Society (1989)

When I mentioned that I'd watched Society to a work colleague, his response was "Ugh! Really?"

Which probably says quite a lot about this movie. The protagonist, played by the brilliantly-named-but-unfortunately-stunted-looking Billy Warlock, is a troubled young man who's scared of his family, friends, and even psychologist. He's rich, but apparently quite stupid, and prone to disturbing visions of impossibly distorted anatomies - particularly when he bursts in on his sister in the shower. (!)

As his sister's coming-out bash grows ever nearer (who knew they still had those in 1980s America?) things get progressively weirder; a friend who tries to warn him about the incestuous tendencies of his family gets killed in a horrific car accident, and Billy realises he's completely alone in a very, very odd society...

Society is bizarrely restrained until the final scenes; only hints of the impending weirdness seep through, and even then you're never sure whether anything really is up, or if Billy is just losing the plot. And then all pretence of normality is ripped unceremoniously away with one of the most disgusting scenes I've ever seen on screen.

Ewwww.

It's quite a good film. But I wouldn't like to be eating while watching it.

IMDB link

2 comments:

soulmining said...

Is that the first time you've seen Society? I'd love to watch it again, it's been ages since I saw it... first time was a preview screening at a horror fest, think I've still got a signed poster of it somewhere in the attic... love the way it just ambles along and you *know* something is wrong and then - wham! - it's time for the party scene...

Sarah said...

Yeah, it was the first time I'd seen it. I've not seen Reanimator or anything either!