The Belko Experiment

The gruesome twosome of director Greg McLean (Wolf Creek) and writer James Gunn (Slither) pool their ghoulish talents here for a gory survival-of-the-vilest yarn very much in the bloody vein of Battle Royale. This short, sharp shocker sees 80 employees in a corporate high-rise in Bogota abruptly plunged into panic when they are sealed inside and ordered by a mysterious voice to cull their colleagues... or else. It's not overly original, but McLean doesn't dwell on office chit-chat for long as the initially amiable worker bees are soon at each other's throats (who knew sellotape dispensers could be so deadly?). John Gallagher Jr and Adria Arjona's young lovers take the moral high ground but end up hunted by a murderous mini-mob led by consummate screen bad guys Tony Goldwyn and John C McGinley, who embrace their dark side with terrifying glee. Meanwhile Gunn's brother Sean offers levity among the carnage as a stoner convinced it's all just trip-induced paranoia. The cutting-edge satire soon dwindles but there's enough lethal action for those who like their fear flicks claustrophobic and fraught with dastardly dilemmas.