The Top 10 Evil Corporations from Movies
5. Multi-National United AKA MNU- District 9
There have been a lot of alien invasion movies over the years, but none are like District 9. An alien ship breaks down on Earth over South Africa and rather than welcoming these visitors from the stars, the South African government hired MNU to take care of it. They employ some questionable mercenaries to round the aliens up into a shantytown/ internment camp with horrible conditions. The aliens themselves are treated like animals by the MNU as they’re beaten and harassed on a regular basis, and their technology is stolen to advance the company’s weapons division. They don’t treat their human employees much better and when one of them is exposed to a dangerous chemical, MNU leaps at the chance to treat them like a lab rat. Of all the evil corporations on this list, MNU is one of the most despicable.
4. Soylent Industries- Soylent Green
Soylent Industries offers a wide variety of not only tasty but nutritious meal options, they take away the burden of cooking after a long day when all you want is to go home and enjoy dinner and watch the game. Heck, nine out of 10 moms agree that Soylent Green is the best thing to feed a growing child. Soylent Industries is always looking for new and exciting ways to spice up your meals, with a new “ethnic” line launching this fall and the recently released Soylent Green veal served in a modest Jonathan Swift sauce. You’ve never tasted anything so succulent and tender in all your life! I could go on and on about all the wonderful meals this company offers, but I should probably address that little PR incident from a few years ago when it was revealed that the primary ingredient in its meals wasn’t soy-lentil, but people… SOYLENT GREEN IS PEOPLE! Needless to say, their stock took a hit after that.
3. Weyland-Yutani Corp- The Alien Franchise
Space is not only the final frontier, but it’s also one hell of a business opportunity. In the far future, most of the off-world colonies are controlled by the megacorporation, Weyland-Yutani. Known simply as “The Company” by anyone who works for them; it sends people to the deepest reaches of space looking for anything that might be profitable. The most notorious of these missions leads to the discovery of one of the scariest aliens in movie history and The Company sees nothing but big old dollar signs when they look at it. They’re so obsessed with potentially weaponizing this living nightmare that they order an android to murder the rest of the crew in order to secure it (they claim it was a malfunction). Weyland-Yutani will stop at nothing to control this organism no matter the public risk and every human between them and their goal is expendable.
2. The Umbrella Corporation- The Resident Evil Series
Video game movies aren’t always good, but the Resident Evil movies were so bad they were actually kind of great. That’s all thanks to the Umbrella Corporation, which controls pretty much everything in the world. When it comes to evil corporations though there’s never enough money to satiate them. So, to make a few more bucks they start dabbling in bioengineering and viral warfare. Of course, nothing good comes from this and soon a massive zombie outbreak is threatening to consume the entire planet. As the few remaining survivors fight for their lives, the head honchos in Umbrella are sitting pretty in their impenetrable bunkers. Too bad they didn’t plan on a disgruntled former employee/ super-soldier named Alice wanting to have a word about her “wrongful” termination. Still, the damage that Umbrella did is some of the worst of all the evil corporations on this list.
1. Belko Industries- The Belko Experiment
I decided to go in a bit of a different direction with the number one entry on this list of evil corporations. Belko Industries presents itself as a non-profit that helps coordinate staffing and employment for major clients around the world. Who knows if they actually do that or not, because it’s soon revealed that the branch in Columbia has much more sinister intentions. Since the country is notorious for kidnappings, all the Belko employees were implanted with a chip to help track them. During a full lockdown of the building where they work, it’s revealed that the chips are actually tiny explosives that will be detonated unless the employees murder a certain number of their coworkers before the time limit runs out. If they fail, several will be detonated randomly and the counter will start over. It’s all a twisted social experiment and that raises some pretty serious questions about Belko’s business model…
Honorable Mention: Worryfree- Sorry to Bother You
When other evil corporations have to sell their wares, they turn to Worryfree. A sales firm that specializes in the diabolical practice of telemarketing (one of the greatest corporate sins). As if that wasn’t enough, they treat their employees like beasts of burden, forcing them to work for minimum wage that they can’t possibly live on. Of course, they take advantage of that by offering to garnish their wages if the employees “choose” to take advantage of their low-income housing opportunities, eat at the cafeteria, and buy their goods from the company store. This all adds up to legal slave labor, but Worryfree’s vile practices don’t stop there. Why have metaphorical “beasts of burden” when you can just transform them into minotaur-men? Worryfree seems to have thought of everything, except what to do when the workers eventually revolt…
Shout Out: The Willy Wonka Candy Company- Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
None of the other evil corporations in cinema sent the world into a frenzy like The Wonka Candy Company. For a chance at a tour of the fabled candy factory, people were rioting in the streets. Men punching babies, women knifing Boy Scouts, and the elderly were left to fend for themselves in bed. All this was the dastardly plan of the company’s eccentric CEO whose workforce is made up of an abducted tribe of indigenous people (Oompa Loompas) being used as slave labor. That same fabled factory also violates pretty much every OSHA standard, which leads to several children getting mangled during a tour. The FDA would probably take issue with all the contaminants in that chocolate river (not that I believe Wonka even gets approval for his candies). Then, after the nightmare tour that will inevitably lead to a slew of lawsuits and public outcry, Wonka then passes ownership and liability off to a minor and flees into the night. Pretty sinister if you ask me.
There are a ton of other evil corporations in movies, but the ones above are my picks for the worst of them. If you think I missed a good one, let me know in the comments below. As always, I’ll be updating this list as more evil corporations make their big-screen debuts. So, be sure to check back from time to time to see how the rankings might change!