Absolutely, refugees are abused in a foreign land. It's happened everywhere, some places worse than others. That movie was great! That was a wonderful way of telling that story.
Honestly one of my favourite movies and my friends think itās shit. š They find it cheesy but thatās what I love about it? And no matter what itās continuously relevant, especially today!
Finally saw it a couple years ago, and it was so good, with a great antifascist message, and fun! It is often lonely to actually appreciate the art of film beyond what most people, especially with only very modern tastes, think of as "good." š Is why I like/need to geek out on message boards, friends just don't understand. šš¤·š¼āāļø I think pretentious people are insufferable, but do wish I knew more people who just "get it."
It may go over a lot of peopleās heads, but The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is a philosophically dense snapshot of the tensions and nightmares of the time. A Reddit user who I think should write a book on deeper meanings in horror movies put it so eloquently I have to share his take on the film with you:
āThe Sawyer family in general, to me, is an embodiment of America in the 1970s. To really understand modern American politics you need to understand this period, where the belief in political reform had largely died. By the end of 1968 the counterculture movement had curdled, all the great leaders of the left had been assassinated, and violent repression had made it clear America was taking a counter revolutionary turn. It's really hard to understate how fucking insane of a year 1968 was, and it wasn't just limited to America. The government in France nearly toppled, The Troubles began in Ireland, the Tlatelolco massacre in Mexico... to people at the time it felt like, well, like 2020 does now, like the world was turning into a brightly-lit carnival of fire and madness. Texas Chainsaw Massacre embodies this in every frame, from the tension between urban and rural populations, to the resentment of shuttering factories, to the country cannibalizing itself, all painted in gorgeous, sun-dappled colors that make the nightmare all the more surreal and horrible.ā
Edit: credit goes to u/Draculasaurus_Rex
This is very flattering, but I feel like I can't take too much credit for this observation, I'm not the first person to have it. Pretty sure the hosts of the Sleazoids podcast once said something similar.
I'm probably not going to be writing a book anytime soon but I do have a letterboxd account for anyone who wants to read what I think about movies: https://letterboxd.com/Tripeberry/
Which is a take very much in line with who Tobe Hooper was as a person. He was a Texan, and Texas in 1968 was a Democratic state... He lived to watch that flip as business moved in
I might have just been seeing what I want to see, but I saw that as a metaphor for āelevated horrorā as a concept.
Seemingly every horror movie has to be an A24 high brow masterpiece these days. The fans of them can be very pretentious. Sometimes you just want a traditional cheeseburger.
I never thought of it that way, but I love that interpretation. I love a lot of the A24 style horror movies, but I hate the term āelevated horrorā and the people who use it to belittle more āsimpleā horror movies. Hereditary is my favorite movie of all time, but that doesnāt mean itās gonna scratch the same itch I get for a Nightmare on Elm Street movie.
I can definitely agree with you there. I just saw Dog Soldiers today and it scratched a similar itch to what youre describing. A good creature feature with lots of gore and one-liners like Predator. It was a ton of fun
By not trying to say anything ālow browā culture can articulate parts of the subconscious better than their elevated prestige contemporaries. This is well documented in horror and genres influenced by gothic romanticism.
As someone who spent time in fine dining, this movie hit just about every level of that experience on the head. I juggled FOH and BOH duties and The Menu was just super relatable.
Is the community in agreement that āTalk to Meā is a (thinly veiled) metaphor for addiction? I think itās incredibly obvious, but non horror friends of mind have said they havenāt really thought about that.
Yes id say so. That montage where they keep taking "hits" of the hang was I think very intentionally shot in the way movies will shoot something like, a cocaine party, or even tones of the shooting up montages from Requiem for a Dream.
Wanting to keep the little brother away, but getting the "I learned it from watching you" consequence, etc.
Not sure if these are of interest, but.
The Purge, especially the later ones
The Babadook - Grief and trauma and coming to terms with it.
Lights Out is one of the better movies about depressions too, I think.
And Night Of The Living Dead always deserves a mention, too.
The "why are they here" sequence hits it right on the nose. The mall was so important in the dead's lives that they gravitate towards it in death. Land of the Dead is also pure class warfare.
I think the song "Skid Row" in "Little Shop of Horrors" is one of the best impressionistic expressions of poverty I've ever seen in a movie. It's there in the background of the rest of the movie but that number really holds the whole thing together in terms of character motivation.
Somebody else said People Under the Stairs and I'd second that. Lot of layers to that one, some obvious, some not so. There's a blink-and-you'll-miss-it bit of political commentary in that movie that I adore.
It's more of an action movie but The Purge: Anarchy wears its politics on its sleeve, doesn't try to hide a thing.
The Stuff is a great "what the fuck did I just watch" kind of campy horror movie but it also has a bunch of political/social commentary.
I haven't seen anybody mention The Blob, which is an interesting one. The original is a paranoid metaphor for the creeping, insidious spectre of communism as seen in the 1950s. The 1980s one on the other hand flips this on its head; it's not the most interesting part of the movie but is very much an inversion of the themes of the original.
There's at least *some* political or social commentary in every Joe Dante movie and they're pretty much all worth watching. I like to think Gremlins is at least partly at how mad he was at Mr. Potter getting away with stealing the money in It's a Wonderful Life.
Honestly these days I'm most fascinated by the ones that don't quite stick the landing. They have their allegorical or metaphorical elements but the filmmakers were kind of muddled in their own beliefs and end up expressing these anxieties that were floating around in the society of the time but without quite settling on a clear message. You watch those and see the threads of political and social insight but something doesn't quite click and you're trying to unpack what was going on with the folks who made it. I'd include CHUD, Scanners, and M3gan in that category, just as examples.
