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    Nostalgia Central
    Home»Movies»Movies by Decade»1980s Movies»Movies 1989
    Movies 1989 Movies S 2 Mins Read

    Society (1989)

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    A bizarre fable that starts like a TV soap opera but soon darkens into a disturbing horror thriller about an idyllic Beverly Hills community where something is subtly skewed.

    Handsome teenager Bill (Billy Warlock) feels uncomfortable with his affluent peers, but the usual teen insecurities take on a more sinister aspect when his sister’s ex-boyfriend Blanchard (Tim Bartell) plays him a clandestine audio recording of her ‘coming out’ party which suggests perverse incestuous sexual initiation – but when Bill’s shrink later plays the tape back to him, he hears only innocuous conversation.

    How does this connect with the exclusive teen clique of rich kid Ted Ferguson (Ben Meyerson) or Blanchard’s death in a road accident? Is there a dark conspiracy, or is Bill losing his marbles?

    First-time director Brian Yuzna is happier with the sly humour and clever plot shifts than with the appropriately iconic but sometimes dramatically unconvincing cast.

    He nevertheless generates a compelling sense of paranoid unease and shifts into F/X overdrive for an unforgettable horror finale – still one of the most shocking in cinema – a kind of La Grand Bouffe for SFX nerds with added fart gags and death-by-fisting.

    The make-up technician was called Screaming Mad George. Says it all, really.

    Bill Whitney
    Billy Warlock
    Clarisa
    Devin Devasquez
    Milo
    Evan Richards
    Ted Ferguson
    Ben Meyerson
    Jim
    Charles Lucia
    Nan
    Connie Danese
    Jenny Whitney
    Patrice Jennings
    Shauna Heidi Kozak
    Heidi Kozak
    Dr Cleveland
    Ben Slack
    Judge Carter
    David Wiley
    Blanchard
    Tim Bartell
    Petrie
    Brian Bremer
    Sally
    Marie Claire
    Jason
    Conan Yuzna
    Mrs Carlyn
    Pamela Matheson
    Sergeant Burt
    David Wells

    Director
    Brian Yuzna

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