Society

Society

I was recommended to watch Society without looking up a single thing about it. So if, somehow, you happen to have landed here with no knowledge of this film or what it is, I would extend the same recommendation. Just don't look up a single thing, take 100 minutes and go watch it.

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I knew I was in for a good time with Society when the opening credits revealed "Surrealistic make-up effects by Screaming Mad George. How can a film with a credit like that ever be bad?

Directed by Brian Yuzna of Re-Animator fame, Society is a heady mix of Rosemary's Baby and They Live, by way of 1980s David Cronenberg. Billy (Billy Warlock) is an ordinary kid who's the black sheep of his upper class family. Where his sister and parents are more concerned with debutante balls and attending parties with other rich families, Billy just wants to play basketball and attend debate club. And even though the family seems supportive of these "normal" activities, he still doesn't fit in with them, and in fact lives in fear of them.

The problem with trying to explain the appeal of a movie like Society is that the best parts of it are all spoilers that would ruin the fun of actually watching. For the most part, this is a reasonably effective creeping horror movie a la Rosemary's Baby wherein we can't be sure if our lead character is onto something or imagining the whole thing like his therapist tells him.

It's the last act where the film truly takes the turn it's been hinting at for the first hour and a bit and... well, it's as glorious as that Screaming Mad George credit would have you believe. Maybe the flat out grossest movie I've watched since Existenz, the last scene had me howling with laughter and squirming at the unpleasantness all at the same time.

Wonderful horror filmmaking with a sharp satirical edge.

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