The Belko Experiment (2016)

 

**This post contains spoilers**

The Story- In Bogota, Colombia, the employees of Belko Industries normal work day is interrupted, when a mysterious voice over the intercom instructs them to play a game. The game? Two employees must be murdered within a strict time limit, or they will face severe consequences. 

Mike Milch (John Gallagher Jr.) immediately jumps to the worst possible conclusions, while the COO Barry Norris (Tony Goldwyn) dismisses the threat as a prank. But it’s quickly revealed the unknown voice was not joking around, when four employees are murdered.

Mike, his girlfriend, Leandra Florez (Adria Arjona), the Human Resources manager, Vince (Brent Sexton), the security guard, Evan (James Earl), and others join together to find a more peaceful resolution. But Barry, Wendell Dukes (John C. McGinley), Antonio ( Benjamin Byron Davis), and Terry Winters (Owian Yeoman) decide to take a more aggressive approach. 

My Thoughts- The Belko Experiment features a real solid cast from top to bottom. Gallagher Jr. does a terrific job of portraying the compassionate and levelheaded Mike Milch. Milch doesn’t even want to consider murder as an option, and he’s horrified at the thought of his fellow coworkers feeling the need to go down that road. Gallagher Jr. also shows believable emotion and panic, when Mike starts to realize the experiment won’t end with a peaceful resolution.

Tony Goldwyn absolutely nails Barry Norris. Norris is ruthless, when he decides there’s no choice to do what has to be done. Goldwyn is intense as Norris. The anger and frustration Goldwyn brings to Norris really ties everything together, and Norris becomes more serious and relentless as the game winds down.

John C. McGinley delivers a near show stealing performance as Wendell. Wendell Dukes is a violent lunatic, and he’s Barry’s trusted right hand man. But McGinley also brings an awkward goofiness to the character. Wendell’s whacky side is really not meant to bring out laughs. You’ll mostly see this side of Wendell in the scenes he has with Leandra, because Wendell is so delusional and aggressively creepy that he can’t comprehend the fact that Leandra has absolutely no interest in him for romantic reasons.

Sean Gunn and Abraham Benrubi provide a lot of the comic relief here. Gunn is this quirky stoner, with wild conspiracy theories, and Benrubi basically plays the part of his loyal sidekick. They’re a hilarious duo, and they both deliver some of the best comedic moments throughout the movie.

A lot of the kills and deaths in this one are brutal, but I honestly don’t think anything tops the explosives planted in the heads of all Belko employees. Early on in the movie, Belko employees are lead to believe the bombs in their skulls were tracers. A safety precaution for possible kidnappings, but they’re actually tiny bombs that explode with a simple flick of a switch from The Voice (Gregg Henry). The deaths from the explosives are instant. No time for goodbyes or any last words, just an abrupt and random ending with no chance to brace yourself. That is truly terrifying, when you stop and think about it.

Things get serious, when the Belko employees basically split into two groups. Barry leads Wendell and others, while Mike is still searching for a peaceful solution. The split raises a lot of thought provoking questions and issues. True, Barry, Wendell, and Antonio are ruthless with their methods. There’s the big execution scene in the lobby, where Barry has plans to kill thirty people to avoid The Voice killing sixty as a penalty. Also, Barry and Wendell were military guys. “Special forces trained to kill” to be exact, so that’s a big advantage over everyone else.

If you’re just focusing on Barry, you can see the conflict in him, while he’s carrying out the executions. Samantha (Luna Baxter) tells him he’s going to “rot in hell” for the killings, but is Barry really a bad person? He’s a man with a family, who’s stuck in an impossible situation, locked inside a building with no way out. Sure, he probably likes his employees, and he doesn’t want to murder anyone, but he’s also not willing to die or sacrifice himself for the people he works with. That is a reasonable mindset to have, and Goldwyn does a great job of showing Barry’s internal struggle, because you can clearly see it’s tearing him apart to do the killings in the execution scene.

