Product Details

• Actors: Adrien Brody, Cam Gigandet, Forest Whitaker, Maggie Grace, Clifton Collins Jr.
• Directors: Paul Scheuring
• Writers: Paul Scheuring, Christoph Darnstädt, Don Bohlinger, Mario Giordano, Oliver Hirschbiegel
• Producers: Al-Saadi Qadhafi, Alyssa Beckerman
• Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: English
• Subtitles: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
• DVD Release Date: September 21, 2010
• Run Time: 96 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (38 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B003VEL9EI
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #12,076 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "The Experiment" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Oscar® winners Adrien Brody (Best Actor, The Piano, 2002) and Forest Whitaker (Best Actor, The Last King of Scotland, 2006) star in this mind-shattering psychological thriller from the creator of TV’s Prison Break. Selected to participate in a two-week research project, a group of men agree to play inmates and guards in a simulation of life within a state prison. But as the 24 volunteers slip deeper into their roles, power corrupts, fears escalate and the experiment spins horribly out of control. Cam Gigandet (Twilight), Clifton Collins Jr. (Crank: High Voltage) and Maggie Grace (TV’s Lost) co-star in this intensely shocking film.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Authority shouldn't be given to just anyone, September 21, 2010

By 

Dayna Newman "Slasher Diva" (Tampa) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Experiment (DVD)

The Experiment was quite entertaining from start to finish.

It was very satisfying in story ,acting and conclusion.The experiment is where men are paid 1000 dollars a day to supposedly Simulate either a Prisoner or a guard in a maximum security setting,no one knows which they will be until they enter the facility..

Adrien Brody is an uber hottie in my opinion and a great actor and plays an anti violence anti war advocate,but just how long and how much can he take before he changes his way of thinking to an eye for an eye? The stand out was Forest Whitaker as a man given authority as a guard in a make believe world, but in actuality he's s 42 year old man living with his coddling,emasculating mother. He see's this as a way to get back at her by being cruel to those put in a weaker position because he feels weak in her presence.In one shocking scene he pops a woody just after handcuffing and humiliating Brody's character.HMM?''

Cam Gigandet is evil as another faux guard who in his characters real life lives for sex,drugs and sleep..

He takes a shine to an effeminate faux prisoner and does some very evil things to him..This movie is quite brutal and hard to watch at times,some of the acts that are put upon Brody especially are very humiliating and would be hard for any man to take..

a favorite actor of mine,the much under rated Clifton Collins Jr plays another faux prisoner and baddy in typical Collins style to the hilt .The climax is a shocking and action packed.All in all a really good film.I would buy it and watch it again.

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Loved this movie, September 22, 2010

By 

Eric L. Willard (Maryland) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Experiment [Blu-ray] (Blu-ray)

When looking up the new releases here on Amazon, seeing this movie NOT on the few movies listed on the main page was a real mistake in my opinion. I even went to 3 stores looking for this movie and the first 2 had no idea what movie I was requesting and didn't even have it on release day! I saw a trailer for it a few months ago and immediately knew I had to have it.

The basic story is: Volunteers will be paid for an experiment where they are put into a simulated prison experience. Stressfull challenges are then introduced throughout the experiment. If any physical attacks are observed between the guards and prisoners, the experiment will end and no one gets paid. We meet Adrian Brody and Forest Whitaker introducing themselves to one another prior to the experiment and we see that these are 2 very different people but there is a mutual respect forming. We then find out, some volunteers will be guards and some will be prisoners.

Amazing performances by Adrien Brody, Forest Whitaker, Clifton Collins Jr. and many more supporting roles, will have you sitting on the edge of your seat through the whole movie. It is clear, at the beginning, some volunteers are going to be trouble and as the movie moves along, power does corrupt even the best of the men but we feel for them because they are told, "you will not get paid if you do not follow and enforce the rules."

I do NOT agree with Amazon's review that this movie "never quite grabs hold". By the end of the movie, I was almost in tears after watching men who respected each other at the beginning, couldn't even look each other in the eye by the end. There isn't much more to say. The synopsis of the movie pretty much tells you what it is about.

5 stars and a must see.

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars To a much harsher prison..., September 30, 2010

By 

Yujiro (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Experiment (DVD)

Based loosely on the 1971 Stanford prison experiment.

A "soft" Liberal; a repressed, verbally abused religious

man; a sadist and latent homosexual; a Mexcian Aryan; a

stereotypical geeky artist; and a slew of supporting

characters are all put within the confines of a psuedo

correctional facility for 11 days. Naturally, the promise

of $1,000 a day attracts the money-hungry test subjects

and the pretense of safety makes the offer even more

alluring, naively subjecting themselves to a much harsher

prison.

The subjects are split into two teams: guards and prisoners,

carefully chosen based on psychological profiles. A typical

Hollywood jab as the most cruelest of the guards is the

religious sociopath and the hero of the prisoners a pacifistic

atheist. Most of the "guards" follow suit, expressing their

repression in violent ways towards their "prisoners" and

feeding their need for power.

The actual Stanford test results were shocking as some of the

more abusive guards inflicted physical punishment, sexual

humiliation (even an instance of simulated sodomy), and even

refusing to allow some to urinate or defecate. As with most

movies based on fact, The Experiment closes with a very dramatic

fictional finale (perhaps not too far-fetched had the Stanford

test been allowed to continue).

The pacing is steady at 96 minutes, however, they could have

tacked on 15 minutes of character development before their

incarceration to help along the latter shock of transformation.

The prison setting is dark, unnerving and claustrophobic,

helping to give one the sense of being helpless and

imprisoned among the actors. And it is in this respect that

The Experiment really suceeds. It's fairly memorable, but

nowhere near classic.