The Young Devil

As I'm sure you've probably noticed, I've been posting a lot of images detailing the grungy new adult Michael Myers in his trademark jumpsuit and shredded Shatner mask from the upcoming Halloween 2 . Well, for those of you who haven't seen the child behind the mask, its time you did.

For Zombie's first Halloween the crew managed to find a gem of a child actor by the name of Daeg Faerch to portray the 10 year old Michael Myers. Portly, innocent and sweet, Faerch's performance was equal parts charming and terrifying, creating a unique portrait of a child inhabiting a life of invenitable loneliness before embracing his eventual madness. For the sequel, however, Zombie claims that Faerch had grown considerably in height since completion of the first film and was now standing taller than his onscreen mother, Deborah Myers (Sheri Moon Zombie). Due to continuity issues the decision was then made to re-cast young Michael Myers in the form of Chase Wright Vanek, a fledging child actor now in his second film role to date.

Below is a composite image of both young Michaels - Faerch on the left, Vanek on the right.

Which youngster gets your spine tingling, dare I ask?



Images courtesy of Horror Fanatics and Daily Radar .

Cover Boy Mikey

Afternoon cretans!

More glory for Rob Zombie's forthcoming Halloween 2 , Micheal has once again made the front cover of Fango this month in a bloody pic sure to satisfy the rabid fans. I know I am!



Old news, I know. But I thought I'd dedicate it a posting regardless.

Cover image courtesy of Shock Till You Drop .

Feaure Length Review: 'Frightmare' (1974)

“All I wanted to do was create a bit of mischief”.

And that he did. Despised by the majority of British filmmakers during his active years in the industry, goremiester Pete Walker enjoyed a short-lived but productive career making the kinds of pictures most critics would readily burn at the stake. His filmography began innocently enough with soft-core adult numbers during the late 60s before steadily taking a turn toward the macabre in the early 70s with the underrated House of Whipcord , firmly establishing his name as a down and dirty exploiter. Though perhaps his best film came in 1974 with the demented family drama Frightmare , still packing quite a bloody punch today as a film with more substance than one might initially expect of its type.



THE LOWDOWN: In a black & white pre-credits sequence flashbacking to 1957, two young lovers are judged before a court for several acts of homicide and sentenced to a mental institution until legally fit for re-entry into society. Cut to the present day of 1974, makeup artist Jackie (Deborah Fairfax) is struggling to keep things together with her family - her teenage sister Debbie (Kim Butcher) is a rebellious loner hell bent on causing habitual mischief while her father Edmund (Rupert Davies) enlists Jackie’s help in dealing with her emotionally fragile mother Dorothy (Sheila Keith). As the fabric of each relationship begins to deteriorate – particularly that of her mother – secrets are soon revealed that call into question Jackie’s ancestral past and the potentially murderous nature of her parents.



THE TERROR TALE & ITS TIMING: Marketed by local distributors as a bottom-of-the-barrel exploitation film and featuring grisly artwork that garnered an immediate reputation, this psychologically dense shocker is surprisingly intelligent and far more thoughtful than many films dealing with similar subject matter. Part psycho thriller part family drama, Frightmare ’s gloomy title and grisly veneer are merely a disguise for a film that addresses very real issues surrounding family and 'insanity' as well as reflecting 70’s sensibilities toward the horror genre.



A rare trait in low-budget horrors is a tightly structured and carefully plotted screenplay. Walker’s film is a mystery at heart - cautiously paced and revealing only the most necessary of information when needed before unleashing the true horrors in the final reel. When first introduced to Jackie’s parents it seems they are simply trying to deal with an onset of depression – particularly in the case of Jackie’s mother, Dorothy, a former patient at a mental facility. Living under the care and supervision of her husband Edmund, Dorothy’s disposition is initially delicate, only occasionally suffering nervous breakdowns and emotional stress. But as Jackie’s investigation into her parent’s dubious past becomes more disturbing the movie finally delivers the true lunacy it hinters at in its early stages. The systematic revealing of secrets not only makes the suspense more palpable but also greatens the impact of the concluding twist. It is this patience of storytelling that makes Frightmare so watchable and inadmissible as a typical exploitation film.



