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Every Horror Fan Must Watch 1989’s ‘Society’ At Least Once

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If you’ve been watching horror films for a while, you’ve undoubtedly seen your share of strange ones. But one of the strangest and most bizarre is also one that is often overlooked. To the initiated, you may have already guessed where I’m going with this. One word: Society.

Brian Yuzna’s 1989 directorial debut is the cream of the crop of bizarre horror films. It’s unsettling, campy, but most of all, gooey. How many films can you describe as gooey? That, in my book, is a victory in itself.

In Society, Yuzna attempts to make a statement about the wealthy in America. Jean-Jacques Rousseau once said that “When the people shall have nothing more to eat, they will eat the rich.” However, Rousseau was not alive during the end of the 19th century, and filmmakers like Yuzna had come to think the opposite.

The film is about the Whitney family, but more specifically, Bill (Billy Warlock). His family is obscenely wealthy – excessive, plastic, and phony – and Bill feels completely out of place. He feels like he doesn’t belong in the family, which leads to him considering the fact that he may be adopted. His sister, Jenny (Patrice Jennings) seems to have an incestuous relationship with their parents – and maybe a sexual one with the entire group of wealthy homeowners in their neighborhood. Whatever it is, it’s not right, and it’s taking a toll on Billy’s mental health.

When begins as an odd mystery film with tinges of horror reminiscent of David Lynch eventually swallows itself whole and regurgitates itself, giving birth to the most insane thirty minutes of cinema that I have personally ever seen. It’s not particularly gory, but it absolutely is disgusting. It feels much like a Cronenberg film that’s gone completely off the rails to the point of no return – and, on that note, I applaud the film for doing just that. Once it gets weird, you’re stuck with it.

 

The mystery of the sexual relationship is revealed in a way that is much more surreal than Billy could have ever imagined. There’s a wealthy orgy going on, alright, and Billy finds this out in the worst of ways. As it turns out, it’s not that Billy is adopted – it’s simply that Billy and his family are different species.

I would love to say that the movie works well in both areas of the story – the mystery and the strangeness of the ultimate, shocking reveal – but speaking honestly, the shock factor heavily outweighs any of the serious aspects of the film. The acting isn’t particularly earth-shattering and the storyline is so predictable that I don’t even think it’s possible to spoil anything, but the end sequence (which is called “the shunting”) is almost indescribable in terms of gross weirdness. And while it may seem funny, there’s something extremely disturbing about this movie. Bodies are contorted and bended and melted and stretched in ways that defies logic. If the imagery doesn’t make you even a bit squeamish, you should probably see a therapist.

The goal of this article isn’t so much to analyze Society as it is to simply educate you on why you need to see it. Simply put, it will test the limits of just how much strange you can handle in a film. I won’t spoil what exactly happens – that would take the fun out of watching the movie, wouldn’t it? – but I can beg. I can plead. You need to watch Society. You need to know just how weird horror can get. If for nothing else, Yuzna’s film deserves a watch because of Screaming Mad George. Yes, that’s in the credits. Look it up if you don’t believe me.

So go ahead. Put it in your queue. Rent it, or borrow and old copy from a friend. Whatever you do, just find a way to get your hands on it…but be careful not to get too close.

I mean, where else are you going to be able to find a talking ass like this?

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‘Evil Dead’ Film Franchise Getting TWO New Installments

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It was a risk for Fede Alvarez to reboot Sam Raimi’s horror classic The Evil Dead in 2013, but that risk paid off and so did its spiritual sequel Evil Dead Rise in 2023. Now Deadline is reporting that the series is getting, not one, but two fresh entries.

We already knew about the Sébastien Vaniček upcoming film that delves into the Deadite universe and should be a proper sequel to the latest film, but we are broadsided that Francis Galluppi and Ghost House Pictures are doing a one-off project set in Raimi’s universe based off of an idea that Galluppi pitched to Raimi himself. That concept is being kept under wraps.

Evil Dead Rise

“Francis Galluppi is a storyteller who knows when to keep us waiting in simmering tension and when to hit us with explosive violence,” Raimi told Deadline. “He is a director that shows uncommon control in his feature debut.”

That feature is titled The Last Stop In Yuma County which will release theatrically in the United States on May 4. It follows a traveling salesman, “stranded at a rural Arizona rest stop,” and “is thrust into a dire hostage situation by the arrival of two bank robbers with no qualms about using cruelty-or cold, hard steel-to protect their bloodstained fortune.”

Galluppi is an award-winning sci-fi/horror shorts director whose acclaimed works include High Desert Hell and The Gemini Project. You can view the full edit of High Desert Hell and the teaser for Gemini below:

High Desert Hell
The Gemini Project

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‘Invisible Man 2’ Is “Closer Than Its Ever Been” to Happening

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Elisabeth Moss in a very well-thought-out statement said in an interview for Happy Sad Confused that even though there have been some logistical issues for doing Invisible Man 2 there is hope on the horizon.

Podcast host Josh Horowitz asked about the follow-up and if Moss and director Leigh Whannell were any closer to cracking a solution to getting it made. “We are closer than we have ever been to cracking it,” said Moss with a huge grin. You can see her reaction at the 35:52 mark in the below video.

Happy Sad Confused

Whannell is currently in New Zealand filming another monster movie for Universal, Wolf Man, which might be the spark that ignites Universal’s troubled Dark Universe concept which hasn’t gained any momentum since Tom Cruise’s failed attempt at resurrecting The Mummy.

Also, in the podcast video, Moss says she is not in the Wolf Man film so any speculation that it’s a crossover project is left in the air.

Meanwhile, Universal Studios is in the middle of constructing a year-round haunt house in Las Vegas which will showcase some of their classic cinematic monsters. Depending on attendance, this could be the boost the studio needs to get audiences interested in their creature IPs once more and to get more films made based on them.

The Las Vegas project is set to open in 2025, coinciding with their new proper theme park in Orlando called Epic Universe.

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Jake Gyllenhaal’s Thriller ‘Presumed Innocent’ Series Gets Early Release Date

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Jake gyllenhaal presumed innocent

Jake Gyllenhaal’s limited series Presumed Innocent is dropping on AppleTV+ on June 12 instead of June 14 as originally planned. The star, whose Road House reboot has brought mixed reviews on Amazon Prime, is embracing the small screen for the first time since his appearance on Homicide: Life on the Street in 1994.

Jake Gyllenhaal’s in ‘Presumed Innocent’

Presumed Innocent is being produced by David E. Kelley, J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot, and Warner Bros. It is an adaptation of Scott Turow’s 1990 film in which Harrison Ford plays a lawyer doing double duty as an investigator looking for the murderer of his colleague.

These types of sexy thrillers were popular in the ’90s and usually contained twist endings. Here’s the trailer for the original:

According to Deadline, Presumed Innocent doesn’t stray far from the source material: “…the Presumed Innocent series will explore obsession, sex, politics and the power and limits of love as the accused fights to hold his family and marriage together.”

Up next for Gyllenhaal is the Guy Ritchie action movie titled In the Grey scheduled for release in January 2025.

Presumed Innocent is an eight-episode limited series set to stream on AppleTV+ starting June 12.

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