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James Gunn’s New Horror The Belko Experiment Sounds Pretty Deranged

He may have made it to the cinematic big leagues after his Marvel mega-hit ‘Guardians of the Galaxy,’ but James Gunn clearly hasn’t forgotten his roots in low budget horror just yet, as is evident from his new movie ‘The Belko Experiment.’

While Gunn will not direct the film (presumably being a little too busy in preparation for the ‘Guardians’ sequel), he has written the script and will produce, whilst acclaimed ‘Wolf Creek’ director Greg McLean takes over behind the camera.

The idea of Gunn and McLean working together should be enough to get horror fans excited on its own - but wait until you hear the premise: 79 employees of the Belko corporation find themselves trapped inside their office building with no option but to kill each other if any of them want to get out alive.

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Being a social media whizz-kid, Gunn has been breaking most of the casting news himself via his Facebook page. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the first name announced was Gunn’s frequent collaborator Michael Rooker, who previously worked with the filmmaker on ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ and his directorial debut, sci-fi horror ‘Slither.’

Gunn tells us Rooker will appear as “Bud Melks, the head of maintenance in the Belko building. He’s not a racist thug like Merle in The Walking Dead, and he doesn’t have a flying arrow like Yondu in Guardians of the Galaxy - in fact, he’s a pretty nice guy - so he’s ill-equipped to deal with the mysterious forces who start making all of the employees in Belko start killing each other unless they want to be killed themselves.”

Gunn has since announced a couple of lesser-known actors who will take major roles in ‘The Belko Experiment:’

“Adria Arjona will be playing one of the most pivotal characters in the film, Leandra Jerez, an American of Colombian descent who works as Barry Norris’s Chief Executive Assistant.

“You may have not seen much of Adria yet, but she has a big role in the upcoming second season of ‘True Detective.’ We did a huge amount of auditions for Leandra, from newcomers to extremely recognized names, and Adria came in and blew us all away.

“Then we have my old friend Owain Yeoman. Owain will be playing Terry Winters, a British family man, whose relationship to his family at home versus the close friendships he has in Belko are set against each other.

You may know Owain from his long run on ‘The Mentalist’ or his role in ‘American Sniper.’ I’ve known him personally for nearly ten years, and we’ve wanted to work together all that time. Finally, we’ve gotten our chance with Belko. He truly killed at the table read the other day.

“Adria and Owain join Michael Rooker, John Gallagher, Jr, Tony Goldwyn, Melonie Diaz, and John C. McGinley as their fellow employees.”

Gunn says ‘The Belko Experiment’ will start shooting next week in Bogota, Colombia, and promises “more casting announcements soon!”

Check out the trailer for director Greg McLean’s last film ‘Wolf Creek 2′ below.

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Picture Credit: WENN