DOOMED CHARACTERS: With the exception of fledging psychiatrist – and potential love interest - Graham (a solid performance by Paul Greenwood) every character in the film is emotionally wounded by events in their past. Unlike many horror films that deal with the birth of a developing threat and the gradual deterioration of characters over time, Frightmare begins its first frame with characters whom are already doomed by fate and thus have almost no hope in escaping the oncoming disaster befalling them. The Yates family exist in murky and ethically vague waters, forever struggling to embrace their true homicidal natures. When Jackie’s worst fears about her mother and father materialize, she displays none of the typical heroics exhibited by conventional movie wisdom but rather succumbs to the hopelessness of her eventual demise. This inherent misfortune creates a psychological complexity seldom seen in genre films that deepens the impetus, especially for the film’s villains.

And speaking of villains, who can forget Sheila Keith’s unpretentiously frightening performance? A gifted actress in every sense of the word, her portrayal of a pathetically feeble elder concealing the mind of a ruthless psychopath is as compelling and skillful as any memorable madman in the genre. See the film if not for her performance alone.



THE LOOK OF FEAR: Hitchcock once said, “television has brought back murder into the home -- where it belongs”. With this alternative in mind Walker’s choice to set the unbridled domestic mayhem within the little English countryside village of Haslemere is a stroke of true genius. From its inception the seemingly cosy landscape also carries with it a potent sense of dread, an effective mislead into a falsely safe world. The Yates home and its cave-like geography is almost always fashioned to be dark and laden with deep shadows, giving the impression of a rickety past in comparison with the brighter surrounds of Jackie’s lifestyle. In many ways the foreboding homely sets of Frightmare bring to mind those of the Bates family residence in Psycho , the ultimate dwelling for family dysfunction. Peter Jessop’s cinematography is also lush and still slick by today's standards (bar a few dated snap zooms).

And being a horror film, let's not forget the grue. Cinema veteran George Partleton dishes out a small but effective number of makeup effects, each surprisingly graphic for their time (the pitchfork to the face is particularly nasty) and successful in illustrating the Yates’ unquestionable urge for brutal violence. Common of most shockers of the time, these kills were what eventually drove the film’s marketing campaign thus giving Frightmare its unfairly negative reputation.



THE SOUND OF FRIGHT: Recalling the unholy music of euro shockers by the likes of Argento and Bava, Stanley Myers’ menacing score breeds a classically threatening tone only found in the slow-burn thrillers of the period. The main title theme intimidates and unsettles, alluding to the narrative unrest soon to come. And by the time the finale rears its ugly head Myers unleashes a shriekingly malevolent final composition that only serves to amplify the Yates’s unspeakable plans for their daughter Jackie.



FINAL THOUGHTS: Like many films of its kind its a shame Frightmare was overlooked at the time by mainstream critics as a disposable exploitation quickie. Walker once described his approach to horror as 'modern Gothique', a disconcerting antidote to the rather safe and predictable Hammer formula. In practice Frightmare stands as a perfect demonstration of this method as a film that takes repressed domestic anxieties and the fear of one’s parental guidance and mutates them into a horrifying drama that rings all the more true for its twisted, social honesty.

Dir: Pete Walker
Writer: David McGillivray
Cast: Rupert Davies, Sheila Keith, Deborah Fairfax, Paul Greenwood
Country: UK
Run Time: 88min
Rated: R18+

The Devil's Trailer - EXTENDED!

Evening, cretans.

A new extended trailer for Rob Zombie's Halloween 2 has been released today over at Yahoo! Movies and features all new footage of the upcoming sequel. The more I see of this movie the bigger my appetite becomes. RZ has definitely made the effort to take the series in a whole new direction with this the 10th entry in the franchise.

CLICK HERE to check out the new extended trailer courtesy of Yahoo! Movies .

Halloween 2 hits theaters August 28th.

Feaure Length Review: 'Repo! The Genetic Opera' (2008)

A futuristic horror/rock/opera; is such a filmic combination even possible to fathom? You bet it is. Creators Terrence Zdunich and Darren Smith have helped aid director Darren Lynn Bousman (of Saw II-IV fame) in adapting their fiercely independent stage production to the enormity of the big screen for what has turned out to be a labour of love for all involved. Repo! The Genetic Opera is an explosion of comically macabre ideas and vibrant imagery, fuelled by a sharp industrial soundtrack that makes for a highly unique film refusing to follow the status quo.



