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Post by stefancrosscoe on Mar 1, 2017 17:09:53 GMT
"You've been living with these people all your life, and you didn't know anything about this?"At first sight it seems like Bill Whitney (Billy Warlock) has it all made. He comes from a rich and wealthy family, dates a pretty cheerleader, is popular among his fellow students and has quite a promising future ahead of him. But the seemingly perfect lifestyle is about to go to pieces, when Bill comes over a shocking tape of what is supposed to be the voices his own family. Confused over what he has just heard, Bill decides to take a closer look at what's really going on in the luxurious Beverly Hills society.One of the most entertaining of the body-horror/splatter films by the late 80s, and are directed by Brian Yuzna who had earlier on worked with his friend Stuart Gordon on several cult classics such as Re-Animator (1985), From Beyond (1986) and Dolls (1987). The gruesome but very memorable special effects are done by Joji Tani or more known as "Screaming Mad George" and the film really is one of those that you won't forget anytime soon, that is sure, that or the lovely Devin DeVasquez:
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Post by FridayOnElmStreet on Mar 1, 2017 17:24:31 GMT
8/10 Very good, very gross, very bizzare film.
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Post by stefancrosscoe on Mar 1, 2017 17:47:38 GMT
8/10 Very good, very gross, very bizzare film. Yeah, its not the kind of film were you afterwards suddenly think to yourself, "Yeah, I can go for some pizza right now"
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blurry1981
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Post by blurry1981 on Mar 2, 2017 3:21:24 GMT
Dammit, I need to own this movie!!! I haven't seen this movie since I was a kid (middle school, I believe), & I can only remember a couple of the gory scenes (that orgy scene is definitely hard to forget).
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Post by petrolino on Mar 5, 2017 5:31:55 GMT
Awesome entertainment. One of Brian Yuzna's very best pictures as director which is saying something.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 26, 2017 1:35:53 GMT
Kinda boring, but I like the metaphor and the ending is memorable to say the least.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 27, 2017 15:52:01 GMT
A very solid directing debut for Brian Yuzna. Nice combo of social satire, urban paranoia, and insane effects flick. I did a write-up on it for the book "Hidden Horror".
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Post by stefancrosscoe on May 14, 2018 12:37:04 GMT
I do not usually buy that many movies or albums any longer in physical stores, as there are very few left of them in my country, and those who have survived are usually not that impressive when it comes to films and releases, which I guess is not exactly fitting too well outside the "mainstream/best seller" categories. It is a damn shame to witness the brutal fall of so many great and now sadly long gone smaller video stores, which used to have an incredible section full of all kind of weird and interesting horror, cult, sci-fi, action, b-movies and much more, and they always had something new and unique every week coming in. I would visit some of them, like 3-4 times a week. Sure, I spent probably too much money back then, but I also found many great gems and favorites as well, and I never knew what I would end up with. I really miss that feeling, whenever I went out on a weekly journey in the "big" city.
Anyway, this weekend one of the last big movie/music stores (I think actually it is the last one standing) had a up to 70 % price reduction on all of their DVDs and Blu-rays and I decided that I might just check it out, as it had been several months since the last time I had visited any of their shops. Turned out to be a pretty good decision as I found the 2017 DVD copy of Society, and I did not think twice before taking it with me home. I already own an older version on DVD, I think either released by Artisan or Tartan or some other label, but that copy had no subtititles, no extras and a terrible artwork/poster and thankfully the Arrow version is a well worthy upgrade with the classic movie poster included as an reversible option and lots of interesting and cool bonus extras, and from what little I have seen, the picture and sound quality is a big improvement over my older DVD version.
I will re-watch the film this summer, maybe together with Re-Animator and From Beyond, as they have that certain "bond" going with the weird characters, fantastic and nasty special effects and much more. But last night I decided to look upon a bit of the bonus material and it was quite interesting to hear how much work and love Brian Yuzna have for this great little horror gem. I had no idea that Dan O'Bannon (Alien and The Return of the Living Dead) was originally onboard to do the film, which I think was to be named The Men and was about a woman who suddenly realized that all men where aliens or something like that, but Dan suddenly left the project and Yuzna had to take on the director part in what would become a two movies in one deal, and in which the follow up to Re-Animator, the Bride of Re-Animator was to be the "star", while Society was more of a film that was just supposed to be done in a few weeks and then move onto bigger things, however I think of the two movies that Society turned out to be the better one, as Bride sure is a lot of fun but Society have that certain extra "punch" to it and which I think none of the Re-Animator sequels ever managed to recapture.
I enjoyed also seeing the interviews with the main stars of the film, such as Billy Warlock, Devin DeVasquez, Tim Bartell and Ben Meyerson. Must have been a blast for them to see that the film finally got on very well with the european audience, while it had pretty much been dismissed (very badly) by american critics and audiences, and suddenly they were treated like superstars for a short period of time, but I guess it might have something to do with the fact that Baywatch had been a TV phenomenom in europe and Warlock was at the time one of the stars of the show, and he also were dating his co-worker Erika Eleniak who travelled with him to the UK premiere of Society and was overwhelmed by the attention the film had gotten.
All in all, Arrow is becoming a favorite of mine with their many re-releases of 70s and 80s horror and cult movies, and I am looking very much forward to see what is new and included on another one of their 2017 releases which I got this weekend, The Stuff (1985).
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Post by Lebowskidoo 🦞 on May 14, 2018 14:46:01 GMT
I remember seeing this image in Fangoria magazine back when the movie came out: I thought, "Well, that looks weird," but I wouldn't see the movie until just a few years ago, and it lived up to its weird reputation. Definitely unusual!
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Post by stefancrosscoe on May 15, 2018 7:45:15 GMT
"Well son, I guess you were right. I am a butthead!!!" Yeah, that is one of the many weird/freaky pictures which got me interested in seeing the film back in (I think summer of 2009 or 10) when first being recommended it by some guy who worked at my favorite movie store, and I decided to look it up online and ended up ordering a DVD copy the very next day from their shop. 3-4 days later, the film arrived and it did not let me down.
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Post by masterofallgoons on May 15, 2018 18:40:54 GMT
Recently listened to a podcast that discussed this movie, and it seemed so odd that I didn't know anything about this one. Certainly sounds like the sort of oddity that I should have seen. Gotta check it out soon.
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Post by sublime92 on May 15, 2018 22:44:56 GMT
It's a decent, subversive movie despite the lousy 80s music score played on a keyboard.
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Post by MCDemuth on May 15, 2018 22:52:19 GMT
Yes, a very memorable "weird" movie.
I have it on DVD, and watch it every once in a while.
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