Double Feature: We Live in a Society (Polite Society & Society 1989)

A great woman once said, “no, it’s the worst because of society”- Liz Lemon, 2012. Society supports us and also confines us to what is expected, in both good and bad ways. These societal pressures and structures naturally make a very fertile ground for all variety of art – be it satirical, comedic, or body horror.

If you’re feeling like a victim of society, cue up this double feature and enjoy coming to the realization that we’re all in the same boat. Why don’t we change it then, you might ask? Ssssshhhh, just watch.

Polite Society (2023, dir. Nida Manzoor)

Ria (Priya Kansara) and Lena (Ritu Arya) are sisters from a Pakistani family living in London. Ria, the younger sister, wants to be a stunt woman and spends an immense amount of time practicing, falling, and filming herself doing both. The two of them are close despite being very different, and it’s obvious that Ria sees herself as a protector, not just for her sister but for her friends and others as well.

The girls’ mother brings them to a party that is being thrown by Raheela (Nimra Bucha), a high society-type woman looking for a suitable mate for her son Salim (Akshay Khanna). Lena agrees to a date and soon finds herself swept up in a whirlwind romance moving much too fast for Ria’s liking. When Lena and Salim announce they’re going to be married, and they’re leaving London to live in Singapore, Ria can’t help but be suspicious. She and her friends try to find out Salim’s nefarious intentions and, despite being one of the movie’s best comedic sequences yet, she comes up empty handed.

As the day of the wedding draws closer, Ria’s paranoid behavior alienates her family and pushes Lena closer to Raheela. Ria visits her at home to apologize for her behavior but Raheela abducts and tortures her (with body waxing) while revealing her secret villain plan. Ria must gather her motley crew of forces to rescue her sister through any means necessary.

This is one of those movies that manages to be a ‘feel-good, girl power’ type without being pandering or sacchrine. The sister relationship is sweet but also rooted in reality where the tension and frustration between two people who are close doesn’t come off as manufactured drama. It supports the action sequences, which are the real crown-jewel of this film, and keeps up the momentum of these wild stunts and choreographed fights. Ria spends most of the movie being told what to do and how she’s supposed to behave and by the end of it, we learn there’s no such thing as rules because everyone’s playing by their own anyway.

Society (1989, dir. Brian Yuzna)

Considerably less adorable and heartwarming, Society is a body-horror movie from the golden age of practical effects. This one has sort of been lost to time but maintains a cult following. Or maybe I just keep showing it to people and they don’t hate it enough to stop being friends with me.

Bill (Billy Warlock) is a rich teen living in Beverly Hills who has always felt a little at odds with his adopted family. When his sister’s ex-boyfriend gives him a tape of a clandestinely recorded party, Bill’s paranoia is confirmed. The recording sounds like some sort of blood orgy where Bill can clearly hear his sister and parents discussing perverse sex acts and murderous appetites. Naturally, since this is a horror movie, the tape contains a much more innocuous debutant party when it’s played for Bill’s psychiatrist, Dr. Cleveland (Ben Slack).

As Bill tries to unravel just what in the hell is going on, anyone who helps him disappears or shows up dead. One student is seen with his throat cut then shows up the next day at school perfectly fine. Bill refuses to believe this is all happening inside his head and continues digging even after being warned his friends and Dr. Cleveland.

When Bill arrives home during a fancy, formal party, he learns that genetics aren’t the only thing different between him and his family. His parents explain that they’re not even the same species as Bill and they demonstrate their form of eating, called ‘shunting’, where they physically meld into one another and suck nutrients from a human host. Bill watches in horror and knows that he’ll be next if he doesn’t escape. He tears through the house, coming across creatures engaged in all manner of disgusting displays until he is helped by his friends and manages to get away.

If you enjoy body horror and the grotesque look of latex and fake blood being flung around, definitely look into Society. It’s more readily available to rent than it was when I was first searching for it and it really puts all its eggs in the visual horror basket. The story of how the rich and powerful feed on anyone they deem lower than them lands even harder now than it did in the eighties, which is certainly saying something. Like Polite Society, this is a movie that put a lot of time and effort into certain special effects sequences and made sure said sequences hit the exact right notes – both funny and freaky. It’s a great time-capsule of eighties effects, fashions, and attitudes with a weird secret society story propping it up.