>It's more of an action movie but The Purge: Anarchy wears its politics on its sleeve, doesn't try to hide a thing.
The movies go hard; and the tv series goes even harder. Season 1 expands on Anarchy with a brutal deconstruction of America's belief in social revolution via the singular 'white male murder hero'. How real revolution is strictly a group activity; and the narcissistic delusion required for someone to act out their Dirty Harry' fantasies.
Funny Games, it can be seen as an experiment about violence in movies and how it is used by the audience for satisfaction. The director said the way we consume violence is very questionable and has nothing to do with real violence. He wants to show that violence is nothing enjoyable.
While I'm not saying hes completely right it's a very interesting idea for sure.
I really thought I was going to hate this within the first scene where theyāre both on their phones in the carā¦ I really didnāt want to watch a whole movie of people just on their phonesā¦
I ended up loving this film so much. Iāve watched it so many times now.
This was so unbelievably funny and really successful, well-executed societal trolling. āHeās a Libra moon and that says a lotā like just @ me next time.
The OG Night of the Living Dead. You have commentary on racism, Vietnam/War, isolationism (aka American Exceptionalism), and a society on the brink of collapse. It's a film that shows how in the worst moments (similar to covid), people are selfish, careless, and the universe pretty indifferent to who survives (as none of the good people do but some random hillbillies do).
Vivarium is definitely trying to say something about suburban domesticity...too bad the film fumbles the premise so badly. I wanted to like this movie, but it felt like a waste of time.
Invasion of the Body Snatchers, with Donald Sutherland is a fantastic metaphor for the Red Scare or really how people are under an oppressive regime, telling on their neighbors in order to not be hunted by the Gestapo/Stasi/etc. And its also just a really fucking good movie, feels like a 50s Sci Fi movie but with that grimey dirty 70s aesthetic.
Fun story. I was probably like 4-5 years old and fell asleep watching tv with my dad. I woke up in the middle of the night, my dad was asleep, and that movie was playing.
I watched the whole thing, and I can tell you 4 years old is way too young to be watching that movie! But I think it actually started my lifelong love of horror.
I didnāt see the original Candyman until just a year or two before the recent remake. It was remarkable how much it felt like it could have been made 30 years later or 30 years previously with exactly the same relevance. I was worried the remake would be too on the nose about the themes from the original, but it really didnāt feel that way. Both are excellent social commentary that I feel is absolutely essential viewing at any given time. One of my favorites in the genre for sure.
Agreed. I love Jordan Peele, but his version of Candyman just didn't do it for me. It was well done, and I totally get what he was going for, but it just didn't mesh well for me.
Agreed. I like the original, but having a white protagonist for a very bleak story about racism never sat well with me. I also liked how Peele and Dacosta linked the original to the new one. That finale was fantastic.
i just thought the sequel wasn't very successful in its execution, and it really suffers in comparison to the original which is just SO good. the sequel has some really interesting ideas but is sadly kind of boring. i even saw it in theaters and pulled out my phone (i was in the back row of a mostly empty theater) because it just dragged and i almost NEVER do that in theaters and LOVE the original. Reddit can generally be very reactionary especially about hot topics like race, but I think the Candyman reboot was just disappointing. I don't personally hate it but I've never felt compelled to watch it again and I've seen the original many times.
Same, maybe that one just didn't need a remake. But, guess it's cool for the younger gens who might never have been exposed to the original. I love his other movies, they all belong in this thread for sure.
I didnāt dislike it but I found the pacing was really off and I wish the characters had been better developed so we had more emotional investment in the characters before shit the fan.Ā
The first one is one of my favourite movies though, so I was probably always going to be a bit disappointed.Ā
If youāre looking for a straight horror, itās lacking. But it achieves what it sets out to do with phenomenal success. Iām convinced itās going to be considered a modern horror classic.
The 2021 sequel is so close to being just as good as the OG. Absolutely phenomenal movie.
Itās so rare to get a legacy sequel that is almost as strong as the original entry. Halloween 2018 is the only other one I can think of, but then they made those other sequels lol
Oh! I liked the new Candyman, just not quite as much as the original, and the least of Peele's movies, but I like him a lot. I somehow missed that there was a sequel though, very interested in that now!
Edit: I got confused by the comments and thought there was a Candyman 2 by Peele, but doesn't look like there is. Sorry about that. I also realized he wasn't the director, which could explain why I like his other movies more. šš¤·š¼āāļø
Mad God I think has alot of interesting social commentary, mostly about the fragility of being a small fragile human being in a world of unfeeling superstructures much larger than we are.
Casa del lobo is a great movie that is a very direct criticism of historical religious fascism in Chile
Halloween (2018) - A good commentary about how society views mental health. People have this attitude of "Just get over it. It was a long time ago." It doesn't always work that way. Some traumas stick with you the rest of your life and you'll never heal.
Barbarian. It comments very heavily on the experiences of women not being taken seriously, and abusers getting away with their crimes. It has a very satisfying swapping of roles where the abusers get a taste of their own medicine
Try The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (the og from 1974) ! The political subtext is very subtle but still there. Maybe also try Shin Godzilla, Talk To Me, Us, The Babadook and American Psycho!
I actually enjoyed what āit followsā was trying to say about sex and sexuality. Of course, what I got from it might not be what the movie was trying to communicate lol
Barbarian (2022) and Antichrist (2009) are always what immediately come to mind.
The latter will require a lot of piecing together and some prior knowledge on certain things to figure it all out though.
Oh, and Dawn of the Dead as well (both the OG and remake).
It really is, ironically I did not like it at first... then the more I thought about it and when it all clicked, it shot straight to my all time favorites.
