In these turbulent times, moviegoers often head to theaters in search of pure entertainment, something to take their minds off their troubles while munching popcorn and sipping a cold drink in the company of hundreds of strangers.
But that doesn't mean being resistant to messages about modern society, popular culture and other timeless issues; it simply requires fillmmakers to weave in such commentary seamlessly, so that we walk away, often without realizing what we've learned… at least until a bit later, when there's time for deeper reflection.
That certainly applies to horror movies, as these examples demonstrate.
The Purge (2013)
Writer-director James DeMonaco set up an intriguing scenario: What if the government imposed an annual, 12-hour period during which citizens could engage in whatever criminal activity they wished without any legal consequences? How far would people go, when even murder is legalized?
The Purge: Anarchy (2014)
On the surface, this is a horror thriller set in the near future, a sequel to an unexpectedly successful movie. But moving the setting from an upper middle class gated community to a far less affluent urban neighborhood, where survival is already a daily challenge, raised entirely new, socially relevant questions. What chance for survivial do its residents have when the government walks away for 12 hours from protecting it from life-threatening criminal acts?
Shaun of the Dead (2004)
Simon Pegg and Nick Frost teamed with director Edgar Wright for this riotous horror-comedy about a zombie uprising. The brilliance of the movie is that it works on multiple levels. As social commentary, it takes on the aimless, joyless routine that so many fall into during their 20s (and beyond); Shaun (Pegg) and Ed (Frost) both shuffle through their days with little purpose, like living zombies. It takes the prospect of the apocalypse to wake them from their stupor.
Land of the Dead (2005)
From his very first zombie movie, Night of the Living Dead (1968), director George A. Romero has tackled a variety of social issues, at the same time as he delivers bloody horror thrills. In this postapocalyptic installment, Romero takes on the gulf between the rich, luxuriating in a fortified high-rise, and everyone else, scrambling to survive in poverty as the zombie horde continues to increase. What price privilege?
The People Under the Stairs (1991)
Wes Craven, who has consistently woven incisive social commentary into his horror fare, sets this film in an impoverished neighborhood, mainly inhabited by African-Americans, where a hostile, reclusive white couple lives in apparent luxury. It turns out that the rich couple's home is actually more like a safe house, where they carry on horrible, dispicable acts.
They Live (1988)
A timely action-horror movie that arrived at the conclusion of the conservative Reagan era in America, John Carpenter's film contains blistering attacks on society at large, not only critizing the impulse of the ruling class toward authoritarian control, but also on the sleepy, complacent attitude of the populace. Whew! It's a heady brew, leavened with plenty of fight scenes and very dark humor.
Of course, these few movies are only a starting point for socially relevant horror movies. What are your favorites?
