For decades, low-budget filmmakers have pillaged the plots of big-budget hits for "inspiration". Movies as diverse as Battle Beyond the Stars, Grizzly, and every late 90s comedy which wanted to be American Pie have taken their cues from theatrical smashes and made a similar film on a decidedly dis-similar budget. Some come across as fun homages, while others are simply shameless rip-offs. However, the truly ambitious will mine not just one movie, but several. Why use one idea when you can mimic many? For a great example of this, simply look at Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus, which may be the ultimate exploitation title. The Terror Experiment is a tamer title, but it shows that it can combine plots with the best of them.

The Terror Experiment takes place in a federal government building. As the day begins, TI guy Cale (Jason London) arrives for work as usual. His ex-wife, Carol (Serah D'Laine), also works in the building, and she drops their daughter, Allie (Arielle Stephens), at the in-house daycare. Mandy (Alicia Leigh Willis) is in the building for a meeting with security officials. Meanwhile, a mysterious delivery man visits the roof and then goes to a lab where he detonates a chemical bomb which rocks the building. The chemical released makes people very aggressive and dangerous. Cale, Mandy, and a group of the uninfected are able to make it to an upper floor. Outside, police chief Grasso (C. Thomas Howell) and Loham (Lochlyn Munro), a fireman, are trying to devise a rescue plan for the survivors when government officials Agent Wilson (Judd Nelson) and Dr. Wexler (Robert Carradine) arrive and take over. While Cale and the others attempt to avoid the infected, the officials outside argue over what course of action to take.

Well, if you're going to steal, you may as well steal from the best and this seems to be the attitude which The Terror Experiment has taken. The movie liberally takes from [REC], Die Hard, and a smidgen from Dawn of the Dead. The zombie-like infected, who aren't living-dead, but are mindless and dangerous, are very much like those seen in [REC] or 28 Days Later. And also like [REC], the uninfected are trapped in a building while government officials wait outside. The whole "trapped in high-rise" thing is reminiscent of Die Hard, and a scene on the roof is lifted directly from the third act of that Bruce Willis hit.