first contemporary movie I’ve noticed under that banner is The Belko Experiment, which is appropriate because this movie feels like it should have been made 30 years ago (frankly, I wish it had been).
I’m not going to sit here and lie to you by saying that The Belko Experiment is a perfect film, or the best thing ever, or that it’s going to change the world, but what I will honestly tell you is that it’s a solid piece of genre cinema: ninety minutes long, gets right to the point, and doesn’t waste your time.
According to James Gunn, the trailer for the movie played out in a dream he had one night, and he spent the next two weeks furious working on the script (to the point that he caused himself injury). It’s a simple enough story. Belko (named for Gunn’s ancestral homeland of Belcoo, Northern Ireland) seems like a perfectly ordinary corporation, until one day a mysterious voice announces over the intercom that a certain number of people need to die in a certain time frame or even more people will be killed.
What’s really clever about this premise is that you can almost completely throw out the usual notions of character development, because while there is interpersonal drama amongst the folks in the movie (not unlike Shaun of the Dead), the real drama comes from inserting yourself into the situation and imagining what you would do under the circumstances, not to mention the ideological conflicts at play.
Like many films in the horror and thriller genres (The Stepfather, Misery), I’d say The Belko Experiment is very much a dark comedy at heart, although that’s not to say it lacks punch. It has its share of legitimately horrifying moments, and it’s certainly violent enough, but it’s also not afraid of a little levity along the way, which I appreciate.
Performance-wise, everyone rates about where you’d expect based on their experience, so, some have a little more going on than others, but I wouldn’t say there are any albatrosses in the bunch. Given the divisive story premise, the movie’s actually a half-decent ensemble piece.
Other than that, the film is so short and sweet that I can’t say much more without saying too much (perhaps I have already). It’s a little over the top for my tastes in a few places, but on the whole it feels like a clever callback to movies of a time gone by.
It’s not the best film in theaters at the moment, but The Belko Experment is worth seeing if you feel inclined (or the big movie you want to see is sold out).
Rating: ★★★½ (out of five)