Society

A horror film set in Beverly Hills that treats wealth directly as a species. Bill is the son of a rich family. But he does not feel he belongs to them and thinks something is wrong. A recording reaches him: his family's conversation about his sister is disturbing. The more he looks, the more he sees that everyone around him is keeping something from him, and nobody believes him. The idea is an open class allegory: the upper class really is a separate species and its relation to the lower one is a feeding relation. The last section is what the film is known for. The long sequence built from bodies merging and melting into each other was done entirely with practical effects; the design is by Screaming Mad George and is still cited within the genre. It was Brian Yuzna's first film as director; he had worked as a producer before. It was shown in Europe first and took years to open in America; its cult standing was formed in that delayed circulation. An important example for anyone who likes late-1980s body horror and allegorical genre work. Before you watch, know this: the last twenty minutes are physically uncomfortable, and that is deliberate.