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THE BELKO EXPERIMENT

"Making Sport of Murder"

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What You Need To Know:

In THE BELKO EXPERIMENT, 80 Americans are employed at the Belko Corporation’s office in Columbia. One morning, the office windows and doors are sealed shut, and a voice over the intercom orders each person to kill two employees within 30 minutes. Thinking it’s a prank, they ignore the voice until four people are killed by their mysterious captors. The voice orders more people to be killed, and morality becomes subjective with each person out for themselves. The murderous game must be played until only one lone survivor’s left.

THE BELKO EXPERIMENT tries to insert some humor to offset the horror. Though this sometimes works, it also creates an environment where evil becomes funny. The most glaring problem is the ending where the victor takes used bombs and uses them again. The movie never explains how exploded bombs can be reusable. The movie also never explains the deadly experiment’s purpose, leaving the impression that it was purely for sport. Though good eventually defeats evil, THE BELKO EXPERIMENT has strong, violent and abhorrent pagan elements where murder often becomes funny, mingled with foul language.

Content:

(B, PaPaPa, FR, Ho, AC, So, H, Ab, LLL, VVV, S, DD, MM) Light overall moral worldview where good defeats evil, mitigated by a strong pagan worldview that’s extremely violent where morality becomes subjective for some characters, a character talks about their “new god” referring to obeying their captors, one character is a Muslim and wears a hijab, a character is implied to be homosexual by his mannerisms and the way he interacts with women, plus some anti-totalitarian elements as people fight an international social science organization that conducts human experiments globally with the cooperation of governments, and governments collude with social scientists to conduct unethical human experiments as if humans have no value, and a character mentions Jesus in a joke; 54 obscenities and four profanities, slang terms for male and female genitals are used several times, some vulgarities are used, a man is shown briefly vomiting; some very strong and strong violence includes a man uses a knife to cut into the back of his head, dozens of people’s heads explode when implanted bombs are detonated, the open brains of people are shown, a man’s skull collapses after being hit by a wrench, a spike is run into the back of a man’s head, a man is shot in the hand, a man is stabbed in the stomach, people are lined up execution style and shot in the head, a man is killed with a butcher knife, two men are axed to death, several people are shot to death, a man is crushed to death in an elevator shaft, a man breaks a woman’s neck, several Molotov cocktails are thrown in a building starting fires, several men are killed by bombs that had been planted on them, two men have a fist fight, a man is killed by a tape machine repeatedly smashed into his head; some light sexual content and references include an implied sexual relationship between two co-workers, a man sexually harasses a woman in the workplace, a woman offers herself for sex in exchange for her life but is turned down, slang terms for sex are used a few times, there are a couple mentions of masturbation in slang terms, oral sex is referred to in slang terms, a woman has an affair before her divorce is final, and sperm is mentioned; no nudity but a woman exposes her bra to a man in a sexual way and some female cleavage; no smoking or using tobacco, but one character is shown smoking marijuana in several scenes, and characters discuss illegal drugs in one scene; and, characters with poor work ethics talk about normal people “not working” while on the job, a woman briefly discusses her divorce, a character suggests they should be out for themselves rather than help one another, some characters twist morality into killing each other as the “right thing” to do, and some characters start to play God by deciding who lives and dies, characters lie to cover up their intentions to kill people, but social scientists don’t believe an experiment that requires people to murder each other is unethical.

More Detail:

THE BELKO EXPERIMENT is a horrific thriller where 80 American workers in Bogota, Columbia are trapped in their office building and forced to play a deadly game of kill or be killed as part of an unexplained social experiment. Though good eventually overcomes evil in the end, THE BELKO EXPERIMENT has strong, violent and abhorrent pagan elements where murder often becomes funny, mingled with lots of foul language.

The movie opens by following Mike, a Belko Corporation middle manager, as he winds through the crowded streets of Bogota, Columbia on his way to work. Along the way, he’s treated to a series of jump scares and the gaze of a menacing masked man sitting on the side of the road. When he gets to the Belko high-rise, set in a poorly traveled area, he’s surprised to find military guards checking IDs of each employee at the gate. Turns out they’re only letting in the Americans and sending the local employees home. No explanation is given for this, and as Mike observes them from his office window, he observes them setting up shop in a storage shed next door.