Terry is another good example of seeing how the tough decision to kill his fellow coworkers affects the cast of characters. You get the feeling Terry reluctantly joined Barry’s group. He’s a jittery and blubbering mess, when things get serious, and he’s put into a position where he might have to kill Mike, who’s also his best friend. Still, similar to Barry, you can understand Terry’s need to do what needs to be done, because he simply doesn’t want to die and leave his family behind. 

Wendell and Antonio are really the only two characters who enjoy the large amounts of blood shed. Wendell is just completely nuts, and Antonio had a brig grin on his face, when Barry was handing out the guns from the armory.

On the other side, sure you can say Mike is being a naive fool about all this. Mike was literally willing to take a bullet to hang the SOS banners as a last resort to avoid killing. But Leandra makes a great point, when she sternly tells Mike people are out for themselves, especially when their lives are on the line. You can try and cling to morality and doing the right thing all you want, but when people are scared for their lives, their primal survival instincts will kick in. Just look at what happened with Vince. He really tried to stay on the peaceful side, but when Vince realized the situation was nearing the point of no return, he picked up a gun and was hurling Molotov cocktails, because his life depended on it. 

The gore and violence is something else here. The scene where Leandra hacks into Wendell’s face with an axe, and the close up shot of Barry examining the back of a Belko employee’s head that’s been blown wide open are just a few highlights. The gore ties in with the desperation of almost everyone at Belko being forced to do horrible things, so it really works. 

The final fight coming down to Barry and Mike wasn’t a huge surprise. You could tell the story was going in that direction, the big final showdown between the leader of peace vs the leader of violence. It took Barry killing Leandra to make Mike finally snap, gain the upper hand in the fight, and viciously beat Barry to death. Leandra bleeding out and telling Mike she loves him for her final words takes the top spot for emotional moments. It’s really the only scene here, where someone had the chance to say goodbye, and it’s easy to see why Mike lost it. 

There’s a surprise, when Mike finally meets The Voice at the end. Mike is the sole survivor and he’s declared the winner, but he delivers the final blow, when he secretly stashes a handful of bombs on The Voice and his armed henchmen. Mike detonates the explosives and kills The Voice and the rest of his research team.

There’s a lot of questions packed into the finale with an intriguing cliffhanger. It’s revealed that other Belko games are being played, and Mike is just one of many sole survivors. The Voice told Mike about his team and their research and why these kinds of experiments need to be conducted with no restrictions or outside interference. Was the local government actually involved? Is it possible The Voice played the same game in the past, and he made it out alive as the sole survivor? The Voice has some noticeable scarring on one side of his face, so it is a possibility to consider. 

Can we really believe The Voice legitimately selected random Belko employees to kill? If The Voice’s choices to set off the bombs were truly random, then why didn’t Mike, Leandra, Wendell, or Barry die early in the movie? I simply think about it this way, The Voice kind of looked at the things like a twisted reality show. He wanted to keep all the compelling characters and storylines alive for as long as possible, while eliminating the more ordinary or boring people.

With the cliffhanger, it’s announced stage two of the game is about to begin for all the survivors. For a long time I wanted a sequel to The Belko Experiment for more answers, and to see how this cliffhanger would play out. But now I go in the direction of just leaving things alone. I don’t think a sequel is necessary. The Belko Experiment’s many questions make you think, and that’s a good thing. Just enough was revealed here, this was a good film, and I do believe it’s better to protect that mystery behind Belko, and who’s behind the curtain and why. 

The Belko Experiment also features a few entertaining side storylines. The newbie Dany (Melonie Diaz) is resourceful and well, she has a lot of luck throughout the movie. She escapes one close call after another, and you start to think maybe there’s a chance she’ll escape as the winner or the final girl. But after taking so many careful precautions, she lets her guard down coming out of the elevator, giving Barry an easy chance to shoot and kill her.

You also have the story of the two maintenance guys. Bud (Michael Rooker) plays the role of a big brother for Lonny (David Dastamalchian), but things go south, when an already panicky and paranoid Lonny accidentally kills Bud. That visual of Bud’s head with a big indentation from the wrench sure is a nasty one.

