Society – The Horror
Directed by Brian Yuzna
USA, 1989
PLOT
Bill is a well-behaved young man, well-educated, and growing up in a wealthy, high-society family. However, he begins to sense that something is wrong with his parents’ behavior and their family friends. This growing feeling of unease is compounded by some terrifying nightmares that Bill starts having more and more frequently. After being placed under therapy by his parents, the death of a friend, and breaking up with his girlfriend, Bill decides to investigate the mysteries surrounding his family, leading to a horrifying final revelation.
CONSIDERATIONS
Society – The Horror is the debut film of the great Brian Yuzna, who, as a good nonconformist director, attacks the rich and powerful society with irony and cynicism.
The screenplay takes all the time needed to depict late-1980s Beverly Hills—the world of wealthy families, rich neighborhoods, tidy villas, and career-driven young people. Everything that “seems but isn’t.”
The director describes and portrays the duality of society: in the first part, he shows us the clean, sugar-coated appearance with soap-opera-like tones and atmospheres, leaning towards the grotesque. But then he demolishes the structural and philosophical falsity of the bourgeoisie, and in the finale, it explodes into a top-tier splatter and horror bomb.
Yuzna’s society is a horror of bodies that merge, blend together, suck you in, mold you, strip you of your identity, turning you into a slave.
The director whispers this metaphor through strong satire, but the clear intention is the shocking effect in the film’s final part, featuring one of the most famous scenes in horror cinema.
With obvious nods to Cronenberg and echoes of Carpenter’s The Thing, the film fits into the body horror genre.
In conclusion, a special mention for the extraordinary special effects by Screaming Mad George.
PANDEMONIC MOMENT
The shocking final body orgy, where the bourgeoisie reveals itself to poor Bill as a monstrous, flesh-eating alien entity.