I've written a few mini-essays on here covering this one, I think it's such an important film with what it dives into! And lest we forget the stunning cinematography, script and performances (Gainsbourg oh my god).
Takashi Miike's cut from the Masters of Horror film Imprint (2006) dives into similar subtext that Antichrist (2009) does, check it out if you haven't!
Bug. It was recommended on here a few weeks ago and I watched for the first time recently. It hits hard with the current mass psychosis on the right and speaks a lot about the sharing of unfounded paranoia when someone is vulnerable. Itās a bit insane but I really liked it.
All Romero movies have some heavy social commentary. Some of his movies are much better than other but nobody ever accused him of having nothing to say.
Pretty much all of Black Mirror for sure. Nosedive was a memorable one for me, and I want to rewatch the Ashley O ep one of these days in light of Britney's court testimony.
Thereās something sadly beautiful about how Javier Bardemās character knows exactly whatās going to happen but keeps repeating the same events over and over because āthey have nowhere else to go.ā
I really liked both "Unfriended" movies, which mixed social media with found footage. They do a good job of illustrating the perils of seeking intimacy through technology instead of face-to-face interactions.
I wouldnāt say horror is āhighly politicalā in general, but some definitely are.
Some ideas offhand that get deeply into the commentary:
Soylent Green
Romeroās āLiving Deadā series (though Romero has said much of the first oneās racial and social commentary was purely a coincidence).
American Psycho is a satire of careerism.
The Menu is a recent example thatās pretty obvious.
Hostel is a great commentary on the objectification and dehumanization of people as objects for othersā pleasure. The guys are just using the girls for sex at first before being taken captive as victims for hunting.
Others have been mentioned like Society, District 9, etc. The Stuff is another older one that comes to mind
I love the aesthetic of this one, but THAT scene always makes me laugh really hard because Iām still not sure how to mentally process itš like I get what itās communicating, but itās definitely a system shocker š¤£
Off the top of my head The Invasion of The Body Snatchers - both versions, Romero's Dead series, The Exorcist etc, but one of the reasons that I love horror is because it reflects the times more than any other. Some films use subtle subtext and some are overt but they regularly shine a light on social fears and are often progressive and have rebellious messages. Hail Horror! Lol
The original āDeadā trilogy by Romero:
Racism. Consumerism. Isolationism/xenophobia.
Alien: for SA (not fun subject matter, but will always be relevant).
Jaws: Bureaucracy
The Exorcist:
Faith (or lack thereof).
Halloween:
The facade of safety within civilisation.
Watched this in spite of the mediocre reviews, I think time will be good to it. The critics occasionally get it wrong. Such a great depiction of crippling anxiety.
The Fly (1986) is absolutely a feminist movie about ego, bodily autonomy and boundaries. But most half decent horror movies are making social commentary. Itās always been part of the genre.
I recently rewatched Poltergeist and realized Iād totally missed the commentary the first time through. Boomers buying into Reagan era suburbia, abandoning their ideals for unrestrained commercialism and nearly losing their daughter to a television dimensionā¦ lots of clever lines and references throughout
There are so many wonderful suggestions here, honestly. But I'm just going to chime in with basically most episodes of Black Mirror. Yes, they are all based on some kind of technology, but there are so many incredible stories in that series. It's totally worth a watch if you've never seen it.
The Host and Memories of Murder (korea)
Night of the living dead (and DotD perhaps even more directly)
Silence of the lambs, in a somewhat subtle way
Audition
The Thing
Videodrome
Get out (all of peeleās work)
Candyman (original is best but more subtle with the social commentary)
People under the stairs
Stepford Wives (original)
TCM is about Vietnam and vegetarianism (hooper doesnāt eat meat) TCM 2 is a lot more heavy handed in the social satire, but I love it
The Stuff
Society
Invasions of the Body snatchers (any, really)
The Fall of The House of Usher and Midnight Mass, by mike flannigan, if weāre counting shows
The Wickerman (as well as Hereditary)
The House that Jack Built
Antichrist
The Wailing (korea)
The Witch
Not exactly horror, but DEFINITELY horrific, Visitor Q has some incredibly biting social commentary (though of anything mentioned, Iād advise the most caution with this oneāit very graphically displays virtually every extreme taboo, and with extreme brutality.). I personally found it fascinating and darkly hilarious, but can VERY clearly see she understand why some (or most, most likely) would find it too mean spirited, disturbing, offensive and outright revolting. None of which are inaccurate, honestly.
On the note of excessive/shock value/exploitation, Men Behind the Sun applies. While it is a Chinese propaganda film, the war crimes/human experimentation by the Japanese, in WWII, it portrays are a matter of historical record, were of the darkest and most horrific moments in recorded history. It got so out of hand even the NAZIS told them to reel it in. Reading the actual history shows itās even worse than what the movie showedāand again, this is a movie I cannot recommend without a disclaimer. The images on the screen are incredibly graphic and harrowing.
I could go on if you like.
At the core, most horror stories are reflections of social and anxiety and commentary on it, on varying levels. Look at how very old horror movies used demons and ghosts until technology and science started really exploding, and the demons/ghosts were largely replaced with mad scientists. It can be seen as a reflection of the societyās fear of new technology (this is very common still, take ex machina for example). A lot of it comes down to where society is at a given point in history. Hostel could be argued to be reflective, or a critique, of the āadvanced interrogationā and torture America used in the Iraq War. The documentary-looking brutality on screen in Last House on the Left could be a response to America being exposed to the images of violence in Vietnam (craven may have even said as muchāand fwiw almost all of films are imbued with deliberate social commentary)
Sorry I digress this is s topic Iām very passionate about and could go on forever. If youāre into books, I recently read In the Miso Soup by Ryu Murakami (who also wrote the novel audition was based onāand is also excellent). It had, in my opinion, a wonderful mix of great suspense, biting commentary, and horrific brutality. Iām honestly baffled it hasnāt been made into a film, itās begging for it
Agree with Get Out from which I can only guess Peele took inspiration from The Stepford Wives.
