Das Experiment's knotty plot may not prove as revelatory as it promises, but it succeeds as an action film with a lot on its addled mind. Read critic reviews
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The Experiment Photos
Movie Info
As part of a psychological research project, twenty recruits will be divided up into prisoners and guards. In a controlled penitentiary-like environment, "prisoners" are incarcerated and ordered to obey the rules, "guards" are instructed to keep order. They will be thrown head-first into a two-week long examination of the effects of assigned roles, power and control, and won't be the same when it's over. But it's just a simulation. Or is it?
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Rating: R (Language|Disturbing Situations|Nudity|Sexuality|Strong Violence)
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Genre: Mystery & thriller, Drama
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Original Language: German
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Director: Oliver Hirschbiegel
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Producer: Norbert Preuss, Marc Conrad, Fritz Wildfeuer
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Writer: Mario Giordano, Mario Giordano, Don Bohlinger, Christoph Darnstädt
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Release Date (Theaters): original
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Box Office (Gross USA): $141.1K
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Runtime:
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Distributor: Manga Films S.L., Samuel Goldwyn Company, IDP Distribution, Central Partnership, Senator Film, GAGA Communications [jp], Sherlock Media S.L., Nexo, Argentina Video Home, Metropolitan Filmexport [fr]
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Production Co: Senator Film Produktion GmbH, Typhoon Film AG, Fanes Film, Seven Pictures
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Sound Mix: Dolby Digital, Surround, Dolby SR, Dolby Stereo, Dolby A
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Aspect Ratio: Flat (1.85:1)
Cast & Crew
Critic Reviews for The Experiment
Audience Reviews for The Experiment
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This is the perfect archetype of a movie that starts out tame and gets more and more disturbing as it progresses. I've really never seen another movie that did such a good job of showing people descend into pure madness at a pace that makes sense. It was realistic, which made it truly frightening. The main character is also really likable, which helped to turn my stomach when things got bad.
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I know of the Stanford Prison Experiment, which this movie is inspired by, and I thought that it would make a great movie if it was done right and for a while there I was really hating this movie, just hating it. I don't know what it was, I just felt that everyone treating the experiment as a joke (at first) came across poorly. If you volunteer for something like this, why would you treat it as a joke? You were specifically told that it's supposed to be real. The guards are supposed to act like guards and the prisoners treating everything like a joke will just incite them, so I found that to be very stupid. Also the deal with Tarek and the glasses was just so hokey and I couldn't suspend my disbelief with that silly stuff. Also, in the end, the footage from the glasses led to absolutely jack shit so what was the point? Thing is, this movie had to be presented as about believably as possible and in a way they failed because I knew from beginning to end that I was watching a movie and not 'real' characters trying to fight to survive, basically. Also the actor who plays Tarek, at first, is portrayed as such a rebel and he just came across to me like a complete and total goof, so I really hated the character for the first 20 minutes or so. Thankfully, by the end of the movie, the character grew on me tremendously and I liked him in the end. But boy, oh boy was it a bumpy ride for a while there. But then, the movie got so much better when the guards started finally growing into their 'roles' more and more and from then on, the movie got infinitely better from where it was at the beginning. With that said, this is about the lowest 3.5 rating I'll give a movie, because on scale of 10, this movie is a 7. Like I said, I never suspended by disbelief, it was always a movie to me. And that's something I hope the american remake fixes. I'm usually not a proponent of remakes, especially from americans, but if this movie was done correctly from beginning to end (ie: cast unknown actors, grittier direction, more believable dialogue) this story has the potential to be a fantastic movie. I didn't like the way this movie was shot, it was shot like this was an action movie and I just didn't like the cinematography. This movie looks really cheap, to be completely honest, but don't let that fool you, this is still a fine, fine movie. Another thing, I don't know if I was the only but I REALLY hated the Berus character, of course that was his purpose. But part of me really didn't want to see him on-screen. Like with Tarek, the character sort of grew on me. I think what made me hate him was that he was probably a really insecure douche outside of the experiment. And with the experiment, you give him the power to really take out his frustrations out on the prisoners here. So, in a sense, Berus was by far the most believable character in the movie. I think what made me hate him was the actor, the actor has the kind of face that I just want to punch because he looks so smug sometimes. But I don't hate the actor, he was quite good in this movie, I just don't like his FACE~! But anyways, I don't have much more to say. This movie is good, but it's not as memorable as it should be given its subject matter, so that's something I hope the remake fixes.
jesse o Super Reviewer -
The Experiment failed to yield any favorable reports for me. If you wish, experiment it on yourself; though IMO, it should be aborted.
flixster f Super Reviewer
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Interesting and intiguing (prison movies often are), but with a pretty bad implemented side story.
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