I’ve always been a big fan of horror movies, and used to subscribe to a magazine called Fangoria. (It’s still around digitally, but not in print.) Often, they would mention movies that were not in wide release, but noteworthy.
One was called Society, made in 1989. I wanted to see it so badly, I bought a bootlegged video cassette of it at a sci-fi convention while in college. At the time, I didn’t know what bootlegged meant, haha. Interestingly, it wasn’t a terrible copy of the movie, but it did have Japanese subtitles for some reason. Nevertheless, it allowed me to see the film.
Why am I even mentioning all this on this blog? Well, it stared Billy Warlock… of Baywatch fame. He was pretty hot. He does get shirtless fairly often, and barefoot in the opening scene (though you don’t get much of a view other than his tops, and even that is a bit far away). And while he doesn’t really get tied up, he does get led around on a leash. But even more significant to me, it was one of the first male to male kisses I had even seen in a movie. Seeing as this was 1989, and shlock horror movie, it was really unexpected and very hot. More on that later.
Also surprising is that the movie is actually pretty good for what it is. It has some wry commentary about class, as well as some intentionally comedic moments. Without giving away spoilers, the plot involves Billy as the son of a wealthy family, and he never feels like he fits in. And we later discover that he’s more right than he could’ve ever imagined–there may be some shape-shifters in his midst.
The effects of the movie manage to be graphic and campy at the same time, and the ending is a now infamous alien orgy that has to be seen to be believed, a screen cap of which is below. It’s actually quite ahead of it’s time for how pansexual it was… men, women, old, and young. Oh, and alien as well. Gotta be inclusive.
The “gay” kiss comes in when Billy faces one of the aliens, pictured above. It really amazed me at the time. It was probably the first male to male kiss I had ever seen.
What amazes me is that Billy Warlock was willing to film the scene in the first place. Remember, around 1989, there wasn’t much gay content in mainstream media at all, let alone in a horror movie. I suppose you can argue it’s not truly a gay kiss, but even so, at the time, there were very few actors that would be willing to film anything remotely gay, so it was a real shocker to me at the time. It made a real impression on me, especially since the guys were pretty hot on top of it.
Note: a bit of a spoiler ahead…. if you want to skip it, stop reading now above the line and go enjoy the movie. It’s now reached a cult status, and is available on DVD. If you like surrealist horror, with a hot guy peppered in, as well as a bit of comedy… go see it! I actually still enjoy it.
Spoiler ahead, with video… though it does show the kiss.
Billy is about to be “shunted”, which is the equivalent of being eaten by the aliens, by the son of his nemesis. So they lock lips. Unfortunately for him, Billy manages to turn things around on him… quite literally. I’ve found a low quality video of the scene below. You can watch about the first 30 seconds of this before it gets too graphic (it does have a very gory ending, so if you are sensitive or squeamish, definitely stop watching at 30 seconds or less–and not a moment longer).
