The Belko Experiment
Directed by Greg McLean
- horror
- thriller
- action
The story
A group of eighty American workers are locked in their office and ordered by an unknown voice to participate in a twisted game.
What it’s like
Cold fluorescent light, sterile beige corridors and glass-walled offices, with the camera mostly locked to wide, flat compositions that let the bodies crowd the frame. The palette is corporate and washed-out, broken by sudden splashes of red once the violence starts, and the sound design leans on buzzing overhead lights, a thudding synth pulse and the tinny, clinical voice piped through the building's speakers. The mood is bleak, claustrophobic and mean-spirited, a sort of office-park dread that tips into brutal, abrupt bloodshed; expect gunshots, stabbings and gore that lands hard and fast rather than lingering, with real cruelty between the characters. Pacing is brisk and escalating, the tension ratcheting with each new rule, and the arcs follow ordinary employees cracking under pressure, some turning on each other, a few holding onto decency. Best suited to a late-night watch for viewers who want a mean, gory survival thriller with satirical edges, not something gentle.
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