THE LOWDOWN: In the not-too-distant future (ain’t it always the case?) a deadly world epidemic devastates the planet, causing the majority of humanity’s organs to fail. In the wake of the tragedy, a bio-tech company named GeneCo offers survivors organ transplants…for a price. If a patient cannot keep up with their scheduled payments GeneCo sends out legalized assassins known as ‘Repo Men’ to hunt down and retrieve the company's rightful property.

Amid the grim post-apocalyptic landscape the majority of the human population has become addicted to plastic surgery as a result of their’ failing bodies. By request of her seemingly serene father Nathan (Anthony Stewart Head), young Shilo (Alexa Vega) is bed-ridden from a fatal blood disease, restricting her contact with the outside world to the view from her window. Leading a secret life as a Repo Man himself, Nathan’s hidden past soon comes back to haunt him when GeneCo founder Rotti Largo (Paul Sorvino) threatens to open the skeleton’s closet if he refuses to carry out a job involving Shilo’s Godmother, Blind Mag (Sarah Brightman). These and other truths are finally revealed at one wildly anticipated spectacular event: The Genetic Opera!



THE TERROR TALE & ITS TIMING: Before this terrifically atypical stage play was realized on celluloid, Zdunich and Smith’s twisted musical opus was shopped around for many years to find the right director to puppet its intricately maniacal strings. Coming off the success of the first two Saw sequels, Darren Bousman had a strong repour with the theatre production and demanded he be the man to helm the adaptation should it reach the silver screen. His passion for the material is certainly evident in the filmic transformation, however differing quite considerably from the original stage version. Taking elements of the aforementioned series but spinning them in a grinder with the fetish fashions of The Rocky Horror Picture Show and the bleak technological landscape of Blade Runner , the accumulated result is a sensory overload that begs your attention from the first gleefully warped frame to the last. There is so much for the audience to feast on, from the electric song numbers and flamboyant costumes to the bloody disorder and larger-than-life characters. The sheer explosion of collaborative imagination on show is a true over-the-top delight to behold (provided you have a taste for excess and the playfully gruesome).



Like many other views of the future, Repo! is an austere creation, looming with social destruction and urban decay; the streets are crowded with deviants, the architecture disintegrating, the rich trample the poor, etc. But unlike most concept-heavy sci-fi epics the movie’s themes and ideas become more simplified through its operatic nature, rather than convoluted and puzzling. At no point during the mayhem does the film ever take itself seriously, and thank god it doesn’t as the ideas and thematic content become much easier to digest as a result of its consistently toung-in-cheek sensibility.



The film also incorporates a strong comic book consciousness amid the pandemonium – most notably the illustrated flashback montages that branch each character’s back story – that further enrich its narrative drive. And while Zdunich and Smith’s screenplay is at times appropriately campy in tone it also has moments of genuine tragedy and melodrama that provide an emotional gravity as well as levity to the action.



DOOMED CHARACTERS: In the vein of an already eccentric premise, Repo! ’s demented charactership is equally, if not more inflated with wild exaggeration. Rotti Largo and his bitter offspring (including Bill Mosely in a hugely enjoyable role as the ill-tempered elder son Luigi) boast relentlessly throughout the film as if on an accelerated ADD streak, Nathan’s Repo Man persona relishes his work with gaudy delight and even smaller supporting players such as the semi-narrating Graverobber (played by Zdunich himself) chew the scenery as if it were to never diminish. And while it could be argued that Alexa Vega is perhaps miscast as the film’s leading heroic figure, rivaling the stage with a sizeable cast of prominent character actors whilst also having to communicate her character’s journey through musical keys would not have been an easy feat for any young teenage performer. Ultimately the best thing about Repo! ’s ensemble cast is watching their obvious enjoyment and passion for the material reflect a sense of amusement and circus in each song, resulting in immediate audience participation.



THE LOOK OF FEAR: As already noted above, the boundless production value of the movie is evident in every frame of its malevolent oeuvres. Interestingly, Repo! is fact a rather low-budget production, which makes its visual potency all the more impressive when one realizes just how much the filmmakers have managed to pull off via limited means. Saw sequel regular David Hackl creates a smorgasbord of detailed sets that range from the hellish (eg, the graveyard grounds and back alley drug ways) to the elegant (eg, Nathan’s polished home and the climactic playhouse) but they always remain consistently thematic in their design. Much like any extravagant stage production the film also calls upon for garment attire that must surpass realistic practicality and instead live in a world of the gleefully fantastic. Costume designer Alex Kavanagh’s wardrobe choices are nothing short of stunning, the catwalk leather and lace further complementing the colorful world the characters inhabit.



