loves violence. During a past interview with The Havard Crimson, he confessed that he always aims to achieve the double task of making audiences uneasy and ensuring they have plenty of fun. The director revealed that he has a problem with Hollywood’s tendency to rely on stylized violence, hence he often aims for uncomfortable realism. Gunn hates how movie characters are always “blowing up things, punching people, knocking people out, and we don’t see the ramifications.” So, in his movies, the results are laid out in the open. They include blood spraying everywhere or heads getting split often.

For years, Gunn has stuck to his style so much that those who don’t like his approach have been forced to get used to it. Working for Marvel Studios made him tone down things a bit, but he reverted to default settings once he jumped to DC. Unlike Marvel Studios, Warner Bros. has never had a problem with presenting dark superheroes to the world, so Gunn has had carte blanche ever since he signed up for The Suicide Squad.

His goriest film, however, is one people hardly know about. Sandwiched between the first two Guardians of the Galaxy films, The Belko Experiment was quickly forgotten after it came out, but it’s the kind of horror film everyone can enjoy. Watching it now is even better since it scratches the same itch as two of the most popular shows at the moment: Squid Game and Severance.

One of the most underrated horror gems of the 2010s, The Belko Experiment was birthed in the mind of James Gunn and incubated by smart, obsessive producer Peter Safran, who spared no pennies in bringing the powerful, scary story to the big screen. The film begins with a peculiar sequence. Expatriate employees of Belko Industries, a multinational conglomerate, Who are these guys, and why didn’t management inform anyone that a bunch of G.I. Joe-looking fellas will now be guarding the premises? Some of the employees feel something isn't right, and so do we.

Moving on, we see the newest recruit, Dany Wilkins, reporting for her first day. The hiring manager lists dozens of perks she is going to enjoy, making her glad that all the hard work has paid off. Dany is also informed that a tracking device gets implanted in the base of every employee's skull because there are plenty of kidnappings in Bogotá and the company would rather send a bunch of commandos to track its missing employees instead of relying on local enforcement:

We also witness Cupid-related complications among the staff, with one woman rethinking her marriage and planning a divorce. That’s understandable, as she’s being expertly wooed by a charming colleague.

These little emotional intrigues are shoved to the back burner when before announcing that it’s time to play a game. , or else bad things will happen. Some people think it’s a joke, but then a few heads explode randomly (it turns out the tracking devices can detonate), reminding everyone that the mysterious villain isn’t fooling around. The instructions are then repeated, with the reminder that .

In this highly graphic 2016 gem, we are enveloped in the brutality of the horrific oppression right alongside the Belko employees. Though hard to watch at times, . James Gunn wrote the film in 2007, and, according to him, .

A scenario where an office building gets enclosed in metal walls, trapping employees inside, played out to Gunn as he was sleeping, so he transferred the idea to paper. Interestingly, making the movie was never a top priority, so he kept procrastinating until Jon Glickman of MGM called and asked him if he was still interested. He said yes, then he and his current DC Studios co-chair, Peter Safran, got into business. , but for Suicide Squad and Severance fans, it’s a must-see.

Executive produced and partially directed by Ben Stiller, Severance walks the same path as The Belko Experiment, but with minimal violence. In the show, employees of the fictional Lumon Industries undergo a medical procedure called “severance” where a chip gets implanted into their skull. The groundbreaking technology . One thus doesn’t remember what they did at work and vice versa, allowing them to be fully productive without any distractions.

We learn that Lumon Industries is doing all this as part of a corporate experiment. Such is also the case with Belko Industries, which plans the games t. Both organizations rely on a chip to control their employees, and, in a way, In The Belko Experiment, the chip turns most employees into selfish, unrecognizable versions of themselves. They kill each other like gladiators without any remorse. In Severance, the employees become dull and machine-like, unaware of the kind of people they truly are while they are at home.

Most importantly, As events in The Belko Experiment unfold, a few characters refuse to loosen their morals and try their best to rebel against the mysterious villains. Many don’t survive, but their stance remains clear. Such is the case in Severance, where some employees toe the line while others conclude that whatever is happening isn’t normal. They thus take action. As people fight for survival, audiences get treated to the Squid Game kind of fun.

Squid Game scandalized some after its premiere in 2021 with it's cool, casually violent atmosphere of blood and splattered brain, but still became a global hit. The Belko Experiment is similar to the K-thriller in how gory it is. Interestingly, the movie’s violence stems from pretty much the same circumstances as those of the Korean Netflix series.

When the Tokyo-set story begins, the chosen players believe they will play simple games for a chance to win big money to enable them to get out of debt. Enthralled by the quaint environment, they are soon drawn into an uncanny mystery that changes their lives forever. Instead of ordinary tasks, t. The characters in the James Gunn movie also believe they are working for a normal conglomerate, and they’ll become successful while at it. Instead, they are forced to participate in a killing game. Any minor mistake results in elimination by death.

Both productions have . In the Netflix series, losers or rebels mostly get shot, while in the MGM film, their heads get blown up via remote-controlled explosive chips.

The Front Man is the enemy in Squid Game, but just as is the case in The Belko Experiment, we see numerous scenarios where the players turn against each other, hoping such a move will enable them to secure their survival. The message is thus clear in both cases:

We might never truly know if the creators of Squid Game and Severance were inspired by The Belko Experiment. Despite that, we are glad that they sculpted better statues out of the same wood. The James Gunn film might not have won numerous awards like the two shows, but it would be a mistake to miss it. Though a sobering watch, the unforgettable horror flick is well worth experimenting on. Careful! Heads might explode or Kang No-eul might fire a lethal shot if you don’t press play.