Society (1989)

User Rating:

6.3/10   

Director:

Brian Yuzna

Writers:

Rick Fry (writer)
Woody Keith (writer)

Release Date:

11 June 1992 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Horror | Mystery

Tagline:

In Beverly Hills, what you fear is only the beginning.

Plot:

Bill is worried that he is 'different' to his sister and parents. They mix with other 'upper class' people while Bill is more down to earth...

Plot Keywords:

Upper Class | Party | Disturbing | Incest | Ambulance

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Billy Warlock	...	Bill Whitney
Connie Danese	...	Nan
Ben Slack	...	Dr. Cleveland
Evan Richards	...	Milo
Patrice Jennings	...	Jenny Whitney
Tim Bartell	...	David Blanchard
Charles Lucia	...	Jim Whitney
Heidi Kozak	...	Shauna
Brian Bremer	...	Petrie
Ben Meyerson	...	Ferguson
Devin DeVasquez	...	Clarissa Carlyn
Maria Claire	...	Sally
Conan Yuzna	...	Jason
Jason Williams	...	Jason's Friend
Pamela Matheson	...	Mrs. Carlyn

Runtime:

99 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Ultra Stereo

Certification:

Canada:16+ (Quebec) | Iceland:16 | Australia:M | Norway:18 | UK:18 | USA:R | Italy:VM18

Filming Locations:

Culver City, California, USA

Company:

Society Productions Inc.

Trivia:

While shooting the infamous 'shunting' scenes Brian Yuzna would put a sign on the sound stage door that read 'abandon all hope ye who enter here'.

Goofs:

Boom mic visible: Reflected on the ground when Bill is talking to his sister after he and friend finish playing basketball

Quotes:

Dr. Cleveland: How do you feel about your family now, in light of all these recent victories?
Bill Whitney: My family?
Dr. Cleveland: Yes.
Bill Whitney: Uhm... nothing. I mean, I don't think about them, they don't think about me. We're just one big happy family... except for a little incest and psychosis.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Fear in the Dark (1991) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Tonight

A remarkable horror debut...to say the LEAST!

Society is a bizarre horror experience, that's for sure. It works on several levels, actually. Nowhere near perfect, but certainly a great effort and an overall amusing film. The whole thing starts out as a typical teenager movie. Almost like a TV soap opera with the handsome and rebellious Billy (Billy Warlock) as the boy who's estranged from his parents and neighborhood. But Society soon changes into a mysterious thriller (in which Billy-boy tries to discover the handling and rituals of Society) before ending in a completely gore and splatter mess. The last half hour of this film goes beyond your wildest horror imaginations…while it's making no sense at all, this fairly disgusting sequence is a pure joy to observe. Society is in fact an absurd spoof that mocks the High Society of Beverly Hills tremendously. The characters are very stereotypical and the jokes are very cliché…but it works. The screenplay contains a lot of very insane and wacky dialogues and quote material. `Who do you like your tea, Billy? Cream and sugar…or do you want me to pee in it' or even stuff like `Now now honey, you know the rules…first we dine, THAN we copulate'. I'm sure Yuzna and the scriptwriters had a lot of fun. As did special effects supervisor Screaming Mad George! Society is the first film that credits Brian Yuzna as a director, but by that time, he already had his name made in the field. He was the producer of some other, terrific horror comedies like Re-Animator and From Beyond. He obviously feels at his best in this sub genre as he continued to direct and produce several more sinister spoofs with gruesome gore like the two sequels to Re-Animator and The Dentist (which is also a parody on life in the upper class, by the way). Society is certainly worth a look if your sense of humor is a bit twisted and your stomach isn't too weak.