Office politics turns into a real-life survival of the fittest when a group of co-workers are forced into a sick game of kill or be killed by sinister forces who lock down their building, in this gruesomely funny horror thriller from director Greg McLean (Wolf Creek) and writer James Gunn (Slither, Guardians of the Galaxy).
It at first seems to be an ordinary morning on the job for a group of Americans working for a not-for-profit in a modern office building in Colombia. After noticing that their Colombian colleagues have not arrived for work, office worker Mike (John Gallagher, Jr.) spots some unfamiliar security guards entering a large hangar nearby. Moments later, an icy voice comes over the building's PA system and calmly explains that the employees must kill a certain number of their co-workers — if not, they will be killed themselves. While the boss (Tony Goldwyn) tries to calm the troops, Mike belatedly realizes that something truly sinister is going on — and when metal doors come sliding down on all the building's exits and windows, it becomes clear that friends and colleagues are now suddenly enemies in a bloody and brutal battle to the death.
McLean stacks the film's office-turned-gladiator arena with a great cast of character actors — including John C. McGinley and Gunn regulars Michael Rooker, Sean Gunn, and Gregg Henry — who make all the daily-grind clichés feel spot on. The Belko Experiment balances pitch-black humour and shocking violence with a timely meditation on morality in an age of rampant, random violence.
COLIN GEDDES
Screenings
Scotiabank 13
Ryerson Theatre
Scotiabank 2
Scotiabank 8