The Belko Experiment (2016)
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Employees at a corporate office are locked inside and forced to kill each other by a mysterious voice or face execution.
The story
The film follows 80 foreigners, mainly Americans, working for Belko Industries in Bogotá, Colombia. Upon arriving at work, they are suddenly locked inside the building by steel shutters. A mysterious voice over the intercom informs the employees that they must kill two of their co-workers within 30 minutes, or else there will be consequences. Initially believing the announcement to be a prank, the employees are shocked when explosives hidden in tracking devices implanted in their skulls detonate, killing four people who failed to comply with the instructions.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
Mike Milch and Barry Norris arrive at their Belko Industries office in Bogotá to find security guards turning away locals. New hire Dany Wilkins learns that all employees have tracking devices in their skulls. A voice on the intercom orders them to kill two co-workers within 30 minutes or face consequences. When the time limit expires, four employees are killed by exploding trackers. The group splits: Mike leads a faction wanting to avoid killing, while Barry, the COO, leads a faction intending to follow orders to survive. Barry's group attempts to seize weapons from the armory, while Mike's group tries to signal for help from the roof. Barry's group eventually ambushes Mike's, killing Evan and taking the keys. Barry then executes 30 people, including Mike and Peggy. Dany, hiding in the basement, cuts the lights to save some from Barry's initial execution. Later, Barry and Wendell hunt the survivors, killing 31 more when the two-hour limit expires, leaving 16 survivors. A final task is announced: the person who kills the most within an hour will be spared. Dany escapes an elevator shaft while Roberto is crushed. Leandra kills Wendell after he murders Marty and Chet. Barry kills Vince, Dany, and Leandra. In a rage, Mike bludgeons Barry to death. Mike is the sole survivor and is taken to a hangar where he meets the voice's owners, who are studying human behavior. Mike plants trackers on the soldiers and flips switches to blow them up before killing the remaining men. He discovers he is one of many survivors from similar experiments.
- First release year
- 2016
- Runtime (minutes)
- 89
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Greg McLean
- Writers
- James Gunn · writer
- Cast and characters
- John Gallagher Jr. · Mike Milch; Tony Goldwyn · Barry Norris; Adria Arjona · Leandra Florez; John C. McGinley · Wendell Dukes; Melonie Diaz · Dany Wilkins; Josh Brener · Keith McLure; Michael Rooker · Bud Melks
- Genres
- action; horror; psychological horror; action thriller; horror thriller; psychological thriller
- Themes
- survival; human behavior; violence; corporate environment
- Tone and mood
- violent; tense; lurid
- Premise and plot tags
- death game; office setting; survival horror
- Content notes
- violence
- Reception
- The film received mixed reviews from critics and grossed $11 million worldwide against its $5 million budget.
- Reported review scores
- Metacritic · score: 44 · scale: 100 · review count: 21
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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