The subject matter in The Belko Experiment is heavy, but the movie never takes itself too seriously. The chaos constantly escalates, but there’s a good balance of dark humor and brutal violence here. The execution scene in the lobby features a Spanish version of California Dreamin.’ It’s impossible not to see the irony of such a happy go lucky song being played, while innocent people are being murdered. 

There’s also a hilarious moment with Roberto’s (David Del Rio) reaction to finding out the sweet and likable Dany actually killed someone. And when Mike is bashing Barry’s head in with a tape dispenser, there’s an over the top and triumphant score playing in the background. The score sounds like something you’d hear in a comedy film, when one of the goofy main characters has a victorious moment, or it would fit with someone running a victory lap.

The Belko Experiment is truly an entertaining and energetic horror film, that makes you really think about the character’s thought processes and motivations. Director Greg McLean brings brutal violence and bloody gore to this one. The scene where Barry breaks Lorena’s (Cindy Better) neck is definitely capable of making you squirm. The pacing is good here, because The Belko Experiment never drags or feels dull. When The Voice makes his announcement and the carnage starts, it’s an unrelenting push to the big finish, and it’s one shocking moment after another to see how far the employees of Belko are willing to go to stay alive.

Rating- 8/10

ChromeSkull: Laid To Rest 2 (2011)

**This review contains spoilers**

Following the events of Laid To Rest, Tommy (Thomas Dekker) and The Girl With No Name, or “Princess” (Bobbi Sue Luther) narrowly escape the wrath of the ruthless killer, ChromeSkull (Nick Principe). After unknowingly pouring booby-trapped glue into his chrome mask, ChromeSkull’s face was destroyed by a corrosive substance. Tommy and Princess were the only living suriviors after ChromeSkull’s recent rampage, and after the final showdown in a convenience store, Tommy and Princess escaped before the police arrived.

As investigators and local police arrived at the convenience store to examine ChromeSkull’s seemingly lifeless body, ChromeSkull’s special team, led by his top assistant, Preston (Brian Austin Green) infiltrated the crime scene. Preston and ChromeSkull’s team killed everyone on the scene, and they escaped with ChromeSkull’s body before backup arrived to help out. Eventually, ChromeSkull was taken to one of his hideouts for surgery by a secret team of surgeons. The surgeons reconstructed ChormeSkull’s mangled face, and ChromeSkull was given time to rest and recover.

Meanwhile, Preston tracks Tommy and Princess to a hotel. Tommy agreed to look after Princess for a while, but the hotel was the end of the line. But when Tommy goes out to get food, Preston sneaks in the hotel room, and murders Princess. Tommy returns to find Princess’ dismembered body, and Tommy is rushed to the local police station for questioning and protection.

Three months later, ChromeSkull is fitted with a new chrome skull mask, and he’s looking for his revenge against Tommy. Tommy is the one that got away, and ChromeSkull doesn’t miss his targets. And ChromeSkull isn’t alone, because he receives help from his underground network of associates. While Preston tries to locate Tommy, ChromeSkull targets a new victim. Jess (Mimi Michaels) and her friend are home alone one night, when ChromeSkull sneaks in. He murders Jess’ friend, and takes Jess to his hideout as a hostage.

Detective King (Owain Yeoman) and his trusted co-worker, Max (Christopher Nelson) work together to find Jess, while keeping Tommy safe at the station. Meanwhile, a series of problems within ChromeSkull’s organization could spark a catastrophic implosion. Preston is tired of living in the shadows, and his role as the clean up guy. Preston wants to be the new ChromeSkull, but ChromeSkull isn’t ready to retire anytime soon. And ChromeSkull is still bitter towards Preston for killing Princess, because he likes to kill and “catch his own fish.” On top of all that, ChromeSkull’s more loyal and trusted assistant, Spann (Danielle Harris) plots to turn ChromeSkull against Preston (Spann‘s #1 rival within the organization).

