Review by John Delia
Not a bad release, the film Belzebuth containing the reference to a Satanic character similar to Beelzebub, has some good horror moments, a lot of very good visual effects and make-up, relatively nice acting, and a creative storyline. Differing from anything I have seen in the past about the dark lord of hell, the Mexican connection, with its Night of the Living Dead mystique, adds a nice touch. However, all that said, the film does have some of the most diabolical killing scenes involving young children and babies that gets sickening to watch. Be forewarned that if you are squeamish, easily nauseated by a lot of blood, or immature, than you may want to steer clear of the film.
“Ever since the holy church was founded, hundreds of believers have announced the anti-Christ. But in 2010, reports of possessed people increased exponentially.†Filmmaker.
Mexican Police Lt. Emmanuel Ritter (JoaquÃn Cosio) gets a call from the hospital that his newborn son has been stabbed to death along with many others newborns. Totally distraught he heads to his wife Marina (Aurora Gil) where he finds her completely hysterical about the murder of her child. Flash ahead 5 years and we find Lt. Ritter divorced and living alone when he gets a call early one morning that a local elementary school has been attacked by a ninth grader who killed 33 from their kindergarten. Not able to get to the bottom of it all, Lt. Ritter thinks about his own son and finds himself at odds with the investigation.
That very day he gets a visit by a religious man Ivan Franco (Tate Ellington) an examiner from Paranormal Forensic Division. After a brief discussion about not having any leads to the reason why both savage events took place, they decide to join forces looking for what Franco believes to be an entity from the dark side. He even intimates it may be even Satan himself. Director and co-writer Emilio Portes takes his audience into complete havoc to the point of adding two additional killing events, both targeting youngsters. He leads his two protagonists into a maze of the paranormal, Black Magic, and sadistic demonology. He builds momentum when the two, along with Lt. Ritter’s his fellow officer Demetrio (Jose Sefami), and introducing a suspect thought to be practicing in the dark arts, Vasilio Canetti (Tobin Bell).
The film goes on from there with a lot of violence, disturbing images and Christian artifacts destruction. I will have to say that even though Portes has made only two feature length films, he really masters the art of horror and evil dark arts with Belzebuth. He holds nothing back showing the fierce attack by the nurse as she stabs baby after baby then lays waste to herself. In the other killings he holds back a bit with body blankets covering the victims. As a warning to non-horror fans, the film shows a lot of viciousness and very bloody attacks on the main characters before he finally ends the story.
Belzebuth has not been rated by the MPAA, but contains extreme violence, language and gore. Add to this the destruction of Christian statues, some brutality of women, and a scene of terrorism. Be cautious when deciding whether to allow immature children to see the film.
FINAL ANALYSIS: A decent production but very sickening at times. (2.5 out of 5 Stars)
Specifications and additional video information:
Cast: Tobin Bell, Tate Ellington, JoaquÃn Cosio
Directed and Co-written by: Emilio Portes
Genre: Horror, Thriller
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
Running Time: 1 hr. 54 min.
Video Release Date: July 7, 2020
Original Theatrical Release Date: January 11, 2020
Language: English and Spanish
Reviewed Format: Blu-ray
Audio: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
Video: Widescreen, Aspect Ratio 2.36:1
Subtitles: English, Spanish
Distributed by: RLJE Entertainment/Shudder
Released on: Blu-ray, DVD and Digital HD, VOD