Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Brisk
- Intensity
- Strong
- Complexity
- Easy to follow
- Violence
- Brutal
- oppressive
- disturbing
- paranoid
- intense thriller night
- social psychology viewing
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
The volunteer guards increasingly use their assigned authority to humiliate and punish the prisoners.
Participants lose their civil rights and personal identities as the experiment reduces them to guard and prisoner roles.
The makeshift jail, constant monitoring, and two-week confinement intensify conflict between the hand-picked groups.
High-tech cameras monitor the entire prison simulation while the volunteers are subjected to controlled observation.
Films like The Experiment, and why
Das Experiment
Shares the psychological experiment premise, prison setting, escalating authoritarianism, and tense examination of institutional power.
The Stanford Prison Experiment
Shares a claustrophobic institutional setting, coercive authority, moral degradation, and psychological thriller intensity.
The Wave
Shares themes of obedience, dehumanization, group conformity, and volatile power dynamics within a controlled social environment.
Movie Details
- Director
- Paul T. Scheuring
- Release Date
- 2010-07-15
- Runtime
- 96 min
- Rating
- 6.4 / 10 (1362)
Cast
- Adrien Brody
- Cam Gigandet
- Forest Whitaker
- Maggie Grace
- Clifton Collins Jr.
- Fisher Stevens
- Damien Leake
- Ethan Cohn
- Travis Fimmel
- David Banner
Where to watch in United States
- Streaming
- Amazon Prime Video, Amazon Prime Video with Ads, Sony Pictures Core Amazon Channel
- Rent
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home
- Buy
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is The Experiment about?
- An unemployed pacifist enters a paid prison simulation and confronts the terrifying corruption of authority when assigned roles become real.
- What is The Experiment like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of The Experiment as brisk, its intensity as strong and its storytelling as easy to follow.
- Is The Experiment violent?
- Yes. Ember rates the violence in The Experiment as brutal.
- Which films are like The Experiment?
- Films with a similar feel include Das Experiment, The Stanford Prison Experiment, and The Wave.
- How long is The Experiment?
- The Experiment runs 96 minutes.
- Where can I watch The Experiment?
- In United States, The Experiment streams on Amazon Prime Video, Amazon Prime Video with Ads, Sony Pictures Core Amazon Channel.
