Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.5
Overall		2.0

The Belko Experiment Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman June 30, 2017

I was only following orders.

That statement became a mantra of sorts during the Nuremberg Trials, when a coterie of Nazis trotted it out to somehow attempt to escape responsibility for the horrifying crimes they had inflicted on Mankind. This obviously convenient rationale raised its questionable head sometime later when Adolf Eichmann was brought to justice in the early sixties, and it was then that it piqued the interest of a so-called “social psychologist” named Stanley Milgram, who began to wonder if under controlled conditions he could create an environment where a test subject would in fact “only follow orders”, even if it seemed he or she was inflicting pain on another. This Yale study, which later became so closely identified with its creator that it became known as the Milgram Experiment, had absolutely fascinating, if also quite troubling, results. While the actual “test” at the center of the study was a complete hoax, involving cohorts who were in fact not being injured, the actual test subjects were led to believe that they were administering increasing amounts of electric shocks to another participant (the cohort) who was not answering questions correctly. As Milgram himself later recounted:

I set up a simple experiment at Yale University to test how much pain an ordinary citizen would inflict on another person simply because he was ordered to by an experimental scientist. Stark authority was pitted against the subjects' strongest moral imperatives against hurting others, and, with the subjects' ears ringing with the screams of the victims, authority won more often than not.

In other, less academic, words, people did in fact “only follow orders”, even when those orders directly conflicted with their own pangs of conscience. Something at least somewhat similar is at play in The Belko Experiment, though Milgram’s original formula is recast through what might be seen as a combo platter of ideas from conceptual siblings The Hunger Games: Complete 4-Film Collection and Battle Royale.

There’s an American tradition where sports heroes are asked what they’re going to do next after some sort of iconic victory, with a certain Anaheim or Orlando theme park often being mentioned as the next destination. A cinematic equivalent might be to ask someone associated with a blockbuster of some sort what they’re going to do next, since an association of this sort generally guarantees at least a short “carte blanche” phenomenon where they can pretty much write their own ticket. James Gunn, the writer and co-producer of The Belko Experiment, talks in an interview included on this Blu-ray release as a supplement how the concept for the film came to him in a dream (he alleges he dreamt the trailer for the film, whole hog, as it were), and that after the astounding success of Guardians of the Galaxy, which he co-wrote and directed, he could in fact pretty much do whatever he wanted, with The Belko Experiment being the perhaps questionable outcome of that decision.

The film doesn’t really waste a lot of time setting up its concept, detailing the kind of grimy world of Bogotá, Colombia, where a number of expats have come to work for Belko Industries. It’s perhaps notable that The Belko Experiment never delves very deeply into whatever Belko Industries’ supposed “real” pursuit is, instead quickly introducing a bevy of characters, including Mike Milch (John Gallagher, Jr.), in what initially seems to be a fairly standard “cubicle drama” with brief interactions between various employees hoping to quickly delineate various character traits. Within just a few minutes of running time, though, suddenly The Belko Experiment takes a rather sharp turn into horror territory when a disembodied voice comes over an office intercom speaker system informing the employees that unless they willingly kill some of their colleagues, a higher number of them will be executed at random. Just to make sure none of them get any bright ideas about escaping, the building suddenly goes all Transformers on the employees, cladding itself in a metal armature that prevents egress and also makes cellphone use impossible.

And that’s pretty much “it” in terms of story foundation, with Mike ending up as a nemesis to Barry (Tony Goldwyn), the head honcho of Belko, who becomes a more or less willing collaborator of the unseen voice, while Mike insists that killing your coworkers is, you know, unseemly. The Belko Experiment plays out in a series of sometimes gruesome, sometimes oddly comical, vignettes, and it’s at least a testament to Gunn’s no holds barred writing approach that even characters various viewers may be working for meet their fates, sometimes in absolutely horrifying ways.

Gunn and director Greg McLean mention how they wanted to quickly establish audience links to the rather wide array of characters in The Belko Experiment so that characters were invested in what then ensued, but from my perspective at least, it’s here that The Belko Experiment falls short. The film simply launches into its premise too quickly to have developed any emotional tether with anyone. Had a little bit more time been spent in the early going documenting the suspicious goings on at the hangar next door to the high rise where the action takes place, with more time given to at least slightly develop the various characters, things might have had more impact. As it stands, genre enthusiasts will probably enjoy the sometimes gonzo kill scenes, but in terms of actually caring about anyone in the film, this particular experiment fizzles.

The Belko Experiment Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Belko Experiment is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.40:1. The film's closing credits state "captured by Alexa", and this transfer exhibits both the pluses and minuses of the technology. In decent lighting conditions, and especially when close-ups are employed, the imagery is typically very precise and sharp looking, to the point that some more squeamish viewers may avert their eyes when some decidedly graphic information is presented in its full "glory". However, large swaths of the film take place in rather dimly lit environments (especially as things proceed and the building's catacombs become a refuge), and there's a minor but definite diminution of detail levels in some of these moments. As with many Alexa offerings, there's a certain glossiness and flatness to the presentation that may work against some of the more visceral horror elements. No image instability was spotted, and similarly no compression anomalies.

The Belko Experiment Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Despite the overall claustrophobic ambience of much of The Belko Experiment, there's good and repeated immersion in the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track. The brief opening vignette in the streets of the urban center provide an immediate kick of crowd noise, but even later once things have matriculated to the office building, there is frequent placement of discrete effects, or even crowd noises, in individual channels. A repeated sound effect accompanying people losing their heads (literally) is kind of fun and should appeal to horror fans. Occasional gunfire enters the fray and provides pops of sonic energy. Dialogue is generally rendered cleanly, though there are a number of panicked moments where people are screaming at each other and individual lines are a bit hard to parse.

The Belko Experiment Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Rules of the Game: The Secrets Behind The Belko Experiment (1080i; 9:56) may not exactly reveal any so-called secrets, but instead plies pretty standard EPK territory with interviews and scenes from the film.


• Lee Hardcastle's Survival Tips (1080p; 2:37) are for my money more entertaining than the actual film, with what amount to Claymation vignettes depicting various strategies.


• Deleted Scenes (1080p; 5:19)


• Gallery (1080p; 1:03) offers both Auto Advance and Manual Advance options. The timing is for the Auto Advance option.


• Theatrical Trailer (1080p; 2:25)

The Belko Experiment Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Belko Experiment will probably appeal to horror aficionados more than the general public, but even they may be questioning some of this film's ludicrous premises. I for one kept on wondering, "Doesn't even one of these people have a family member on the outside wondering what's happened to them?" And how exactly are the experiment's designers going to explain the sudden need for major LinkedIn help to refill Belko's employee coffers, as it were? That said, there are some spectacularly gruesome kill scenes in the film, even if the supposed sociological content never really registers very strongly. Technical merits are generally strong for those considering a purchase.