Society is a 1989 American body horror film directed by Brian Yuzna in his directorial debut from a screenplay by Woody Keith and Rick Fry.

It stars Billy Warlock as a teenager in Beverly Hills who begins to suspect that his wealthy parents are part of a gruesome cult made up of the social elite.

[1][2] Society was originally conceived as a more conventional slasher, featuring a cult of social elitists who engage in human sacrifice.

The screenplay was reshaped by Yuzna, who introduced body horror elements such as the reveal of the cult being a shapeshifting species that can literally feed on the lower classes, a concept he based on nightmares he had experienced.

When his sister's ex-boyfriend David gives him a surreptitiously recorded audio tape of what sounds like his family engaged in a murderous orgy, Bill begins to suspect that his feelings are justified.

The wealthy party guests strip to their underwear and begin "shunting", a phenomenon in which they physically deform their bodies and meld with each other into a near-amorphous mass of flesh.

Preparing Bill for the shunt, the cult members engage him in a fight with Ted, who pummels him repeatedly despite Clarissa's cries for him to stop.

Author Jon Towlson identifies political themes imported from paranoid science fiction thrillers, such as Invasion of the Body Snatchers and Invaders from Mars.

[7] Yuzna later cited the film's mix of paranoia, black humor, satire, and gore as alienating mainstream audiences.

Society's script appealed to Yuzna partly because it was thematically similar to a failed project he had begun with Dan O'Bannon.

[8][10] Yuzna chose to alter Keith and Fry's script, instead reshaping the cult into an alternate species of humans who literally feed on the lower classes.

[12] For its British release, Society was marketed in Video Trade Weekly with a picture of the film's theatrical premiere.

"[19] Variety described it as "an extremely pretentious, obnoxious horror film that unsuccessfully attempts to introduce kinky sexual elements into extravagant makeup effects".

[21] Marc Savlov of The Austin Chronicle wrote that the British press, who gave the film positive reviews, overrated it and stated that it would not play well to American audiences.

[22] Tom Tunney of Empire rated the film 4 out of 5 stars and wrote: "Way ahead of its time, this is a balls-out satire on the disgraceful layers that can lurk just beneath the Avon surface.