In 1989, Brian Yuzna’s SOCIETY was barred from a US release but resonated with audiences commercially and critically throughout Europe, particularly in the U.K. The film instantly became a cult-classic and its audacity has lived on through the years.
It has been analyzed and discussed all over social media with numerous video shows breaking down the structure, tone and satire and comparing it to other works on class warfare in society. Packing stomach-churning gore and thought-provoking social commentary in equal measure, Society was a biting horror satire culminating in one of the most gag-inducing “climaxes”’ in all of horror history. It has been considered a bona fide cult classic that continues to be watched, relished and enjoyed year after year to the delight of many.
However, little to nothing is known about the film’s origins and the original screenplay. And that is until screenwriter Zeph E. Daniel, formerly known as Woody Keith, stepped out of his closet-of-dark-secrets and told the incredible story behind this morbid, subversive oddity of a film. And the underlying truth that it was based on certain real-life events as horrific and outrageous as the actual story. In this case truth and fiction unite.
Credits: Produced by Loris Curci
Written by Larry Wade Carrell
Executive produced by Patricia Daniel
Directed by Larry Wade Carrell
With Anthony Timpone, Alan Jones, John Gullidge, David Gregory, Richard Stanley, Screaming Mad George, Brian Yuzna.
Narrated by Julian Sands
Society 1989
An ordinary teenage boy discovers his family is part of a gruesome orgy cult for the social elite.
Directed by Brian Yuzna
Written by Zeph E. Daniel (aka Woody Keith) and Rick Fry