Extras: Trailer, Filmographies, Production Notes, Film Notes, Tartan
Terror Trailer Reel
Director:
Brian Yuzna
(Society)
Producers:
Keith Walley
Screenplay:
Woody Keith and Rick Fry
Original Score :
Mark Ryder and Phil Davies
Cast :
Bill Whitney: Billy Warlock
Nan: Connie Danese
Dr Cleveland: Ben Slack
Milo: Evan Richards
Clarissa Carlyn: Devin DeVasquez
Jenny: Patrice Jennings
Blanchard: Tim Bartell
Jim: Charles Lucia
Shauna: Heidi Kozak
Petrie: Brian Bremer
Ferguson: Ben Meyerson
Mrs Carlyn: Pamela Matheson
Are Billy's psychotic fears for real?
Society
was the first ever legal 18-certificate film I saw at the cinema, on my 18th
birthday in fact, April 14th 1990, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
It takes the idea that when you're in your teens the one doubt you might have
from time to time is that there's something going on and your insecurities
make you wonder whether your parents are real, or are they some breed of robot,
or something worse, or was that just me?
Well, it can't be just me because high-school jock Bill Whitney (Baywatch's Billy Warlock)
gets these fears, only they turn out to be perfectly realised and, courtesy
of special effects from the appropriately-named Screaming Mad George,
it turns out that the Society his family want Bill to join is the kind that
has parties where everyone uses the ultimate lubricant that bonds their bodies
together like plasticene (see the "Butthead" on the front cover), which naturally
scares Bill half to death.
Talking of death, when friends of his get a little too close to the truth,
that's where they're headed, and in a world where he can't trust anyone, you
have to ask, just who the fuck is that fat woman walking around who Billy
bumps into frequently?
All of the cast act in keeping with the film, but none of them stand out amongst
the rest and since none of them have gone on to star in any number of films
I've seen since there's nothing more I can add about them, but at least they
made their mark in this excellent movie.
The mayor on his day off.
The print is clean with little or no defects and is presented in the original
1.85:1 widescreen ratio and is anamorphic, although it can look a little soft
at times.
The sound is plain Dolby Surround, and is okay when it needs to be but never
really stands out. Some good squelchy noises though.
The extras are rather on the thin side, sadly, starting with a 2-minute
trailer in anamorphic 1.85:1 widescreen, although looking slightly cropped top
and bottom because it was a 1.85:1 film and nothing wider. There are filmographies
for the director Brian Yuzna, Warlock and Connie Danese.
More pages of text come from Mark Kermode's Film Notes, who generally
waffles total nonsense whenever he opens his mouth, and Brian Yuzna's
Production Notes.
Add to this, the Tartan Terror Trailer Reel, a collection of six
horror films also on the label, and that's your lot. The recent Region 1 DVD
contained an audio commentary from the director.
There are no subtitles, sparse chapters at 16, and a few seconds of the
Society chant on the main menu, which soon grates as it goes round and round.
Still, at least the film looks good.
As of April 2009, Blu-rays and DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TH-37PX80B
37" Plasma TV with a Sony BDP-1500 Blu-ray player and played through a Yamaha DSP-AX820 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Jan 2011: Intel Quad Core Dell XPS 8100, i7 CPU 860 @ 2.80Ghz, 8Gb RAM, nVidia GeForce GTS 240, Windows 7
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
