SOCIETY
A film review by Darryl R. Cate
Copyright 1991 by Darryl R. Cate
Synopsis: An OK social commentary and a decent horror film
combined into a poor overall movie.
Rated: -1 on the +4 to -4 scale.
Director: Brian Yuzna. Writers: Woody Keith and Rick Fry. Producer: Keith Walley. Executive Producers: Paul White, Keizo Kabata, and Terry Ogisu. Cinematography: Rick Fichter. Special Make-Up Effects: Screaming Mad George. Cast: Billy Warlock, Devin De Vasquez, Evan Richards, Ben Ferguson, Patrice Jennings, Tim Bartell, Heidi Kozak.
This film is directed by Brian Yuzna, of REANIMATOR and BRIDE OF REANIMATOR fame. It was released in Europe in 1989, and was a success in England, but never released in the United States. It had its US debut at the USA Film Festival in Dallas on April 20, 1991.
The film centers on Bill (Billy Warlock), an upper-class teenager living in Beverly Hills. Bill is the star of the basketball team, dating a blonde cheerleader, and a shoe-in for class president. He is also visiting a psychiatrist, and feels like he is totally different from anyone else in his family. His parents and older sister seem alien to him. This is a common theme among teenager films, and done fairly well here, with the difference being that we in the audience quickly realize that there is more to Bill's feelings than normal teenage angst (somewhat reminiscent of PARENTS). The theme of class differences also is meant to be brought out, but suffers somewhat because no one in the film actually seems to be of a different or lower class. The class differences are more implied than demonstrated.
Bill feels like part of the "lower" class, even though the rest of his family is "upper" class. This feeling of difference feeds his suspicions and he slowly becomes aware that they may have substance beyond his feelings. A spurned boyfriend of his sister ("not *our* kind of people") bugs her car during the drive to her coming-out party and gets a tape of a conversation between Bill's sister and parents. The casual chit-chat is about a bizarre rite that resembles the normal coming-out festivities only in parody. "First you copulate with a young male your age, then you copulate with us, and then ...." When Bill needs another copy of the tape, the former boyfriend is killed in a suspicious car accident.
The odd incidents increase as Bill gets more uneasy. All the time he is assured that he is imagining things, and that he will "make a great contribution to Society", a bit of heavy-handed foreshadowing. Bill also becomes romantically and sexually involved with a girl who is part of the somehow different and privileged class. Finally Bill is waylaid and hospitalized by his parents and psychiatrist.
This is the point that the film changes from one of paranoid menace to horror. Bill apparently looses any of the common sense that he exhibited earlier in the movie (a trait seen too often in horror movie protagonists). He returns home to find all his parents society friends having a party, and he is both the entertainment and entree'. The action picks up quickly as the true nature of the members of Society becomes apparent. The usual goo and gore, chases and escapes result, with an ending that leaves too many loose ends to be satisfying.
My main problem with the movie comes at the transition point. As soon as the horror portion of the film begins, the tone of the movie changes from one of menace to outlandishness. Any message suddenly becomes lost in a host of special effects. The effects are well-done, and effective at conveying gross and gruesome, but they overpower all else. Failed heavy-handed attempts at humor also contribute to the destruction of the mood created earlier in the film. I suspect that the director wanted to have the horror add to the menace, but the two did not sync. The subtle feelings of unease are completely overwhelmed by the grotesque imagery.
Brian Yuzna and Screaming Mad George were in attendance. Mr. Yuzna is very likable, and I wish I had a better review of his movie, but I also wish I had seen a better movie.
Rating: -1 on the +4 to -4 scale.
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