THE SOUND OF FRIGHT: Unlike other ghoulish musical celebrations such as Cannibal! The Musical or Sweeny Todd where musical numbers emerge abruptly mid-scene, Repo! is in fact an opera; the distinction being that every word in the film – from the first to the last - is sung in motion. In other words the film is not dominated by choreographed dance numbers but rather stylized movements stimulated by music. Varying from the outrageous to the subdued and everything in between, the movie’s industrial soundtrack is catchy and cool (especially the ‘Zydrate Anatomy’ track) and stands alone as an accomplished musical recording in its own right.



FINAL THOUGHTS: While far from being a horror film in the traditional sense, I felt Repo! had enough grisly menace and morbid curiousity to be included here as a featured review at Samityville . It’s a rare experience when a movie takes you by pleasant surprise and all the more rare for it to have a lasting effect after the fact. Even though it should never be taken too critically, Repo! The Genetic Opera is a highly impressive display of sheer creative energy and uncompromising artistics that, when viewed with a large group of people, becomes more than just a movie .

“TESTIFY!”

Dir: Darren Lynn Bousman
Writer: Darren Smith & Terrance Zdunich
Cast: Alexa Vega, Anthony Stewart Head, Paul Sorvino, Sarah Brightman, Paris Hilton
Country: USA
Run Time: 98min
Rated: MA+

The Devil's One Sheet

Well, its been a long time coming but finally Dimension has released their official one sheet poster for Halloween II (previously H2 ). I don't think its an especially epic design but its certainly eye catching.

What do you guys think?



Halloween II is unleashed in theaters August 28th.

Poster courtesy of BloodyDisgusting .

H2 goes official!

Hey cretans!

I apologize in advance for this rather quick (but good!) post, as I am in the middle of writing a new review for you. But for those following the upcoming H2 there's now an official website online you might like to scope out!

www.halloween2-movie.com

More to come soon...

The Devil's Two Faces

When it comes to catching the latest glimpse of an infamous movie maniac mid-production, we fans will do whatever it takes to scream for any image available. Unlike filmmakers such as George Lucas and Steven Spielberg, the cast and crew of H2 have been more than generous to reveal script snippets, casting details - even video blogs for the fans to follow in an effort to get their bloodbath hyping among the horror community. The new Michael Myers is shaping (no pun intended, I swear) up to be a mix of both old and new, accumulating a particularly interesting vision for RZ and a fresh new direction for the undying franchise.

Here's two separate looks at the new Mickey; one traditional while the other showing The Shape at his most destitute. Very interesting indeed.

H2 is in theaters August 28th.

Images courtesy of CHUD and About .

The Devil's EPK

Evening, cretans! Check out this behind the scenes epk for H2 . It features some pretty narley footage from the film as well as RZ, Malcom McDowell and FX maestro Wayne Toth on the set during production.

H2 slashes into theaters August 28th.

The Shape's Art

Firstly I gotta say that I'm a movie buff who truly appreciates the skill and craftsmanship that goes into making a fantastic film poster. Some posters are - and you can quote me on this - works of art, and I mean that sincerely. The one sheets for horror classics like A Nightmare On Elm Street, Jaws, Alien, Hoste l and many others are just as worthy to stand alongside the Mona Lisa as masterful visual designs. Other posters, however, make me want to slide my face up and down a cheese grater.

I thought I'd dedicate this post to the recent H2 teaser art that's been hitting the online boards the last few months in an effort to gain a consensus on its merits/misgivings. Firstly, take a look at the theatrical poster for Rob Zombie's 2007 original:



While not a terrible poster by any means, I thought this design was ultimately a little too cluttered and confused. I like the idea of the character montage in the background forming The Shape's mask and it mixes appropriately with the glowing orange of pumpkins, but on the other hand something is lost in the simplicity of the layout. To me the best posters are simple and sparing, making the most of only a few essential elements. But when too many points of focus are introduced the eye sometimes gets lost in the shuffle and the immediacy of a design is often numbed a little.

Earlier in the year Dimension Films originally released a predominantly black & white teaser illustrating a grainy impression of The Shape's mask coupled with a title and release date in the bottom left hand corner of the frame. Soon thereafter came a slightly modified version of the same poster, with only a few features on the mask having been altered.

