In 1971, a group of professors from Stanford University started the journey of investigating conflict in a particular situation, that of the interaction between guards and prisoners. The experiment, which later on became famous, was funded by the U.S. Office of Naval Research. It all came down to the psychology of imprisonment, a notion that is taught in any introductory psychology class.

Said experiment lead by psychology professor Philip Zimbardo inspired IFC Films to produce a film called The Stanford Prison Experiment and there's now a trailer for it. Directed by Kyle Patrick Alvarez (Easier with Practice, C.O.G), the upcoming psychological thriller is set to premiere in theaters in a limited release on July 17 and on July 24, it will make its way to VOD.

What do you think happens when a college psychology study goes shockingly wrong? Based on the already-mentioned true story, the film stars Billy Crudup as Stanford University professor Dr. Philip Zimbardo, who casted 24 student volunteers as prisoners and guards in a simulated jail experiment meant to examine the source of abusive behavior in the prison system. The results astonished the world, as participants went from regular undergrads to drunken power-abusing sadists and submissive victims in only a matter of days.

"The Stanford experiment was previously documented in Oliver Hirschbiegel’s Das Experiment in 2001, but what makes the experiment in this movie so eerily relevant now is that things haven’t seemed to change a lot in the 40 years since it was conducted. Look at the way suspects are treated by police officers with so many incidents of police brutality and abuse of power documented and you wonder if anything was really learned from Zimbardo’s experiment. [...] For a film that mostly takes place in one location and could easily get boring visually, Alvarez does a good job, although the movie does look cheap at times, particularly some of the fake-looking facial hair," explains Coming Soon.

Created with the participation of Dr. Zimbardo himself, The Stanford Prison Experiment already won two awards at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, including Best Screenplay - written by writer Tim Talbott (South Park).

In the trailer, you'll be able to see a young and talented cast: Ezra Miller, Olivia Thirlby, Tye Sheridan, Keir Gilchrist, Michael Angarano and Thomas Mann.