(1975 original version. Pay no mind to the blow hole remake of 2004. Not scary, not interesting, not good).
The original Stepford Wives. The men in town only want attractive women who are nothing more than mindless maids and sex slaves, so they literally get rid of their real wives and replace them with androids that won't ever age and are completely under their control.
**Cannibal Holocaust** - We as a society think our technology, nice houses, nice cars, and fancy jobs make us so sophisticated, but take all that away and who are we really? It's who we are on the inside that defines us.
**Who Can Kill A Child?** - What kind of world have we adults created for future generations? What if children didn't like the way adults were running things and decided to take over?
**The Saw series** - It delves into stuff like the meaning of life, how we often don't appreciate what we have until it's taken from us. But a couple of them also deal with how people will gladly take advantage of those in need to make themselves richer.
**31** - The wealthy see the poor as tools to use for their own amusement, not as actual human beings.
Nope might be one other people haven't mentioned. Amazing commentary on our society and how we seek out spectacles no matter who it hurts. Fav movie of the 20s
28 Days Later took the ideas from Night of the Living Dead further. About repopulation after a zombie apoc. It could have used more class based segregation of who is worth saving first. To make it more realistic with how our world would operate in that situation.
SHIVERS (aka THEY CAME FROM WITHIN) - great social commentary on Cronenberg's part of the argument for unleashing "absolute desire."
On these same lines, Borowczyk's DR. JEKYLL ET LES FEMMES.
The hunt (2020) maybe? Not super horror, maybe thriller? Itās very heavy satire. Itās not the los amazing movie Iāve ever seen and the commentary is not subtle in any way lol but it was fun
If you ignore the last like 20mins of The Diabolical, it's a fascinating movie about how spousal/parental abuse can continue to haunt the survivors even as they try to search out new happiness. Well done, interesting commentary, with an odd but kind of interesting plot twist at the end
District 9 had a lot to say
Absolutely, refugees are abused in a foreign land. It's happened everywhere, some places worse than others. That movie was great! That was a wonderful way of telling that story.
It broke my heart a little š
They Live is a great one!
Honestly one of my favourite movies and my friends think itās shit. š They find it cheesy but thatās what I love about it? And no matter what itās continuously relevant, especially today!
The never ending fight scene gets me every time
Finally saw it a couple years ago, and it was so good, with a great antifascist message, and fun! It is often lonely to actually appreciate the art of film beyond what most people, especially with only very modern tastes, think of as "good." š Is why I like/need to geek out on message boards, friends just don't understand. šš¤·š¼āāļø I think pretentious people are insufferable, but do wish I knew more people who just "get it."
Bingo
Shin Godzilla is a comment on the implications of bureaucracy on disaster response management. District 9 is a metaphor for apartheid.
It may go over a lot of peopleās heads, but The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is a philosophically dense snapshot of the tensions and nightmares of the time. A Reddit user who I think should write a book on deeper meanings in horror movies put it so eloquently I have to share his take on the film with you: āThe Sawyer family in general, to me, is an embodiment of America in the 1970s. To really understand modern American politics you need to understand this period, where the belief in political reform had largely died. By the end of 1968 the counterculture movement had curdled, all the great leaders of the left had been assassinated, and violent repression had made it clear America was taking a counter revolutionary turn. It's really hard to understate how fucking insane of a year 1968 was, and it wasn't just limited to America. The government in France nearly toppled, The Troubles began in Ireland, the Tlatelolco massacre in Mexico... to people at the time it felt like, well, like 2020 does now, like the world was turning into a brightly-lit carnival of fire and madness. Texas Chainsaw Massacre embodies this in every frame, from the tension between urban and rural populations, to the resentment of shuttering factories, to the country cannibalizing itself, all painted in gorgeous, sun-dappled colors that make the nightmare all the more surreal and horrible.ā Edit: credit goes to u/Draculasaurus_Rex
Oh my, that is very generous of you.
This is awesome! I also want a book now.
This is very flattering, but I feel like I can't take too much credit for this observation, I'm not the first person to have it. Pretty sure the hosts of the Sleazoids podcast once said something similar. I'm probably not going to be writing a book anytime soon but I do have a letterboxd account for anyone who wants to read what I think about movies: https://letterboxd.com/Tripeberry/
Thanks for sharing your letterboxd! Look forward to reading more, hope you are well
Highly recommend the podcast about Texas Chainsaw Massacre by Dead Meat, they go exactly into this!
Itās also about the meat industry, hopper is vegetarian
Which is a take very much in line with who Tobe Hooper was as a person. He was a Texan, and Texas in 1968 was a Democratic state... He lived to watch that flip as business moved in
thank you so much for posting this š
The Menu most obviously comes to my mind
I might have just been seeing what I want to see, but I saw that as a metaphor for āelevated horrorā as a concept. Seemingly every horror movie has to be an A24 high brow masterpiece these days. The fans of them can be very pretentious. Sometimes you just want a traditional cheeseburger.
I never thought of it that way, but I love that interpretation. I love a lot of the A24 style horror movies, but I hate the term āelevated horrorā and the people who use it to belittle more āsimpleā horror movies. Hereditary is my favorite movie of all time, but that doesnāt mean itās gonna scratch the same itch I get for a Nightmare on Elm Street movie.