NOTE: The original version is on the left.



In the spirit of teaser art, these are pretty effective if not terribly imaginative designs that simply highlight the return of the film's leading man. Interestingly enough there never appeared to any official teaser posters made for the original film. Why this was the case, I don't know. Perhaps the months of internet hype prior to that film's theatrical release was enough to get the fan's blood boiling.

Now whether this one is official or not (it kinda looks like fan art to me but I could be wrong) here is another teaser image that appeared online a little while back.

NOTE: The title change to Halloween 2 (hence my suspicions).



While I'm not especially blown away by these images so far I'm really looking forward to seeing what the marketing gurus at Dimension come up with for their final theatrical design.

Keep watching this space for further updates on The Shape's return to cinemas on August 28th.

Posters courtesy of Impawards.

Feaure Length Review: 'Them' (2005)

French horror cinema has been making a seriously respectable name for itself these past few years, producing some of the most viscerally uncompromising and genuinely ingenious chillers that often rival (and sometimes fat-out put to shame) most of Hollywood’s best genre output. Titles like Haute Tension, Frontier(s), Inside and this year's controversial Martyrs introduced fright fans to a world where the extreme ruled and the word ‘limit’ held no meaning. While not a gorefest by any means, David Moreau and Xavier Palud’s supremely unsettling home invasion flick Them stands firmly alongside the above mentioned stomach churners as a rare filmic example of how terror can be created largely within the confines of one’s own imagination.



THE LOWDOWN: Sangov, Romania October 6th, 2002. A mother and her teenage daughter drive along a dark lonely road toward their home amid the woods. They swerve suddenly to avoid hitting a figure standing in the middle of the road and instead wrap the front end of their FWD around a streetlight in the process. Stranded and without phone reception, the mother exits the vehicle and attempts to reconfigure the damage, only to disappear abruptly behind the raised hood. Terrified, the young teenager desperately tries her phone again for help until she, too, is smothered from behind her seat by an unknown intruder.

The following afternoon, grade school teacher Clementine (Olivia Bonamy) and her aspiring novelist partner Lucas (Michael Cohen) meet at their home in the woods for a relaxing evening together. As night falls the couple are soon besieged by a series of strange sounds coming from outside the house, followed eventually by a full-fledged assault by a group of unidentified hoodlums who have every intention of turning the young couple’s once peaceful night into a horrifying fight for survival.



THE TERROR TALE AND IT’S TIMING: The home invasion sub-genre is a rarely attempted niche within horror, perhaps due largely to the limiting logistics such a scenario is inherently cursed with. Furthermore, Them claims to be based on the true story of a young Austrian couple who met their doom at the hands of a murderous clan of juveniles (although names and events have been changed of course), which would impose on the film an even greater task of dramatic authenticity. But the simple premise of unknown intruders violating a place of warmth and comfort in order to commit seemingly random acts of evil is so primal in its implications of fear it’s perhaps surprising more filmmakers don’t attempt their own spin on such a horrifically rich set of circumstances.



Upon first glance, the film may bare a lot of resemblance to Bryan Bertino’s The Strangers (made three years later, mind you) which was also inspired by a true crime. While that film had a far greater budget and star power spinning its wheels, Them , in many ways, is a more impressive shocker as a result of how much it achieves with its limited production muscle. Right from the get-go the film makes every effort to portray a believably naturalistic environment for its events and characters, never succumbing to a heavy-handed sense of impending doom or telegraphing the upcoming horrors too early. And in the vein of other great thrillers like Straw Dogs and Panic Room , this is a slow-burn assault on the senses that builds very scare with time and precision so that each violent consequence is as brutal and heartbreaking as possible.



Another advantage the film’s low budget affords itself is the no-nonsense approach to the story. In other words the financial restrictions enforce Moreau and Palud to maintain focus on the power of the already frightening scenario and avoid them getting sidetracked by superfluous plot twists and the like. This is a horror movie about our fear of things that go bump in the night, plain and simple.

DOOMED CHARACTERS: Ordinary people with everyday professions and everyday problems are always more convincing for audiences, more so when those characters are faced with a deadly threat. Bonamy and Cohen make for an extremely likeable couple powerless to the hostility of their young oppressors and when they inevitably do meet their makers, I actually felt genuine sorrow rather than relief. It would have been an easy route for the screenplay to portray the two leads as conventional leading adults who come to triumph the imposing evil with heroic feats of wistful action but instead Them has the patience to understate its protagonists and give them a real sense of naïveté’.



