Trapped in a Building, Nowhere to Go

In a recent interview, one where actress Adria Arjona was discussing her upcoming (currently unknown) role in James Gunn’s Man of Tomorrow, she mentioned how Gunn gave the actress her first big break. She starred in a film, The Belko Experiment, that was written by Gunn and produced by Gunn and Peter Safran (both of whom went on to become the co-leads of DC Studios). Because I’ve been keeping an eye on DC Studios stuff (for this website), learning that little tidbit automatically put The Belko Experiment at the top of my “to watch” pile.

Not that I was surprised I hadn’t previously heard about the film. Released in 2016, The Belko Experiment was a small-budget thriller produced by Troll Court Entertainment and The Safran Company and released by Orion Pictures. It had a $5 Mil budget and only garnered $11 Mil at the Box Office, enough to call it a success for the time period, but not enough for it to actually break thought and garner widespread attention. Audiences didn’t seem to notice, so anyone not in the know (like myself) likely didn’t even realize they let the film slip past.

Plus it was a dark little R-rated film that came along at a time when no one expected that from James Gunn. Although he got his start working for Troma films, and then went on to make a number of nasty little thrillers, like Slither and Super, The Belko Experiment came along between two of Gunn’s more well known films, Guardians of the Galaxy and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. Those movies gave Gunn clout, but they wouldn’t have helped in advertising this film. “From the writer of Guardians of the Galaxy” would only work if this was another comedic superhero romp. A dark and bloody film about people trapped in a building, forced to kill each other, likely wouldn’t translate. And so this film fell by the wayside, even if it did help launch a few careers in the process.

The Belko Experiment focuses on an office building on the outskirts of Bogota, Colombia. Although there are normally plenty of Colombian workers in the building, on this particular day they are all sent home, with only the American staff allowed to enter the building and work. Everything seems fine for a while, even if the outside security contractors patrolling the building seem a tad gruff, but things take a turn when the building suddenly goes into lockdown, with metal shutters enclosing the whole building from the top floor on down.

That’s when an announcement comes over the P.A. system, telling the workers that they have to kill two of their fellow employees within thirty minutes or there will be consequences. At first the employees ignore it, thinking the whole thing a prank, but when the thirty minutes expire six people die, all from explosives planted in their heads. As it turns out, all of the employees were told they were getting tracking devices in their necks when they arrived in Colombia, but those devices were actually bombs. And once the first six are dead, the employees are then told they have to kill another thirty or sixty more will die. This is when things break down, factions start to form, and people start working against each other as the threat of imminent and unavoidable death causes all sense of civilization to fall away, just as the experiment intended.

The Belko Experiment is an American take on the same kind of story featured in films like Battle Royale and Mayhem. People are trapped in an unavoidable situation and either have to kill, or be killed, and there is no possibility of escape from the situation. The key difference here, in comparison to some other versions of this story, is that we have a group of mild mannered office workers that are thrown into this situation, instead of nasty students, or prisoners, or the like. These people never could have seen this coming, no matter what.

That twist is interesting, but I don’t know if it’s enough on its own to sustain the film. At its core The Belko Experiment is an interesting idea that, due to time constraints and budgetary issues, can’t really build as well on its concept as you might like. We have workers trapped in an entire building, and yet we really only see two or three floors, plus the basement, where all the action takes place. It feels far more constrained than it really should, with the action going by far too quickly in some instances.

That action can be good, when the film lingers on it. Between the bombs in people’s heads, and all the violence that comes after, we do get a fair bit of gore and a number of quick scares. The initial shock of seeing people’s heads pop catches you off guard, and it makes for a striking visual. There are times the film commits hard to the violence and gore, which I appreciated, making for solid horror thrills when it can deliver. But there’s also plenty of times where the film feels like it’s having to hold back because it can only do so much with its tiny budget, and you just wish it could have pushed farther to really sell its setting and story.

Knowing that he was actively working on the Guardians of the Galaxy films, it makes sense why James Gunn didn’t direct this movie (he only wrote and produced it). The film does lack his visual flair, though, with director Greg McLean clearly not able to do what Gunn could do with the material. The director was known for his own horror films at the time, having written and directed both Wolf Creek (which did pretty solid Box Office upon release) and Wolf Creek 2 (which did not). I haven’t seen thought, but it does feel like he brought a different energy here than the material called for.

Part of the issue is that it feels like The Belko Experiment wants to be shocking and funny in equal measure, but the end result never really finds that balance. Sometimes it tries to be funny when the mood doesn’t call for it. Other times it wants to be scary but the scene isn’t that thrilling. It does sometimes find that right balance, and there are a few very evocative scenes that really work, but those moments don’t come as frequently as you’d like. Again, the balance isn’t right most of the time to carry the material.

With that said, the actors are at least trying to make the film work. John Gallagher Jr. stars as Mike Milch and Adria Arjona co-stars as Leandra Florez, and they're our "good guy" couple. They get a few solid scenes together, frequently with good chemistry, and you do legitimately hope that they make it out of the situation alive (but no spoilers, sorry). Meanwhile Tony Goldwyn stars as Barry Norris, and he's the lead for the team of people that quickly embrace their anarchy. They revel in the chaos, but Goldwyn gives his character just enough pathos that you can understand where he's coming from even if you don't agree with him. I wouldn’t say anyone is wasted in this film, as it is a good showcase for their acting talent (and in the case of Arjona, gave the actress her first big break), but you do wish the material they were working with was, in the end, better.

The Belko Experiment isn’t a bad movie by any stretch, but it feels constrained and controlled in ways that don’t really suit it. The film can’t go as big as it needs to, due to budget, and it can’t revel in the comedy and gore the ways it needed to, likely because of the director’s sensibilities. It’s wanting to be something it’s not, and that undercuts the whole vibe of the film. I didn’t hate it, by any stretch, but it’s not a film I’m going to end up recommending to anyone outside of gorehounds and those curious about Gunn’s entire oeuvre. It’s just a basic, fine movie.