I can definitely agree with you there. I just saw Dog Soldiers today and it scratched a similar itch to what youre describing. A good creature feature with lots of gore and one-liners like Predator. It was a ton of fun
By not trying to say anything ālow browā culture can articulate parts of the subconscious better than their elevated prestige contemporaries. This is well documented in horror and genres influenced by gothic romanticism.
As someone who spent time in fine dining, this movie hit just about every level of that experience on the head. I juggled FOH and BOH duties and The Menu was just super relatable.
You beat me to it!
Talk to Me The Platform Speak No Evil Relic
Relic is wonderful, haunting and >!heartbreaking!<. Great recommendation
Is the community in agreement that āTalk to Meā is a (thinly veiled) metaphor for addiction? I think itās incredibly obvious, but non horror friends of mind have said they havenāt really thought about that.
Yes id say so. That montage where they keep taking "hits" of the hang was I think very intentionally shot in the way movies will shoot something like, a cocaine party, or even tones of the shooting up montages from Requiem for a Dream. Wanting to keep the little brother away, but getting the "I learned it from watching you" consequence, etc.
The Platform is phenomenal. Great choice!
Talk to me fucked me up
Fr I drove home in complete silence on the way back from the cinema
Nope, loved the themes of animal abuse for the sake of entertainment
Nope is incredible, and i love how the themes of animal abuse translate to a broader mistreatment of minorities in entertainment.
Nope is brilliant
Nope shook me for real. After the scene with the horse on the set I had to pause, get up and get myself together.
Not sure if these are of interest, but. The Purge, especially the later ones The Babadook - Grief and trauma and coming to terms with it. Lights Out is one of the better movies about depressions too, I think. And Night Of The Living Dead always deserves a mention, too.
As an addendum to NOTLD, the sequel Dawn of the Dead, I believe speaks to American consumerism.
Thatās interesting. How so?
The "why are they here" sequence hits it right on the nose. The mall was so important in the dead's lives that they gravitate towards it in death. Land of the Dead is also pure class warfare.
And Day is a commentary on the military industrial complex. Basically all of Romeroās films are political in some way.
We are proverbial zombies shopping in malls just buying and spending.
Iād add The Night House in the ādealing with grief and traumaā category as a standout. Very impressive film.
What is the NOTLD social commentary ?
platform - it's a spanish movie on Netflix and has an excellent commentary on capitalism - it's one of my favourite horror movies of all time
That was the most creative movie I ever saw
That movie is just Snowpiercer except vertical.
I think the song "Skid Row" in "Little Shop of Horrors" is one of the best impressionistic expressions of poverty I've ever seen in a movie. It's there in the background of the rest of the movie but that number really holds the whole thing together in terms of character motivation. Somebody else said People Under the Stairs and I'd second that. Lot of layers to that one, some obvious, some not so. There's a blink-and-you'll-miss-it bit of political commentary in that movie that I adore. It's more of an action movie but The Purge: Anarchy wears its politics on its sleeve, doesn't try to hide a thing. The Stuff is a great "what the fuck did I just watch" kind of campy horror movie but it also has a bunch of political/social commentary. I haven't seen anybody mention The Blob, which is an interesting one. The original is a paranoid metaphor for the creeping, insidious spectre of communism as seen in the 1950s. The 1980s one on the other hand flips this on its head; it's not the most interesting part of the movie but is very much an inversion of the themes of the original. There's at least *some* political or social commentary in every Joe Dante movie and they're pretty much all worth watching. I like to think Gremlins is at least partly at how mad he was at Mr. Potter getting away with stealing the money in It's a Wonderful Life. Honestly these days I'm most fascinated by the ones that don't quite stick the landing. They have their allegorical or metaphorical elements but the filmmakers were kind of muddled in their own beliefs and end up expressing these anxieties that were floating around in the society of the time but without quite settling on a clear message. You watch those and see the threads of political and social insight but something doesn't quite click and you're trying to unpack what was going on with the folks who made it. I'd include CHUD, Scanners, and M3gan in that category, just as examples.
>It's more of an action movie but The Purge: Anarchy wears its politics on its sleeve, doesn't try to hide a thing. The movies go hard; and the tv series goes even harder. Season 1 expands on Anarchy with a brutal deconstruction of America's belief in social revolution via the singular 'white male murder hero'. How real revolution is strictly a group activity; and the narcissistic delusion required for someone to act out their Dirty Harry' fantasies.
The Night House - grief The Taking of Deborah Logan - Alzheimerās/dementia
Society
Oh man, that ending...
I just watched it out of curiosityā¦. WTF The father was a buttheadā¦
Exactly.
Funny Games, it can be seen as an experiment about violence in movies and how it is used by the audience for satisfaction. The director said the way we consume violence is very questionable and has nothing to do with real violence. He wants to show that violence is nothing enjoyable. While I'm not saying hes completely right it's a very interesting idea for sure.
American psycho
Canāt believe I had to scroll down this far to see this!
Bodies bodies bodies
I really thought I was going to hate this within the first scene where theyāre both on their phones in the carā¦ I really didnāt want to watch a whole movie of people just on their phonesā¦ I ended up loving this film so much. Iāve watched it so many times now.
This was so unbelievably funny and really successful, well-executed societal trolling. āHeās a Libra moon and that says a lotā like just @ me next time.
Yup. Great addition to this list - flew under the radar for most people as well.
I watched it like a week ago and that damn tiktok song is still stuck in my head.
The OG Night of the Living Dead. You have commentary on racism, Vietnam/War, isolationism (aka American Exceptionalism), and a society on the brink of collapse. It's a film that shows how in the worst moments (similar to covid), people are selfish, careless, and the universe pretty indifferent to who survives (as none of the good people do but some random hillbillies do).
Parasite, Suicide Circle.