THE LOOK OF FEAR: Some films are often harmed by their low budgets (limited production value, inadequate pre-production, rushed casting, etc, etc) but the skin and bones essentials of Them not only add to the innate atmosphere but strengthen its lasting effect. At least 99% of the film is shot hand-held, partly as a result of budgetary restrictions, but also as a method of creating a unique immediacy to the action. Standout visual cues like the revealing of one intruder behind a curtain veil, the eerie woods chase and the final showdown in the underground tunnel ducts are simple and effective, further relaying the notion of substance over style. Even with this approach to the visuals the camerawork is always fluid and calculated, never resorting to gimmicky stunts or elaborate photographic acrobatics in the hope of achieving a ‘wow’ factor.



THE SOUND OF FRIGHT: Just as important as its visual punches, Them ’s indisputably creepy sound design is a true display of aural ingenuity and plays relentlessly on the most basic of night terrors. Whether it be rain falling outside the young couple’s bedroom, the eerie hum of television static, broken glass smashing or the unholy screams of the adolescent prowlers running through the woods, each auditory sting brings with it a chill through the backbone, enhancing the already taut anxiety. Moreau and Palud also clearly understand and respect the power of silence, never overloading their scares with inconsequential noise or numbing effects that would otherwise undermine an audience’s intelligence. René-Marc Bini’s score is wisely sparing also and only accompanies the action when needed. Once again, the ultimate goal here is realism .



FINAL THOUGHTS: The fear of a corrupted comfort zone coupled with senseless violence at the hands of a nameless enemy is a real and existent one in the modern world. Whether it be the events of Columbine, the Bali terrorist bombings or the exploits of the BTK serial killer, we can all relate to the horror of irrational assault on one’s own familiar surrounds. As a film, Them is beautifully cinematic and a smart example of psychological horror. As a portrayal of real fears in a real world context, it’s almost a little too good at triggering the trepidation twine.

Dir: David Moureau & Xavier Pauld
Writer: David Moureau & Xavier Pauld
Cast: Olivia Bonamy, Michael Cohen
Country: France
Run Time: 77min
Rated: MA+

The Devil Walks Among Us...AGAIN!

Okay cretans, its time I showed my growing enthusiasm for Rob Zombie's upcoming H2 in the online stratosphere. Its no secret that fans of the modern renaissance man's original reimagining of John Carpenter's boogieman classic were indeed few and far between but I for one really admired what he managed to pull off. Initially when I first heard the news that Rob had signed on for a follow-up I was a little surprised (as most genre fans were), especially after his much recorded quotations of not wanting to continue the franchise after his own contribution. But upon learning that this film is not intended as a remake of Rick Rosenthal's Halloween 2 but rather a entirely original composition got my mind twisting into far more intrigued areas. This movie, in my opinion, may just top Zombie's prior.

Click Here to view the official H2 teaser trailer!
Trailer courtesy of Yahoo! Movies .

Click Here to follow RZ's H2 post-production progress and other such madness on Twitter.

Being one of my personal favs in the pipeline, I'll be packing this space with more H2 news as it continues to come spilling in...

Pontypool, dear Pontypool

As I'm sure many of you local film buffs are aware, the Sydney Film Festival is in full swing and now in its 56th celebration. There a few tasty horror titles on the menu this year, most notably the Norwegian splatter bonanza Dead snow , docu-drama Paranormal Activity and - of course - Bruce Macdonald's highly anticipated zombie-esque talk-a-thon Pontypool . Now I haven't written a review as of yet but I couldn't help but mention that I was lucky enough to snag myself a ticket for Pontypool 's Saturday night screening...and I was blown away to say the very least. Both unnerving and hilarious in equal doses, Macdonald crafted such a delightfully unusual tale with the film, almost to the point of being unclassifiable in its complexity. I'd recommend this guaranteed cult oddity to almost anyone, so long as you have a strong patience and appreciation for 'the word'.

Anywho, more on that later...

Feaure Length Review: 'Society' (1989)

Brian Yuzna instantly became known to genre fans in 1985 when he produced Stuart Gordon’s Lovecraftian masterpiece of splatter Re-Animator . The film was (and still is!) a triumph of demented horror and black comedy and was successful enough to earn Yunza a number of other producing gigs (namely From Beyond and Dolls ), making him a respected player in the independent fright field. When it came time to try his hand at wielding the directorial megaphone, Yuzna stumbled upon an original screenplay by Woody Keith and Rick Fry – a terrifically satirical tale about paranoia and social incest - and managed to create one of the most underrated horror films of the 1980s.



