The one thing you can say, is it promises to be gritty, and it is, it is quite literally a bloodbath, watching people put under immense pressure, turning from reasonable individuals, into crazed killers when pushed to extremes.

I loved the beginning, I thought it was so imaginative, and offering so much scope for different directions. That scope was perhaps the downfall, it could have gone anywhere, and just descends into something a little stupid. I loved the tribal instinct, seeing people split and turn, that was well played out, but ultimately it just went a bit stupid.

I would actually recommend it, as on the whole it is worth seeing. 6/10

I'd been looking forward to The Belko Experiment since the moment I saw the trailer, it looked like it was going to tap into a sub-genre I love and the addition of the always excellent John C. McGinley really appealed.

The time came around to watch it and as the credits rolled I was left more than a little disappointed. But why?

It tells the story of an office block that goes on a lockdown, a mysterious booming voice barks orders at them that they must kill each other off in a sick social experiment. As you can imagine people react differently, and a blood bath ensues.

Also starring career villain Tony "Ghost" Goldwyn, Josh Brener, Michael Rooker and Gregg Henry this James "Guardians of the Galaxy" Gunn written movie is a bloody battle royale type but just doesn't seem to accomplish in its goals.

It has little character development, the lack of flow becomes very noticeable around the halfway mark and at no point did I find myself really able to care about these peoples plight.

I went into The Belko Experiment with high expectations, maybe that damaged the film for me? Regardless it's a watchable effort but certainly feels like a missed opportunity at something greater. For some reason I was left feeling that the film would have made for a better black comedy, but I'll guess we'll never know.

The Good:

Great concept

Strong social commentary

Quite a good finale

The Bad:

Doesn't flow all to well

Simply doesn't meet its potential

THE BELKO EXPERIMENT is a really exciting little B-movie action/horror film with a premise that shamelessly copies that of BATTLE ROYALE and sets it in an office building instead of an island. A bunch of ordinary workers are tasked with killing each other by a bland and faceless corporation as part of a social experiment. There's little originality here, but a ton of endlessly violent scenes which are well-shot by Greg McLean, the director of WOLF CREEK, and written by James Gunn, the man behind SLITHER and GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY. There's a huge tableau of mixed characters to get to know and watching their characters react to the violence in different ways is interesting, but this is mainly about suspense, shocks, and a whole variety of murderous mayhem. Tony Goldwyn, John C. McGinley and Michael Rooker are perfect as the older cast members but the younger actors are just as good here and the whole thing is thoroughly entertaining, if derivative.