X
- 2015
- R
- IFC Films
- 2 h 2 m
- 2015
- R
- IFC Films
- 2 h 2 m
Summary What happens when a college psych study goes shockingly wrong? In 1971 Stanford University professor Dr. Philip Zimbardo (Billy Crudup) cast 24 student volunteers as prisoners and guards in a simulated jail to examine the source of abusive behavior in the prison system. The results astonished the world, as participants went from middle-c...
Directed By: Kyle Patrick Alvarez
Written By: Tim Talbott, Philip Zimbardo
- 2015
- R
- IFC Films
- 2 h 2 m
- 2015
- R
- IFC Films
- 2 h 2 m
The Stanford Prison Experiment
67
7.6
Where to Watch
Summary What happens when a college psych study goes shockingly wrong? In 1971 Stanford University professor Dr. Philip Zimbardo (Billy Crudup) cast 24 student volunteers as prisoners and guards in a simulated jail to examine the source of abusive behavior in the prison system. The results astonished the world, as participants went from middle-c...
Directed By: Kyle Patrick Alvarez
Written By: Tim Talbott, Philip Zimbardo
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 26 Critic Reviews
67
81% Positive
21 Reviews
21 Reviews
12% Mixed
3 Reviews
3 Reviews
8% Negative
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 26 Critic Reviews
67
81% Positive
21 Reviews
21 Reviews
12% Mixed
3 Reviews
3 Reviews
8% Negative
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
Alvarez’s clinical but deeply engrossing execution of the drama is mesmerizing in its directness.
A gripping dramatization, The Stanford Prison Experiment puts its audience in the same position as the head researcher, Dr. Philip Zimbardo: We watch with equal fascination and dread as a group of fresh-faced undergraduates adapt with scary speed to the roles they’re assigned.
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 71 User Ratings
7.6
85% Positive
60 Ratings
60 Ratings
10% Mixed
7 Ratings
7 Ratings
6% Negative
4 Ratings
4 Ratings
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 71 User Ratings
7.6
85% Positive
60 Ratings
60 Ratings
10% Mixed
7 Ratings
7 Ratings
6% Negative
4 Ratings
4 Ratings
This movie stayed true to many of the events that took place during the real experiment. It felt real and it felt horrifying. It's a scary piece of history that I feel is important to evaluate and this movie allowed an accurate representation of the study itself.
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[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]
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Director Kyle Patrick Alvarez deserves all the praise in the world for the way he cranks up this pressure cooker script. The Stanford Prison Experiment begins with giggles but ends in full psychological break.
Even with some familiar faces, The Stanford Prison Experiment feels like an honest-to-goodness documentary — a high compliment for a movie based on an infamous college project.
Even simply sticking to the facts, the film is a painful watch.
The problem is not that this film is upsetting (it should be), but that it ultimately seems more interested, and skilled, at dispensing regular shocks than fresh insights.
Director Kyle Patrick Alvarez’s film underserves its cast of up-and-comers (Thomas Mann, Ezra Miller, Tye Sheridan), allows the usually solid actor Michael Angarano to go astray with a scenery-chewing role and buries Crudup in fretting and sanctity. Worse, the experiment’s inherent drama is exacted with a tin ear and a cheesy style.
A chilling and intense story of the depths and terrors of psychology. A fantastic ensemble, with outstanding work from Michael Angarano and Tye Sheridan, a phenomenal script, and a wonderful style and tone lead this to one of my favorites of the year. It's incredibly smart and uses fascinating details and story points. Don't miss "The Standford Prison Experiment."
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The young cast of prisoners and guards were outstanding in this film. Many of the young actors in the film were familiar faces but very few of them have proven themselves. The cast of young men includes Ezra Miller, Moises Arias, Nicholas Braun, Logan Miller, Tye Sheridan and Thomas Mann. All of which deliver some of the best performances of their young careers. The highlight of the whole cast however was Michael Angarano, who becomes the most demanding and abusive guard of them all and becoming an easy character to hate. It is thrilling to watch the transformation of the characters over the course of the experiment where the identity is taken away from the prisoners through a number of methods and the guards go through effort to hide their true identity by hiding behind sunglasses and baton.
Billy Crudup is great in this film as well. Phillip Zimbardo is one of the of the most knowledgeable but controversial psychologists of all time. Crudup also begins to see and change in himself as the film continues on. Crudup once again gives a brilliant performance.
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The Standford Prison Experiments sports some harrowing shots, good performances by both Billy Crudup and Ezra Miller, but ultimately comes across as lackluster. There are some good realistic scenes, but the pacing in this movie is all over the place, and it was honestly hard for me to pay attention while watching this one.
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The Stanford Prison Experiment is not a movie for everyone, some may find it boring other claustrophobic, but certainly its subject does not leave you indifferent. Its plot had already been addressed in other projects but had never focused on real people who lived through this experience firsthand. I enjoy it, I think that the theme is quite interesting and the director and his cast deliver good accounts, with the exception of Billy Crudup who apparently did not know how to portray his character.
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If you can't tell by the profuse, thick hair on almost every actor, this movie takes place in 1971. A Stanford University psychologist (Billy Crudup) hired 24 student volunteers to play prisoners and guards in a simulated jail experiment. This fact-based story gets darker, as the roles they play get more intense. The cast of young up-and-comers does a good job, but things get too intense and stay that way. Even if the dialogue is taken from actual transcripts, the film's persistent seriousness becomes a dull dark throb, instead of building into any kind of emotional payoff. It's a fascinating study, but I remember 2010's The Experiment tackled it better.
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Production Company
Coup d'Etat Films,
Sandbar Pictures,
Abandon Pictures,
Priority Pictures
Release Date Jul 17, 2015
Duration 2 h 2 m
Rating R
Tagline They were given 2 weeks. It lasted 6 days.
Awards
Sundance Film Festival
• 2 Wins & 3 Nominations
Edinburgh International Film Festival
• 1 Win & 3 Nominations
Casting Society of America, USA
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