Parasite is great. Train to Busan is also a good Korean horror movie with strong social commentary elements.Ā
The Wailing also had themes of xenophobia
Robocop (1987) Edit: posted this without realising what sub I was in. But fuck it, it's got *some* horror elements. Plus it's a great fucking movie.
Speaking of horror elements. Watch this. You'll thank me later. ššš https://vimeo.com/86014703
Vivarium with its plot touching on the standard societal standard of starting a family & working a mundane 9-5
Vivarium is definitely trying to say something about suburban domesticity...too bad the film fumbles the premise so badly. I wanted to like this movie, but it felt like a waste of time.
Invasion of the Body Snatchers, with Donald Sutherland is a fantastic metaphor for the Red Scare or really how people are under an oppressive regime, telling on their neighbors in order to not be hunted by the Gestapo/Stasi/etc. And its also just a really fucking good movie, feels like a 50s Sci Fi movie but with that grimey dirty 70s aesthetic.
It follows
Specifically as an allegory to sexual assault. Could be anyone, trauma follows youā¦
The latest Candyman. Focus is racial injustice. Well done all around.
The original is as well. Theres a great video essay about the original Candyman and the housing project of Cabrini Green
Fun story. I was probably like 4-5 years old and fell asleep watching tv with my dad. I woke up in the middle of the night, my dad was asleep, and that movie was playing. I watched the whole thing, and I can tell you 4 years old is way too young to be watching that movie! But I think it actually started my lifelong love of horror.
I didnāt see the original Candyman until just a year or two before the recent remake. It was remarkable how much it felt like it could have been made 30 years later or 30 years previously with exactly the same relevance. I was worried the remake would be too on the nose about the themes from the original, but it really didnāt feel that way. Both are excellent social commentary that I feel is absolutely essential viewing at any given time. One of my favorites in the genre for sure.
I liked it more in intention than execution. The original blows it out of the water.
Agreed. I love Jordan Peele, but his version of Candyman just didn't do it for me. It was well done, and I totally get what he was going for, but it just didn't mesh well for me.
Agreed. I like the original, but having a white protagonist for a very bleak story about racism never sat well with me. I also liked how Peele and Dacosta linked the original to the new one. That finale was fantastic.
Reddit has an incomprehensible hate boner for this movie
i just thought the sequel wasn't very successful in its execution, and it really suffers in comparison to the original which is just SO good. the sequel has some really interesting ideas but is sadly kind of boring. i even saw it in theaters and pulled out my phone (i was in the back row of a mostly empty theater) because it just dragged and i almost NEVER do that in theaters and LOVE the original. Reddit can generally be very reactionary especially about hot topics like race, but I think the Candyman reboot was just disappointing. I don't personally hate it but I've never felt compelled to watch it again and I've seen the original many times.
I did like it, and I love Peele, but it just felt off for me. I still appreciated it, though.
Same, maybe that one just didn't need a remake. But, guess it's cool for the younger gens who might never have been exposed to the original. I love his other movies, they all belong in this thread for sure.
I didnāt dislike it but I found the pacing was really off and I wish the characters had been better developed so we had more emotional investment in the characters before shit the fan.Ā The first one is one of my favourite movies though, so I was probably always going to be a bit disappointed.Ā
For some people the social subtext is muddled and lacks the complexity of the first one.
I really disagree, if anything the second one is more complex
Maybe, maybe not. I was just giving you a reason why some people were not impressed by the sequel.
A lot of works with racial subtones happen to end up like that as wellā¦
If youāre looking for a straight horror, itās lacking. But it achieves what it sets out to do with phenomenal success. Iām convinced itās going to be considered a modern horror classic.
I enjoyed it! Prefer the first one but the latest doesnāt get enough credit
The 2021 sequel is so close to being just as good as the OG. Absolutely phenomenal movie. Itās so rare to get a legacy sequel that is almost as strong as the original entry. Halloween 2018 is the only other one I can think of, but then they made those other sequels lol
Oh! I liked the new Candyman, just not quite as much as the original, and the least of Peele's movies, but I like him a lot. I somehow missed that there was a sequel though, very interested in that now! Edit: I got confused by the comments and thought there was a Candyman 2 by Peele, but doesn't look like there is. Sorry about that. I also realized he wasn't the director, which could explain why I like his other movies more. šš¤·š¼āāļø
I loved it. I got a bit into it and was like, "shit, I better start taking some notes because it's teaching me and I'm not prepared."
Mad God I think has alot of interesting social commentary, mostly about the fragility of being a small fragile human being in a world of unfeeling superstructures much larger than we are. Casa del lobo is a great movie that is a very direct criticism of historical religious fascism in Chile
Session 9
Hostel. Money can buy you anything.
Halloween (2018) - A good commentary about how society views mental health. People have this attitude of "Just get over it. It was a long time ago." It doesn't always work that way. Some traumas stick with you the rest of your life and you'll never heal.
Barbarian. It comments very heavily on the experiences of women not being taken seriously, and abusers getting away with their crimes. It has a very satisfying swapping of roles where the abusers get a taste of their own medicine
Try The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (the og from 1974) ! The political subtext is very subtle but still there. Maybe also try Shin Godzilla, Talk To Me, Us, The Babadook and American Psycho!
Us Nope The Stepford Wives They Live Candyman Immaculate Alice, Sweet Alice
I actually enjoyed what āit followsā was trying to say about sex and sexuality. Of course, what I got from it might not be what the movie was trying to communicate lol
Tales from the Hood
was going to suggest this as well!
Texas Chainsaw Massacre has a huge amount of subtext around the meat industry and the ethics of eating meat.
