Your pick of Horror movie that told the most/best Political truth?

[cthulu2016]

Almost all horror movies of any quality (the minority, admittedly) operate on multiple levels, with the basic horror story also operating as human/societal metaphor.

Excluding overtly political movies that are borderline horror (1984, Handmaid's Tale, etc.), what is your favorite political/sociological metaphor horror film?

I don't know that I have a favorite, but to better explain the question I'll cite George A. Romero's Land of the Dead, where the zombies (as always) represent the aggregate citizenry.

The rich have built an enclave (moat and all) that the zombies cannot reach. The haves doggedly manage to perpetuate pre-zombie race and class distinctions in the ultimate gated community. To get supplies (medicines, liquor, etc.) the rich folk send out their employees to raid stores amid the zillions of zombies. The looters go out at night while the gated community gives cover by launching fireworks that distract the zombies. As long as the fireworks last the zombies will stand slack on the sidewalk, drooling and staring at the pretty explosions in the sky.

This film was released in 2005, and was plainly about (among other things) the Iraq War.

(Romero's 1970s Dawn of the Dead was also dead on, with the zombies thronging to the mall because it was what they had always done... the behavioral pathways were so deeply etched that the dead retained a relict urge to shop. And in the milieu of the mall, with muzak going, it was hard to tell zombies from the shoppers of the past.)

[edbermac]

1. LOL, whenever I go to a mall, that DOTD muzak goes off in my head.

[lob1]

2. Dr. Strangelove.

[edbermac]

12. Or Clockwork Orange.

[XemaSab]

3. 28 Days Later

[flvegan]

4. Ethos. n/t

[Eleanors38]

5. The Body Snatchers. (Are you now or have you ever been?)

[cthulu2016]

18. Yup. A good one

[Eleanors38]

19. Both versions. I think Nimoy was excellent in letting

his character "bend" ever so slightly to give rise to suspicions; even when he was killed the viewer was in doubt as to his "going over."

"I walked With a Zombie" high-lighted societal fears of black people, though a little bluntly.

[Bjorn Against]

6. They Live was pretty subversive

[villager]

7. agree with Romero's Dawn of the Dead

It's how I've thought of every mall, ever since

[stevil]

8. Jacob's Ladder

A mindfuck kind of movie with great acting, direction and photography. I don't want to spoil anything else about this movie, check it out.

[Eleanors38]

20. Some pretty ground-breaking techniques in that one.

[MrScorpio]

9. They Live and RoboCop nt

[kimbutgar]

10. Brazil, Escape from NY, Robocop, They Live ( those GOP are not human)

And the 70's classic with mr right winger charleston Heston ; Soylent green.

For real surrealist; Metropolis

[LeftyMom]

11. "Citizen Kang"

I'm breaking the underlying rules of your thread because it's a TV segment and more of a horror comedy, but I stand by my answer.

Answer may be slightly biased by the fact that my kid and I are marathon watching the Treehouse of Horror episodes. YMMV.

[cthulu2016]

23. I agree 100%, but wouldn't have thought of it

You're right. Over the years, that eight minute segment must have had a lot of influence (on me), since there are so many political events over the years that I can't help but think of in terms of that episode.

(Not that episode, but just mentioning another SIMPSONS "frame maker" for me... The ad Sideshow Bob ran against Quimby saying Quimby was soft on crime because he had let Sideshow Bob out of prison. There's a whole class of special interest ads that I think of as, "paid for by Sideshow Bob for mayor ads.&quot

[quinnox]

13. I will tell you what horror movies actually scared me

Sorry to go off topic a bit.

I have seen many many horror movies, both obscure and mainstream. The movies that actually scared me: Halloween (the first time you see it)
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (the original Tobe Hooper one) The Ring (the American version, never saw the original)
and finally, the one that scared me the most, mainly because of one particular scene - Suspiria

[stevil]

14. Off topic also....

The Ring (American version) had a very healthy IMDB discussion forum as large as The Matrix before IMDB wiped the forums clean at some point. I felt the movie was very atmospheric.

[quinnox]

15. Totally agree, amazing movie

atmosphere in spades. And the scene where the evil ghost girl finally appears - damn, just damn. Masterpiece of horror and suspense.

[lumberjack_jeff]

16. They Live. No competition at all. n/t

[stevil]

17. Alien and Aliens

Anything for The Corporation.

[Eleanors38]

22. Good choice. Alien was a classic chain-rattling Gothic in outer space.

[zazen]

21. Silence of the Lambs addressed politics of gender quite well

But _Aliens_ was amazing in how prescient it was about the direction of corporate exploitation. And I won't ever watch the fourth Alien installment again because its visions of the potential evil of genetic engineering freaked me out so much I was scarred for weeks.