Society (1992)

A bit overrated, but still an amazing film

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

I remember seeing the trailer for this when I was about 9 and being freaked out. Nothing is shown, only implied, but a shot of Billy Warlock biting into an apple that is filled with worms stayed with me.Originally hacked to shreds by the BBFC on it's cinema release in the UK (a shame as it performed much better here than in the US) you'll quickly wonder what all of the fuss is about. I know I'm somewhat desensitized in my adulthood (though cheap latex flesh wounds on Casuality still make me shudder and squirm) but you'll struggle to find anything in Society to justify the 18-rating. With barely a drop of blood to be had the film coasts as far as it can on themes and subtext. It doesn't get too far, maybe to the end of the street.17-year-old Bill Whitney (played by 27-year-old Warlock) is a regular teenager in Beverly Hills who wants nothing more than a happy adolescence with his friends and to succeed at school. But his parents are weird, his sister is provoking unusual feelings from him, they appear to exclude him from their circle of privilege, and he begins to suspect that his well-to-do life is only surface deep and that something much, much sinister is lurking beneath the facade. His shrink suggests that he is merely feeling alienated and needlessly paranoid but when a nervous outcast reveals a secret recording he quickly realizes that it's not all in his head.Nothing here really works. Brian Yuzna has great ideas but no clue of how to effectually execute them. The mystery is underdeveloped since there isn't much in the way of puzzle-solving or clue- hunting. The gore is almost non-existent, much to my immense dismay. I do realize that horror can be at its most effective when it is merely being suggestive or offensive but the big reveal at the end is so pedestrian and blunt that they might as well have just announced it right at the beginning of the movie (which kinda does happen thanks to the stupidly spoiler-iffic opening credits). Even during the "shocking" climax Yuzna shoots with that stupid pink lighting that Stuart Gordon used in abundance in From Beyond, which just makes the scene look dumb. Worst of all is the score, which honestly fits an episode of Chucklevision more than it does a hardcore 80s horror film with a reputation to uphold.Crucify me if you want, but I say that Society really could do with a remake. If Cronenberg or Fincher were to redo this movie, contextually more timely and dynamic in our polarizing, and failing, society of 2017, then I have no doubt that the rotten core of Society can have more relevance now than it did in 1989. The ideas are intriguing, but Yuzna's amateurish direction and lack of focus spoil it.

A well-paced and utterly bizarre horror film with plenty of black comedy and a finale which is unforgettable once seen, this is probably Brian Yuzna's most controversial movie and one of his best along with it. It's certainly unlike any other movie I've seen and therefore deserves points for originality. The film starts off like a typical conspiracy thriller as our young lead Billy Warlock starts to discover some unpleasant things about his family. So far, so good, you might think, but then things become a little weirder as bizarre sex acts are hinted at and Warlock witnesses people twisting their bodies into impossible positions. The suspense thickens and the plot becomes taut as people begin to die and Warlock finds himself mixed up in a far-reaching plot and then WHAM!, Yuzna hits you with an utterly disgusting - yet fascinating - finale which is unlike anything ever before witnessed on film.Although this film is awash with mucus, slime, and perverted sexual situations, the heady helping of dark comedy stops it from being too overwhelming and keeps it entertaining and hilarious in parts. Special effects genius Screaming Mad George contributes probably his finest effects work to date with the "shunting party" at the film's close, which has some graphically nasty gore but mostly just plain yuckiness to recommend it, an extended sequence so surreal that I'm sure Salvadore Dali would be impressed if he was alive to see it. Billy Warlock rises above his BAYWATCH heritage and proves to be a likable male lead and the rest of the supporting cast put in commendably straight performances, up until the end that is when everything takes a bizarre comedic turn for the worse. Utterly watchable and quite unique, this stands true as a pinnacle of cinematic weirdness that hasn't really been matched since in terms of vision and imagination.

They made some movies with serious balls in the eighties, man. And this is one of them.The movie's basically a vicious, over-the-top satire of what I think many people are afraid is secretly going on with those at the top tiers of society: a covert culture of unimaginable depravity, perversity, exploitation, and soul-annihilating sociopathy. Kind of like Eyes Wide Shut. And that this Hell on earth going on behind the facade of these majestic mansions is, in some mysterious alchemical way, what keeps them on top.The plot is driven by this popular kid from an expensive Beverly Hills neighborhood who is obsessed with his fear that everyone in his life is not what they seem. And based on what we see, this actually looks like it's true: his family is wooden and distant, and all his "friends" appear to regard him with veiled contempt -- except the two whom his parents openly dislike, of course.After a series of events which gradually make his world seem more suspicious, it turns out that he was adopted into this family for the sole purpose of being a human sacrifice at one of their parties.After witnessing one of his friends basically getting turned into a tapestry of mangled flesh, and witnessing bizarre body mutations, he escapes with the help of his other friend -- which seems a bit unlikely, given how cunning and powerful that "Society" was portrayed as being. But I guess they needed to tack on a happy ending.But damn, though -- the movie symbolically taps into a LOT of effed-up things that one's innermost heart fears is going on in secret.Like his high school debate for class president. What appeared at first to be the unpopular nerd vs. the popular athlete was really a fixed game where both sides were completely controlled by the same force... Like how I feel about every presidential election.Or the fact that in the end, which one of his friends gets "sacrificed?" The relatively fat and unattractive one. It makes you think. Why do I just accept that as a movie cliché? Are we, on some level, just like the awful Society that frivolously ruins and desecrates whom they regard as "inferior"? Would we enjoy doing the same if we were born into such a high caste? Is this Society, at the end of the day, just the natural order of things? very disquieting.Another symbol that I think most only see the surface of are the surreal body mutations. In the end, the part where the protagonist witnesses his poor friend (who happens to be Jewish... not sure what that means) gets turned into a huge elastic abomination while getting fisted and eaten. It's not just weird, man, it MEANS something. It could be: -hallucinations brought on by the trauma of seeing your friend get murdered -and this is the scariest thing: it's simply the closest visual metaphor we can get for the unimaginably, appallingly sadistic thing they do to people as part of their ritual. I think it's something like eating their soul, not just raping someone but forcing your way into their deepest being and chewing it up like a damned wad of bubblegum before discarding it, leaving the person an utterly devastated wreck.That's some ballsy sh*t, man. And SCARY. There's like, more going on in the heavens and the earth than we know. Some genius said that once. I appreciate this movie for being the few that makes me feel that way.

Lovecraft's stories focused on the unknown and extra-terrestrial. Society, on the other hand, makes all its terrestrial elements gruesomely known. This is the only film I've seen whose aliens are not an immediate threat to the world because they have been with humans since the beginning, quietly shepherding man.Society's core story trumps every conspiracy theory you'll ever find. One could actually play with the core story and be able to explain the depredations of society, just as the old White Wolf Studios were able to do with the original Vampire: The Masquerade. Silly folk like David Icke with his reptilian theory should hire able writers, or at least, get some inspiration from literature.Society's pacing is good. The acting is good. The special effects are superb. The film is a part of my top ten best horror movies list.