Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn has written a very nasty horror film, and teamed up with the director of Wolf Creek to bring us The Belko Experiment. A tale of twisted corporate enterprise which pits co-workers against each other in a game of cat kill mouse.

It might sound like Christopher Smith’s 2006 company awayday slaughterfest Severance but this looks to be a little less muddy and a lot more vicious.

This is Office Space crossed with Saw, and the boardroom dealings on show here are as close to big screen blood on the carpet as we want to get. The set up is disconcertingly simple: A corporate office in Colombia turns into a social experiment with dire consequences when an unknown voice commands they kill three of the workers or they will kill six. It’s a deal that gets worse as time goes on.

In the first trailer Scrubs legend John C. McGinley wields a cleaver, and the calm meance of Tony Goldwyn embodies the soullessness of every middle manager you’ve ever had. 10 Cloverfield Lane’s John Gallagher Jr. follows up his outstanding turn in Mike Flanagan’s Hush with another leading role as the frayed everyman.

the-belko-experiment movie imageThe film is from director Greg McLean and features Gunn regular Michael Rooker, Sean Gunn, Adria Arjona, and Melonie Diaz in supporting roles. The trailer gives perhaps a little too much way; co-worker decency and constructive, problem-solving dialogue goes out of the window, along with several of the lesser employees.

It looks bloody, gut-twistingly tense and as the trailer ramps to a close things get very gruesome indeed. It’s a great fun premise from James Gunn, and McLean has a sure hand when it comes to spilling the blood and freezing the nerves.

The Belko Experiment is released on the 17th of March, 2017 and there’s no sign yet of a UK release date.

Here’s the first trailer, which is appropriately NSFW.