26 men are chosen to participate in the roles of guards and prisoners in a psychological study that ultimately spirals out of control.26 men are chosen to participate in the roles of guards and prisoners in a psychological study that ultimately spirals out of control.26 men are chosen to participate in the roles of guards and prisoners in a psychological study that ultimately spirals out of control.
- Bosch
- (as Lavell 'David Banner' Crump)
- Henry
- (as Jack W. Mishler)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThis movie is a remake of a movie (The Experiment (2001)) based on a book that was inspired by the real-life Stanford prison experiment. Although the experiment's purpose is not explicitly mentioned in the film, the original study was meant to observe the effects of power, rules, group identity and dehumanization in a simulated prison environment. The Stanford prison experiment also employed test subjects as either guards of prisoners, but ended early as both groups took their respective roles too seriously. The experiment will never be redone, because although it was deemed ethical at the time under the later-amended rules of the American Psychiatric Association, any research done must not physically or mentally harm the participants.
- GoofsIn the scene near the end, where Travis is beating up Barris, Travis had recently grabbed the blade of the knife when Barris tried to stab him. His hand was shown to be very bloody. However, when the red light and the alarm went on and Travis raised his hands to his head, his hand was completely clean and unharmed.
- Quotes
Archaleta: Justice is what keeps us safe as a society. Ordered law.
Travis: Justice is what starts wars. And eye for and eye for an eye. It takes a turning of the cheek for this species to evolve.
Archaleta: Ah, so you're the one who knows what it's going to take for this society to evolve.
Travis: I'm just regurgitating what people have been saying for a long time.
- ConnectionsReferences Red Dawn (1984)
It's a pale and poor remake of the brilliant German movie 'Das Experiment', which blew my mind first time I saw it.
None of that with 'The Experiment'... Even the presence of two gifted actors (Brody and Withaker) cannot rescue the poor cinematography and awful diluted script. I couldn't even properly empathise with the main character played by Brody. His actions seemed ridiculous put against the prison-experiment backdrop, so terribly written so that there isn't any true logic to his rebellion. It's also very obvious he's not doing half the acting that Moritz Bleibtreu performed in the original.
The casting was terrible, even before the experiment, I could immediately identify which characters were to become guards, and which ones prisoners. Mix this with the poor script-rewrite that put in unnecessary scenes and dialogues and that took out some of the most brilliant scenes in the original, and you get a straight-to-video production that will never be looked back on by movie fanatics anywhere, anytime.
If you have bought, borrowed or downloaded this copy, please burn or delete it. You will be much better off getting Das Experiment instead.
The Experiment has failed!
Details
Box office
- Budget
- $21,800,000 (estimated)
- Gross worldwide
- $716,580
- Runtime1 hour 36 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.35 : 1