THE LOWDOWN: In the snobbish, wealthy neighborhood of Beverly Hills California, popular rich boy Bill Whitney (Billy Warlock) appears to have it all; a beautiful girlfriend, a sporting reputation, the captainship of his classmates and yet something in his life remains discontented. Despite his advantages Billy can’t seem to fit in amongst his own family and feels a constant discomfort and alienation from them and their socialist hijinks. He makes regular visits to a psychiatrist (Ben Slack) in an attempt to discuss his growing anxieties, all the while being swayed to believe that his mounting paranoia is simply a case of teenage angst.



When seemingly looney classmate Blanchard (Tim Bartell) confronts Billy with a disturbing audio tape recording of a bizarre sex act involving Billy’s family and several other unknown individuals, the young teen embarks on a horrifying quest to uncover the truth behind his relatives’ secret lives and their curious connection to a grand communal dynasty.



THE TERROR TALE & ITS TIMING: The complexity of teenage anxiety and feelings of estrangement toward one’s own family unit are not only commonplace for most of us but are virtually inevitable at some point in our early years. Whether we think our parent’s are aliens or just plain weird, there’s something inside all of us that signals some level of detachment from those that birthed, feed and raised us. But Society ’s gleefully ironic take on family fear represents only one of its many targets: the other being the rich upper class and their guiltless exploitation of the common man. The first act plays much like a standard paranoia thriller with Billy’s fears isolated to him alone and not shared by those around him. But it isn’t until the second and third acts (most notably the infamous ‘shunting’ sequence) that the themes and metaphors Society establishes so unapologetically early on are materialized visually, creating some of the most gleefully disturbing images ever to come out of Beverly Hills.



Keith and Fry’s screenplay, while occasionally diverting from the main conceit of the story, unfolds piece by piece in a slow burn tale that depicts the rich as the ultimate bloodsuckers of society (both figuratively and literally). Much like in real life the rich smuggers are arrogant, deceitful and untrustworthy, making them comparable to almost any villain in the horror pantheon. When the truth about their wretched aristocracy is finally revealed, the crude revelation is a true display of surrealistic depravity and makes the film’s evils all the more wild and poignant. I for one have always harbored a certain amount of distain for those that consider themselves ‘worthier’ or more sophisticated than the everyday Joe. Perhaps it is this central idea that I respond to so much each time I watch the movie…and why it’s so damn enjoyable as well.



THE LOOK OF FEAR: It goes without saying that Society ’s most obvious visual strength is its absurdly flamboyant but highly impressive makeup effects, designed and executed by Japanese maestro Screaming Mad George. When the story reaches its climax and all narrative logic is abandoned, the film’s perverse sexual implications reach their physical limits in an amazing display of twisted foam latex and silicone rubber gags. More importantly, Screaming Mad generates a metamorphosis nightmare that also serves the story, rather than a blatant excuse for cool movie magic. The shunting is further heightened through Rick Fichter’s crimson lighting and humid colour scheme, making the orgiastic frenzy all the more slimy and claustrophobic.



THE SOUND OF FRIGHT: Given the colorful nature of the story the filmmakers are left to revel in a realm beyond realism, pulling off a soundscape fuelled by all things wet and squishy. Again the film shines in the finale when the landed gentry absorb their victims in a synthesis of slime, at times reminiscant of insects in a feeding frenzy. Another highlight is the film’s main title theme – an eerily sweet melody that plays much like a children’s nursery rhyme.



FINAL THOUGHTS: Although dated by some 80s cheese and occasionally falling victim to its own wild conceit, Society is a truly underestimated black comedy that delivers both in its irony and its shocks. Perhaps it was the film’s barefaced illustration of taboo themes and eagerness to take the genre in a different direction that divided critics at the time. But with a little luck (and guts) this cleverly demented gem may soon acquire the audience it deserves.

Dir: Bryan Yuzna
Writer: Rick Fry & Woody Keith
Cast: Billy Warlock, Denise Danese, Ben Slack, Even Richards, Practice Jennings
Country: USA
Run Time: 99min
Rated: M+