One night, Preston slips inside the station, and kidnaps Tommy. Tommy and Jess are prisoners of ChromeSkull at his hideout. Detective King launches a last second mission to save Tommy and Jess, and put an end to ChromeSkull’s murderous rampages.

Ugh, why, oh WHY did they have to kill off Lena Headey in Laid To Rest! Thomas Dekker, Brian Austin Green, and Lena Headey in the same cast could’ve  provided the perfect Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles reunion. Yes, I know. I’m probably one of the very few people, who actually wanted to see this, but a TSCC reunion in Laid To Rest 2  would’ve been a great nostalgia kick for die hard fans of the show.

Anyway, the cast is solid enough. Nick Principe is still intimidating and creepy as ChromeSkull. Brian Austin Green is OKAY, but he tries way too hard most of the time. Thomas Dekker is given more screen time in part two, and he delivers the best performance, as the broken and traumatized victim. Yeoman and Nelson are decent enough, but Mimi Michaels’ is kind of annoying at times (the character, not her performance). And you won’t see too much of Danielle Harris here. Her character’s screen time is limited to here and there appearances

Robert Hall (the writer and director for both Laid To Rest films. Well, he co-wrote the screenplay for part two, because he had some help from Kevin Bocarde, but still) picks up where he left off in Laid To Rest 2. And he provides more details to fill in some of the giant plot holes in the first film. How is ChromeSkull pulling all of this off by himself? It’s the one question that constantly popped in my mind during Laid To Rest, and Hall answers those questions here. Well, ChromeSkull was working with an old man at a funeral home (the old man kept an eye out for police, and would hide dead and alive victims in the funeral home, because ChromeSkull used the funeral home as a storage space for his victims), but still, one old man helping the mass murderer wasn’t enough. It was too far-fetched, but adding a network of assistants tied up the remaining loose ends.

Hall also downplayed  ChromeSkull’s camera on the shoulder POV stuff here. ChromeSkull likes to record his murders as they happen, so he wears a camera on his shoulder. They really abused this POV in Laid To Rest, but Hall toned it down for the sequel.

Killing off Bobbi Sue Luther’s character during the intro was a good call, because Laid To Rest 2 is loaded with a bunch of sub-plots: Preston being jealous of ChromeSkull, and wanting to become the new ChromeSkull. Spann plotting against Preston, and seemingly developing a boyfriend/girlfriend relationship with ChromeSkull. Jess struggling to fight for her life, and Tommy trying to survive another attack from ChromeSkull. The survival of Princess would’ve cluttered the story into a bigger mess, so I’m happy they pulled the trigger early. Also, I’ve seen some interviews with her, and she’s on the video commentary for Night Of The Demon’s ’09. Bobbi Sue Luther seems like a nice and humble person in real life, and as far as looks go, she’s a ten in my book, but she’s a terrible actress. Her character was beyond annoying in Laid To Rest, and it’s a problem, because Princess is the primary protagonist.

Laid To Rest 2 provides more inventive and brutal deaths, as ChromeSkull hacks his way through another slaughter fest. Problem is, it’s nothing you haven’t seen before. The VAST majority of kills in this film don’t have that sickening shock factor, because they really pulled out all the stops in Laid To Rest. A lot of nasty and bloody stuff in this film, but for me, the deaths couldn’t reach any squirming levels of disgustingness, because they gave away all of the good stuff in part one.

Hall is building towards a part three, he planted a lot of seeds for another sequel, and there’s a cliffhanger at the end. But instead of going with another sequel, the third entry in Laid To Rest is going to be a prequel, explaining the origins of ChromeSkull, and “how it all began.” I wasn’t too crazy about part two, but the story progressed, and now you’re going to backtrack into a prequel? I dunno. It just feels kind of weird to me.

Anyway, ChromeSkull: Laid To Rest 2 isn’t something to brag about. Laid To Rest 2 is a dud with a very messy and convoluted story. You still won’t see ChromeSkull’s face, and he still doesn’t speak a word in the sequel, so his character maintained the silent and deadly monster mystique. Still, Laid To Rest 2 is just another mediocre and forgettable slasher.

Final Rating: 3/10