NEW BLOOD: THE BELKO EXPERIMENT

THE BELKO EXPERIMENT
Blumhouse Tilt
2017 Color
86 Mins.
Horror/Thriller
John Gallagher Jr., Tony Goldwyn, Adria Arjona, John C. McGinley, Melonie Diaz, Owain Yeoman, Sean Gunn and Brent Sexton star.
Written by James Gunn
Directed by Greg McLean
Rated R for strong language, gore and strong bloody violence.

Finally a horror film that's fun! The film centers around a group of office workers who find themselves imprisoned at their job. Suddenly a voice comes over the loud speaker instructing them that they have 30 mins. too murder two of their office mates otherwise thirty of them will be executed. After that half hour passes some of the employees heads detonate (in running man fashion) with a glorious display of nasty practical FX. They are than instructed to murder thirty of their coworkers or sixty will die. And than things really get started. Stuff gets super brutal as human nature takes over and it's one impressive death set piece after another( I will certainly never look at a tape dispenser the same way ever again). 

And there's really not much more to it than that. The film doesn't have a lot on it's mind. It's high concept with not a lot of substance. But in a good way. That being said it's been a while since we've seen a horror film this bold that doesn't make you feel guilty for wanting to witness the cinematic chaos. Sure there's some explanation at the film's finale, but it's overused and generic. What is so impressive is the way the screenplay by James Gunn executes the simplistic but effective material in an unpredictable fashion. Things seem to roll out expectedly but the film takes some sharp turns which are appreciated and shockingly unpredictable. McLean directs the proceedings well enough but never bothers with developing the characters enough so that the tension is unbearable. Sure there are a main few here Gallagher, Arjona and Diaz are the ones you care about. 

And Goldwyn and McGinley are just sick and bad ass. (It's a nice treat to see them on the big screen again and both have aged rather well.) And Yeoman is just hot. 

And they do try and build a little bit of a love story. Still there's a bit of disappointment here despite all that wonderful carnage I feel like I expected a bit more cleverness from Gunn especially after "Guardians of the Galaxy" and McLean who started his career off solidly with Wolf Creek seems to have lost a bit of his creative zest that made him so different. Still I was quite satisfied with "Belko" it's an awe inspiring display of grotesque mindless mayhem. And I truly hope this film is successful because we need more like it instead of the dull PG-13 lameness plaguing movie theaters like The Boy and The Forest. ****/5