Society review.
Thirty-five years ago, Brian Yuzna held a mirror up to the societal elite. At least…in Europe. The US wasn’t ready to look yet.
Classic movie reviews will contain spoilers.
Society
Directed by Brian Yuzna
Written by Woody Keith and Rich Fry
Starring Billy Warlock, Connie Danese, Ben Slack, Tim Bartell, Devin DeVasquez, Evan Richards and Ben Meyerson
Society Review
Society was never shy about what it was satirizing. You can see “The rich have always eaten the poor” spelled out right on the poster. A paranoia film set at the end of the greed fueled 1980s. Thirty-five years later, Society plays less like paranoia and more like…exactly what happened. Invasion of the Body Snatchers for post-Reagan America. Only this society doesn’t want to recruit you. It’s going to suck you dry. And it’s going to get off on it. A physical representation of what the societal elite have done to America’s middle class.
Funnily enough, this isn’t the thirty-fifth anniversary of Society in the United States. Released in London in 1989…the movie sat on a shelf for three full years before it hit the shores of the country it targeted. A movie holding a mirror to the disgustingness of social class…and a country not ready to look. Go figure.
Bill (Billy Warlock) doesn’t feel like he fits in. Even his well-to-do parents and social climber sister Jenny (Patrice Jennings) seem off to him. When Jenny’s ex-boyfriend brings evidence of his family’s involvement in a murderous orgy…Bill tries to investigate. He finds that society is worse than he could have ever imagined.
Anyone who has ever seen Society immediately wants to talk about the end scene. A gory, slimy orgy that basically comprises the entire third act of the movie. There’s a good reason. It’s one of the wildest scenes you’ll ever see. The culmination of two acts worth of build. Two acts that see Bill’s investigation run into roadblock after roadblock…sustaining his paranoia. The biggest difference between how Society played upon release in 1989 (or 1992, depending on where you lived) is in that paranoia. With modern eyes it’s impossible to believe anything other than that Bill is going to be right. Rich people are evil.
The level to which rich people are evil in Society…that’s going to work no matter when you are watching it. Director Brian Yuzna holds nothing back in his depiction of the “elite” of society. They consume people who aren’t like them in gooey orgies. Bacchanals that would make Caligula blush. The horror in Society isn’t in the house wide orgy of death. It’s in the acts that preceded it. When Bill looks for help in a world that sees him as nothing more than something to consume. Flashes of contorted flesh hinting at the true nature of those around him.
Surprisingly, given the lengths the movie goes to, Society doesn’t depict all members of the one-percent as evil. The most interesting character in the film comes in the form of Clarissa (Devin DeVasquez). A strange girl who catches Bill’s eye immediately. It’s clear that she is one of…whatever the people of the society are. But she forms a genuine affection for Bill…inevitably putting love before status. Maybe there’s hope for the evil rich yet! At least…one in one hundred of them.
While Society has a lot to say (or, satirize) about the upper class…it doesn’t always find the best ways to say it. The truth is…Society is a bit of a slog. It feels twenty minutes too long for what it’s doing. An ironic excess in a movie satirizing it. Even the murderous orgy goes on for too long. At least you can’t take your eyes off it.
What Society does best, of course, is hold that mirror to society itself. As someone who lives outside of the ruling class…Bill finds that institutions aren’t there to help him. Police, hospitals…his own psychiatrist. No one who is a part of the haves is going to look out for the have nots. Or, in this case, the free thinkers. There’s nothing the elite hate more than free thought. He’s outright told that he’s a different race…a different species…a different class than the members of the society. It’s literally true here, of course. But the messaging is clear.
Scare Value
Society is a strong satire that turned out to be completely correct about its target. It features outstanding special effects and an ending so absurdly gross and disturbing that you will never forget it. The paranoia of the first two acts played better before the orgy finished devouring the lower class in real life…but it’s still has strong moments throughout. On the downside…the movie runs too long at a pace too slow to elevate it to greatness. Trapped by its 1980s era storytelling too often. Nevertheless, it’s a movie everyone should see once. A cult classic for a reason.
3.5/5
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