Any concerns he has are quickly shoved aside when Leandra pops in for a quick kiss. The two have been caught up in an office romance, even though Leandra’s divorce is yet to be final. Their morning tryst is interrupted when a voice over the building’s intercom announces that in eight hours most employees will be dead, and a game of life and death has begun. They are given 30 minutes to kill two workers, or else.

Thinking it’s a prank, Barry, the company’s COO, urges everyone to remain calm. However, people start to panic when all the windows and doors are sealed by an impenetrable metal. When the 30 minutes expire, the voice returns, letting them know they failed to obey. Suddenly, what appears to be sniper fire takes out four employees. Upon closer inspection, tiny bombs implanted in their heads had exploded. The bombs are in every employee, initially sold as transponder devices in case of kidnapping.

The voice then warns that 30 more people are to be killed within two hours, or 60 people will have their bombs detonated. Two factions then develop in the group: 1) Those who believe morality prohibits that they kill anyone, and 2) Those who believe the most expendable employees should be killed to save the others. Barry, an ex-special forces officer, gathers the alphas. They break into the company vault where the weapons are held. Everyone is on their own as they try to escape their executioners. Friends turn on friends, and Mike pairs up with a security guard, Evans, and Leandra to undermine Barry. What proceeds is a long, gory battle where only one person remains alive and is able to walk out of the building as the victor.

One thing THE BELKO EXPERIMENT tries to do is insert some humor to offset the horror. It seems effective enough in keeping viewers from taking all the killing too seriously. However, the humor elicited some laughs from the viewers at the screening MOVIEGUIDE® attended as people’s heads were blown to bits, or they were axed to death on screen. Though most of the plot is very predictable, the ending does throw in a nice twist. Even so, it doesn’t make much logical sense when previously detonated bombs are gathered perfectly intact by the soon-to-be victor and used again for the final kills. How bombs can explode initially and then be used a second time is scientifically baffling.

After sitting through 90 minutes of gross immorality, it’s somewhat of a surprise and a relief that morality wins the day. The movie consists of nearly a constant back and forth between good and evil. After learning that they’re all at risk for being killed by their captors, some characters twist morality into something that benefits them, claiming they all now have “a new god.” The biggest question of it all is, Why? The movie’s ending gives no explanation about the motivation of the experimenters, or why they condone murder as an acceptable part of research. The research itself is never explained, and the last shot shows that these deadly experiments are taking place simultaneously all over the globe by an ambiguous international organization. It leaves a feeling of distaste when it appears the point of it all was mere sport by villains in the story and ultimately by the filmmakers. The movie should have been re-named “Fifty Ways a Person Can Die,” and should have left out any implication that there was a purpose to any of it.

So, although good eventually defeats overcomes evil, THE BELKO EXPERIMENT has strong, violent and abhorrent pagan elements where murder becomes funny, mingled with lots of foul language. Consequently, MOVIEGUIDE® must rate this movie as unacceptable.

Now more than ever we’re bombarded by darkness in media, movies, and TV. Movieguide® has fought back for almost 40 years, working within Hollywood to propel uplifting and positive content. We’re proud to say we’ve collaborated with some of the top industry players to influence and redeem entertainment for Jesus. Still, the most influential person in Hollywood is you. The viewer.

What you listen to, watch, and read has power. Movieguide® wants to give you the resources to empower the good and the beautiful. But we can’t do it alone. We need your support.

You can make a difference with as little as $7. It takes only a moment. If you can, consider supporting our ministry with a monthly gift. Thank you.

Movieguide® is a 501c3 and all donations are tax deductible.


Now more than ever we’re bombarded by darkness in media, movies, and TV. Movieguide® has fought back for almost 40 years, working within Hollywood to propel uplifting and positive content. We’re proud to say we’ve collaborated with some of the top industry players to influence and redeem entertainment for Jesus. Still, the most influential person in Hollywood is you. The viewer.

What you listen to, watch, and read has power. Movieguide® wants to give you the resources to empower the good and the beautiful. But we can’t do it alone. We need your support.

You can make a difference with as little as $7. It takes only a moment. If you can, consider supporting our ministry with a monthly gift. Thank you.

Movieguide® is a 501c3 and all donations are tax deductible.