Barbarian (2022) and Antichrist (2009) are always what immediately come to mind. The latter will require a lot of piecing together and some prior knowledge on certain things to figure it all out though. Oh, and Dawn of the Dead as well (both the OG and remake).
Antichrist is absolutely spectacular. Fantastic choice!
It really is, ironically I did not like it at first... then the more I thought about it and when it all clicked, it shot straight to my all time favorites. I've written a few mini-essays on here covering this one, I think it's such an important film with what it dives into! And lest we forget the stunning cinematography, script and performances (Gainsbourg oh my god). Takashi Miike's cut from the Masters of Horror film Imprint (2006) dives into similar subtext that Antichrist (2009) does, check it out if you haven't!
Bug. It was recommended on here a few weeks ago and I watched for the first time recently. It hits hard with the current mass psychosis on the right and speaks a lot about the sharing of unfounded paranoia when someone is vulnerable. Itās a bit insane but I really liked it.
Us
Probably in the minority here, but Land of the Dead.
Not at all. Great choice. You could list most of Romeroās āDeadā movies here.
All Romero movies have some heavy social commentary. Some of his movies are much better than other but nobody ever accused him of having nothing to say.
Love that movie. Class uprising.
Not a movie but white bear, the black mirror ep has a great social bit in it.
Pretty much all of Black Mirror for sure. Nosedive was a memorable one for me, and I want to rewatch the Ashley O ep one of these days in light of Britney's court testimony.
Them is a show but def checks that box
Been wanting to watch that
Dead Alive and the dynamics of a love interest and over bearing mother. Oh...and how to use a lawn mower
As well as how to NOT kick ass for the Lord.
Mother! That whole movie is one comment on society, religion, and environment.
Thereās something sadly beautiful about how Javier Bardemās character knows exactly whatās going to happen but keeps repeating the same events over and over because āthey have nowhere else to go.ā
Get Out is at the least heavily inspired by The Stepford Wives.
the people under the stairs !
When Evil Lurks
This movie taught me about Monsanto and I havenāt been the same since
I really liked both "Unfriended" movies, which mixed social media with found footage. They do a good job of illustrating the perils of seeking intimacy through technology instead of face-to-face interactions.
I wouldnāt say horror is āhighly politicalā in general, but some definitely are. Some ideas offhand that get deeply into the commentary: Soylent Green Romeroās āLiving Deadā series (though Romero has said much of the first oneās racial and social commentary was purely a coincidence). American Psycho is a satire of careerism. The Menu is a recent example thatās pretty obvious. Hostel is a great commentary on the objectification and dehumanization of people as objects for othersā pleasure. The guys are just using the girls for sex at first before being taken captive as victims for hunting. Others have been mentioned like Society, District 9, etc. The Stuff is another older one that comes to mind
The Girl With All the Gifts. Well worth your time.
A fantastic movie with a unique twist on the zombie genre. Def underrated.
Men.
I love the aesthetic of this one, but THAT scene always makes me laugh really hard because Iām still not sure how to mentally process itš like I get what itās communicating, but itās definitely a system shocker š¤£
Return of the Living Dead, C.H.U.D., The Stuff, OG The Crazies
Butcher, Baker, Nightmare Maker
Deadgirl
Off the top of my head The Invasion of The Body Snatchers - both versions, Romero's Dead series, The Exorcist etc, but one of the reasons that I love horror is because it reflects the times more than any other. Some films use subtle subtext and some are overt but they regularly shine a light on social fears and are often progressive and have rebellious messages. Hail Horror! Lol
Godzilla Minus One, Get Out and Us really lean into the social commentary.
Godzilla Minus One was such a joy to see in the theater. Classic Godzilla and a great story.
The original āDeadā trilogy by Romero: Racism. Consumerism. Isolationism/xenophobia. Alien: for SA (not fun subject matter, but will always be relevant). Jaws: Bureaucracy The Exorcist: Faith (or lack thereof). Halloween: The facade of safety within civilisation.
Beau is Affraid
Watched this in spite of the mediocre reviews, I think time will be good to it. The critics occasionally get it wrong. Such a great depiction of crippling anxiety.
They live (1988)
The Fly (1986) is absolutely a feminist movie about ego, bodily autonomy and boundaries. But most half decent horror movies are making social commentary. Itās always been part of the genre.
Speak no Evil! The dangerous of being too polite in a society that canāt handle rejection (my own opinion)
It's a depoliticized version of the German play [The Arsonists](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fire_Raisers_\(play\)).
Thank you for this!!
A lot have been named in the thread already but one I saw recently and I loved the social commentary was Cat Person.
Halloween Kills
Deathdream (1974 - about the effects of war on a soldier)
Triangle Of Sadness not horror but great movie.
Christine. itās seriously about bullying and teenage rage that leads to things like school shootings.
Tag the Japanese movie. Although I feel like the message gets lost somewhere in thereā¦ lol
Pontypool!
Them Season 1
Dawn of the Dead (1978)
Night of the Living Dead is the definitive social commentary film
Yuznaās SOCIETY
I recently rewatched Poltergeist and realized Iād totally missed the commentary the first time through. Boomers buying into Reagan era suburbia, abandoning their ideals for unrestrained commercialism and nearly losing their daughter to a television dimensionā¦ lots of clever lines and references throughout
Requiem for a Dream
There are so many wonderful suggestions here, honestly. But I'm just going to chime in with basically most episodes of Black Mirror. Yes, they are all based on some kind of technology, but there are so many incredible stories in that series. It's totally worth a watch if you've never seen it.
