'The Stanford Prison Experiment' will make you squirm

Posted Tuesday, June 16, 2015 at 4:51 PM Central
Last updated Tuesday, June 16, 2015 at 4:51 PM Central

by John Couture

When I was studying psychology at school, there was one study that resonated with me long after I graduated. That study was The Stanford Prison Experiment. It's an experiment that became famous as much for its brutality as the questionably discernible results it generated.

For those of unfamiliar with it, here's a brief overview. In 1971, a Stanford psychology professor recruited students for an experiment in which half would play guards while the other half would be prison inmates. The "prison" was actually a controlled environment in the basement of the Stanford psychology building, but there was anything but control in the experiment.

Rather quickly, the guards and prisoners assumed their personas too well and quickly spiraled out of control until the experiment had to be abandoned early for fear of the students' safety. So yeah, I guess you could call the upcoming film on the experiment a psychological thriller.

Starring Billy Crudup as the psychology professor in charge of the experiment, Olivia Thirlby as his grad student girlfriend and a Red State re-teaming of Michael Angarano and Nick Braun, the film is packed with young talent and looks as though it will be as uncomfortable on the audience as the original experiment was on the prisoners.

The Stanford Prison Experiment hits theaters on July 17.