The Belko Experiment
BH Tilt | Release Date: March 17, 2017 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
44
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 21 Critic Reviews
Positive:
5
Mixed:
7
Negative:
9
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
83
Entertainment WeeklyDarren FranichMar 16, 2017
Belko is an appropriately disreputable, gleefully disturbing movie. Read full review
80
VarietyDennis HarveyNov 30, 2016
As a self-aware guilty pleasure, The Belko Experiment may not quite seize greatness, but it does give it a playful squeeze. Read full review
70
We Got This CoveredMatt DonatoNov 30, 2016
The Belko Experiment rides a gushing wave of carnage through the elevators of an unsuspecting office building, gleefully making wolves out of sheep. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleMarc SavlovMar 29, 2017
As a parable about the inherently dehumanizing aspects of the rat race, it’s bloody good fun. Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubA.A. Dowd Mar 16, 2017
The Belko Experiment teeters between “fun,” gory brutality and a more seriously disturbing variety — the latter epitomized by the film’s centerpiece, a chillingly organized process of elimination that echoes mass shootings and historic Final Solutions in equal measure. Read full review
60
EmpireChris Hewitt (1)Apr 18, 2017
A brutal, bloody battle royale that glides along nicely until a disappointing dip in the second half. Still, there are plenty of positive results from this experiment, especially for gore fans. Read full review
60
The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeMar 16, 2017
Given a cast of this size, characterizations are predictably thin, though strong character actors like John C. McGinley and Michael Rooker ensure some viewer engagement with Those About to Die. Read full review
58
The Film StageEthan VestbyNov 30, 2016
In the hands of McClean, the film’s violence feels often overwrought instead of fun. Read full review
50
ConsequenceClint WorthingtonMar 16, 2017
Unfortunately, what The Belko Experiment delivers in face-twisting gore and deliciously taut suspense, it lacks in insight. Read full review
50
Screen DailyTim GriersonMar 13, 2017
The film’s down-and-dirty nastiness does have its merits, but the bloodshed isn’t nearly as interesting when the characters are as exciting as a spreadsheet. Read full review
50
Slant MagazineChuck BowenMar 12, 2017
The film's characters are stock types without enough satirical texture to fulfill their function in the narrative. Read full review
42
The PlaylistNov 30, 2016
The film not only traps its characters, but also corners its story, with the ‘Experiment’ by Mclean and Gunn not allowing any room for variables that might bring some inventiveness to this otherwise steel-shuttered bore. Read full review
38
New York PostKyle SmithMar 16, 2017
For all its promise to be a wry commentary on the savagery of office politics, The Belko Experiment is more like an experiment in how many cracked-open skulls can be crammed into one movie. Read full review
38
RogerEbert.comSimon AbramsMar 16, 2017
The characters could have embodied traits of typical office drones and managers, turning the film into a savage black comedy. But those elements aren't developed beyond a point, making the movie's only selling point its excessive gore and violence. Read full review
30
Los Angeles TimesKatie WalshMar 16, 2017
By the end of the film, you're left with the unshakable feeling that everyone involved, from actors to filmmakers to the audience, is, and should have been, better than material like this. Read full review
30
The New York TimesGlenn KennyMar 15, 2017
The Belko Experiment is a grisly, sick-making exercise in sadism that tries to camouflage its base venality in a thought-experiment plot. Read full review
30
TheWrapRobert AbeleMar 15, 2017
The meager tension generated by characters discovering their survival instincts, and why you might not want to be next to them when they do, is quickly dissipated by the realization that, at a certain point, the movie is an assembly line of killing, and not a terribly exciting or entertaining one at that. Read full review
25
Movie NationRoger MooreMar 24, 2017
“Wolf Creek” director Greg McLean efficiently runs through the deaths, but where’s the terror, puzzle-solving logic or anything else to hold our interest? It’s just unpleasant, nothing more. Read full review
25
ObserverRex ReedMar 21, 2017
Made and marketed for the sole purpose of shock and schlock. It succeeds as both, but the result seems psychologically bewildering and pointless. Read full review
20
New York Magazine (Vulture)Emily YoshidaMar 15, 2017
The fundamental ironic juxtaposition — ultraviolence meets corporate banality — is a bludgeon that never feels fresh no matter how many times it’s driven into our aching skulls. Read full review
20
Village VoiceAlan ScherstuhlMar 15, 2017
Don't expect style or invention, much less satire. Its only interest as an experiment is that, out of duty, the roomful of critics I saw it with all stuck around until the end. Read full review
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