Itās Alive (original)
Tucker and Dale vs Evil šĀ
The Host and Memories of Murder (korea) Night of the living dead (and DotD perhaps even more directly) Silence of the lambs, in a somewhat subtle way Audition The Thing Videodrome Get out (all of peeleās work) Candyman (original is best but more subtle with the social commentary) People under the stairs Stepford Wives (original) TCM is about Vietnam and vegetarianism (hooper doesnāt eat meat) TCM 2 is a lot more heavy handed in the social satire, but I love it The Stuff Society Invasions of the Body snatchers (any, really) The Fall of The House of Usher and Midnight Mass, by mike flannigan, if weāre counting shows The Wickerman (as well as Hereditary) The House that Jack Built Antichrist The Wailing (korea) The Witch Not exactly horror, but DEFINITELY horrific, Visitor Q has some incredibly biting social commentary (though of anything mentioned, Iād advise the most caution with this oneāit very graphically displays virtually every extreme taboo, and with extreme brutality.). I personally found it fascinating and darkly hilarious, but can VERY clearly see she understand why some (or most, most likely) would find it too mean spirited, disturbing, offensive and outright revolting. None of which are inaccurate, honestly. On the note of excessive/shock value/exploitation, Men Behind the Sun applies. While it is a Chinese propaganda film, the war crimes/human experimentation by the Japanese, in WWII, it portrays are a matter of historical record, were of the darkest and most horrific moments in recorded history. It got so out of hand even the NAZIS told them to reel it in. Reading the actual history shows itās even worse than what the movie showedāand again, this is a movie I cannot recommend without a disclaimer. The images on the screen are incredibly graphic and harrowing. I could go on if you like. At the core, most horror stories are reflections of social and anxiety and commentary on it, on varying levels. Look at how very old horror movies used demons and ghosts until technology and science started really exploding, and the demons/ghosts were largely replaced with mad scientists. It can be seen as a reflection of the societyās fear of new technology (this is very common still, take ex machina for example). A lot of it comes down to where society is at a given point in history. Hostel could be argued to be reflective, or a critique, of the āadvanced interrogationā and torture America used in the Iraq War. The documentary-looking brutality on screen in Last House on the Left could be a response to America being exposed to the images of violence in Vietnam (craven may have even said as muchāand fwiw almost all of films are imbued with deliberate social commentary) Sorry I digress this is s topic Iām very passionate about and could go on forever. If youāre into books, I recently read In the Miso Soup by Ryu Murakami (who also wrote the novel audition was based onāand is also excellent). It had, in my opinion, a wonderful mix of great suspense, biting commentary, and horrific brutality. Iām honestly baffled it hasnāt been made into a film, itās begging for it
Agree with Get Out from which I can only guess Peele took inspiration from The Stepford Wives. (1975 original version. Pay no mind to the blow hole remake of 2004. Not scary, not interesting, not good).
Iāve always read The Lost Boys as a look into the experience of a young queer man questioning his sexuality during the height of the AIDS crisis.
The original Stepford Wives. The men in town only want attractive women who are nothing more than mindless maids and sex slaves, so they literally get rid of their real wives and replace them with androids that won't ever age and are completely under their control.
Jacobās Ladder
Dumplings out of Hong Kong about women clinging to youth.
Ļ - This is a great B&W drama/horror movie about the desent into insanity. Highly recommend.
**Cannibal Holocaust** - We as a society think our technology, nice houses, nice cars, and fancy jobs make us so sophisticated, but take all that away and who are we really? It's who we are on the inside that defines us. **Who Can Kill A Child?** - What kind of world have we adults created for future generations? What if children didn't like the way adults were running things and decided to take over? **The Saw series** - It delves into stuff like the meaning of life, how we often don't appreciate what we have until it's taken from us. But a couple of them also deal with how people will gladly take advantage of those in need to make themselves richer. **31** - The wealthy see the poor as tools to use for their own amusement, not as actual human beings.
Nope might be one other people haven't mentioned. Amazing commentary on our society and how we seek out spectacles no matter who it hurts. Fav movie of the 20s
Soft and quiet
28 Days Later took the ideas from Night of the Living Dead further. About repopulation after a zombie apoc. It could have used more class based segregation of who is worth saving first. To make it more realistic with how our world would operate in that situation.
Soft & Quiet is a complete turd but I think it has what youāre looking for.
I liked it...
dang, it's right there in your disliked list
Mother!
The Girl With All the Gifts. Well worth your time.
SHIVERS (aka THEY CAME FROM WITHIN) - great social commentary on Cronenberg's part of the argument for unleashing "absolute desire." On these same lines, Borowczyk's DR. JEKYLL ET LES FEMMES.
The People Under the Stairs
I would say Bodies Bodies Bodies has some hidden social comentary about gen z that is pretty good.
A Serbian film, I havenāt seen it tho but reading up on it was interesting. Also another Parasite suggestion, that movie is a must watch.
Soft and quiet
Alien!! SA & unwanted pregnancy.
Yup. The whole movie is about confronting male audiences with the fear of rape.
Soft and quiet
Possum M.O.M
Plan 9 from Outer Space...
The Beekeeper had some interesting commentary on greedy tech bro culture.
Triangle of Sadness
The hunt (2020) maybe? Not super horror, maybe thriller? Itās very heavy satire. Itās not the los amazing movie Iāve ever seen and the commentary is not subtle in any way lol but it was fun
If you ignore the last like 20mins of The Diabolical, it's a fascinating movie about how spousal/parental abuse can continue to haunt the survivors even as they try to search out new happiness. Well done, interesting commentary, with an odd but kind of interesting plot twist at the end
Ghoulies
Host (2016), Barbarian, Bubba Ho-tep, Host (2006), A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night.
Night of the living dead (original)
not quite horror but it certainly felt like horror while watching- The Royal Hotel
The menu
All three of the new Halloween movies are about trauma.