Society (1989)

   
Directed by: Brian Yuzna

Written by: Rick Fry & Woody Keith

Starring:

Billy Warlock .... Billy Whitney
Devin DeVasquez .... Clarissa Carlyn
Evan Richards .... Milo
Ben Meyerson .... Ferguson
Charles Lucia .... Jim Whitney
Connie Danese .... Nan
Patrice Jennings .... Jenny Whitney
Heidi Kozak .... Shauna
Ben Slack .... Dr. Cleveland
David Wiley .... Judge Carter
Tim Bartell .... David Blanchard
Brian Bremer .... Petrie
Pamela Matheson .... Mrs. Carlyn


Release Dates:
Cannes Film Festival: May 13, 1989 (France); Athens Film Festival: September 23, 2009

*Images courtesy at: www.re-animatorfilms.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rating:

 

Billy Whitney (Billy Warlock) is an outsider in his family and feels that he is treated differently and talks to his shrink Dr. Cleveland (Ben Slack) about his problems but even finds some strange things happening in his office too thinking that he is hallucinating.
Also a paranoid kid named David Blanchard (Tim Bartell) tries to warn him and his sister Jenny (Patrice Jennings) about strange events that are going to happen and later is is reportedly dead from a tragic accident.
Suddenly his parents act very abnormal and most of all he is having a sketchy relationship with his girlfriend Shauna (Heidi Kozak) in which she catches him cheating with another girl who seems to have the hots for him named Clarissa Carlyn (Devin DeVasquez) in which he's confused about everything but then a shocking party is about to be revealed and finds the scary truth as to why everyone around him has been behaving so strangely.

 

While I first was watching the film it looked trashy from the start of it in which we spot a troubled kid named Billy getting a knife and holding it in which it almost reminded me of a cheesy version on the beginning of Halloween. Then there's an opening credits showing some wierd formation that I couldn't explain but then it gets explained quarter way through the plot.
There's moments with Billy talking to his counsellor which seemed fairly okay along with some shocking moments on him biting into an apple and finding out results of it which kinda psychs you out thinking "What the hell?"
There's also more mysterious moments like a dweeby person like David Blanchard trespassing in a house and trying to warn both Billy and Jenny about a situation that's happening with them getting anxious towards him as I found this very unconvincing and not effective at all to the story plus the parents asking Blanchard as to why he keeps bothering them without getting aggressive along with alot of bad liners too.
There's also moments with Billy getting distracted during a student counsel election due to a beautiful womam sitting in a certain situation that gets him aroused which I was thinking to myself "Oh c'mon man this is so pointless!"
There's a moment when Jenny asks Billy to help zip the back of her top and her skin starts to move which seemed like a bit of a nice touch to the film and leaving an impression that she isn't human as well as another moment with him spotting her behind a glass door of a shower and something doesn't look right with her which seems to pay a tribute to those old school sci-fi horror flicks making these moments twisted.
But there's also moments with Billy and his girlfriend making out and some kids squirting them with a squirtgun or a moment with a lustful girl named Clarissa spraying sun tan in his face along with her strange mother approaching in which I wondered if it was a guy dressed as a woman which all of this seemed extremely hokey and badly done.
There's the odd good but yet cheesy mysterious moment like the parents acting strange while talking to Bill about where he's going when he's heading out as if something has taken over their mind and then it falls flat again.
There's of course a good romp between Billy and Clarissa which bored me half to death as it didn't even the least bit convincing and later on the Mom entering and acting weird with what she is doing. I just was thinking to myself is this actually a horror flick or a crappy black comedy?!
But I do enjoy a scene where Billy spots a corpse in a car at night in a forestry area which did show some cheesy horror there and what better to have it but in the deep dark woods.
Eventually the horror comes into it even more and shocking when Billy finds out his family isn't what they seem to be with alot of gross out moments too which is hard to watch but deny that they aren't human and he was just an outsider.
Bottom line is this looks like a bad parody of old school films as well as something out of Ray Bradbury types of shows too and it doesn't explain itself at all along with not making any sense. The creators from Re-Animator did this one and should've been ashamed after making it.

The acting is pretty bad I must say but there were some odd good one's so let's look here:
Billy Warlock
(Billy Whitney) portrays a teenage outsider but yet he is just a line reader and seems quite pathetic when he tries to pump up some energy into his role. He is very wooden with his performance throughout the movie and just seems phony at everything he did. There's a scene on him going to a counter to pick up a knife and getting tense but yet his actions weren't too believeable. Yet a good raging aggression with him approaching towards his fellow actor and getting demanding towards him.
Devin DeVasquez
(Clarissa Carlyn) seemed to pull off her role not too badly but she wasn't overly great but had a nice touch to her speaking in which she seemed to come across nicely as one of those charming types as well as having a good sympatheic attitude too.
Evan Richards
(Milo) was the best actor in this film as I found he seemed to pull off his character well with his anxious behavior and heroic attitude too. He really brought alot in the film which is more than what I can say for most of the cast members here. So at least he got some good credit.
Ben Meyerson
(Ferguson) portrayed a popular bullying type of jock in the flick as he had the right looks but was way too goofy to be taken seriously. He also seemed quite wooden whenever he acted brutal too. Yet he came across nicely on the camera but that's about it.
Connie Danese
(Nan) showed some wit with her character as the Mom in which she certainly came across as very odd in which was a good thing but yet she seemed a bit cheesy in most of her scene's in the film but she wasn't overly terrible.
Heidi Kozak
(Shauna) has gained a reputation in cheesy films and boy was her performance cheesy in which she tried to act outgoing as well as showing an aggressive atttitude but yet she doesn't seem to cut it too well and seemed quite amateurish.
Ben Slack
(Dr. Cleveland) seemed to draw attention quite well as a shrink in the film showing a good serious attitude as well as acting bubbly too and can be convincingly entertaining with what he did throughout his performance. He can be well remembered for all of this.
Tim Bartell
(David Blanchard) was definetely humiliating as someone who is paraoid and trying to get the point at what he does. He really lacked in what he did in which he seemed to try way too hard but didn't pull it off too well. He had the right dorky looks though.
Pamela Matheson
(Mrs. Carlyn) seemed to stand out pretty well as if she a zombie with her expressionless looks and behavior. She certainly came across as those weirdo types with the dark comedy that was used in this film.

Patrice Jennings vcovers her breasts and vagina while a shower door opens
D
evin DeVasquez shows her boobs while fornicating in bed
A naked woman comes out of some strange type of thing that was once a body

A person's neck is cut bloodied dead in a vehicle
A person's body starts to look like clay as hands and faces dig in to him.
A hand goes through a persons face as he turns to clay and tears him open

There's cheesy low sounding synthesizer music with some high pitched sounds plus there's the odd tinking music too which sounds pretty trashy in which none of this impressed me at all composed by Phil Davies and Mark Ryder.