Satire and horror often go hand-in-hand, and that combination lends itself to films that are decidedly self-aware. A lot of horror movies tackle real-life issues like social injustice and discrimination. While this is even more prevalent today, films like this have been in production for decades.
Horror is often dismissed as not as artistic as other genres. But a scary movie can be a great way to explore complicated and serious issues. Some horror films take serious topics and blow them out of proportion because that might be the only way for audiences to realize what is actually happening in the modern world.
10 Tucker & Dale Vs Evil Portrays Privilege And Bias
Tucker & Dale vs Evil is a comedy horror film starring Tyler Labine and Alan Tudyk. Tucker and Dale are entirely harmless hillbillies, but they get mistaken for murderers. A group of privileged college kids go camping and see the men, and make the assumption that they must be killers.
The kids keep accidentally killing themselves while Tucker and Dale just try to help them. The mostly upper-class judge the two guys based on a stereotype and because they look and act differently, which leads to a huge series of misadventures.
9 Carrie Is A Classic Case Of Bullying
Carrie is based on a supernatural Stephen King story, and while it was released in 1976, it presents themes that are still relevant today. Carrie doesn't fit in at her high school, and the popular kids will never let her forget it. It portrays bullying, obviously to the extreme in this case, but kids are still being picked on more often than people might realize, and it's starting younger and younger.
A blood-soaked prank pushes Carrie over the edge at prom, leading her to go on a psychic rampage. Even though she causes such a devastating event, the audience still feels for Carrie. Other people's words and actions can be extremely harmful, and Carrie sheds a light on that. It's exaggerated, but it shows just how horrific the consequences can be.
8 The Platform Sheds A Light On Humanity
The Platform is a Spanish movie that focuses on the problems that humanity has invented. It takes place in a prison known as "The Hole" with over 200 floors and 2 people living on each floor. Once a day, a platform comes down with a buffet of food. It only stops for two minutes on each floor, and inmates eat as much as they can before it moves on.
The people who are higher up get to stuff their faces, and the people near the bottom get nothing. In a system like this, being fed isn't always guaranteed. However, if each person only took what they needed, there would be enough food for all 250 floors. The Platform sends a message about greed, selfishness, and decency.
7 Parasite Shows Both Sides Of The Coin
Bong Joon Ho created a haunting film with Parasite about classism that reveals society's current path. It's about the Kim family, who live in poverty and try to find side hustles, through any means, just to stay afloat. Working class families and families like this are sometimes forced to break the law in order to survive in a capitalist society.
The son, Ki-woo, gets a job as a tutor for a very wealthy family. The Kim family then creates a scheme that allows them all to work in that rich household and start living the good life. The film certainly gets its message across, and as it progresses, the question arises as to who the real parasite is.
6 The Purge: Election Year Is Political Horror
The Purge series takes place in a future America that went through an unemployment spike and an extreme rise in crime. A group called The New Founding Fathers has taken control and introduced The Purge. For 24 hours, all crime is legal. The third installment in the series, The Purge: Election Year underscores that nobody is safthe presidential candidates wind up as prime targets.
The Purge: Election Year came out in 2016. The film features two candidates, one for The Purge, and one very against it. People quickly turn on each other simply because of political differences. It posits a future where people are even more emboldened to act on their political convictions.
5 Get Out Is A Wake-Up Call
Get Out is the first movie Jordan Peele directed, and it is definitely an effective horror film since it's based in reality. It's full of symbolism that is beyond brilliant. It tackles the topic of racism in incredibly complex and subtle way.
Get Out is about a Black man going to his white girlfriend's house to meet her family for the first time. He slowly begins to realize that not everything is as it seems, and her family might have a hidden agenda. It serves as a wake-up call to Americans everywhere because there is a real problem, and it's everyone's responsibility to help fix it.
4 Candyman Should Serve As A Warning
In both Clive Barker's and Jordan Peele's versions, Candyman tells a tale of racism, gentrification, and trauma. However, Peele's writing and Nia DaCosta's direction are definitely more racially focused than the 1992 film, with its white protagonist investigating a Black high rise. In all of its iternations, Candyman is a supernatural slasher with an urban legend brought to life.
America's history is engrained with the notion that white people should fear Black men. In spite of some plot and character problems in its third act, 2021's Candyman is brilliantly done, perfectly portraying how violence and trauma can't be pushed aside. These are factors that still exist and cannot be forgotten without making things worse.
3 The People Under The Stairs Is About Real Events
Wes Craven's The People Under the Stairs is part satire and part horror. It's about a duo of robbers who use a boy named Fool to break into a house. They discover that the couple who lives there, the Robesons, is keeping now-canniballistic children locked in their basement. Craven said he created this story in order to bring certain issues to light, such as capitalism, gentrification, and the economy in the 80s.
The couple, who refer to themselves as Mommy and Daddy, are caricatures of conservatism, rich landlords whose brutality becomes the source of urban legends, and many have compared the Robesons to famous political figures. The People Under the Stairs is roughly based on a true story, where burglars in Los Angeles uncovered children locked in a basement, and Craven's direction made it into a solid horror film and an effective social metaphor.
2 Rosemary's Baby Is Especially Relevant In 2022
Rosemary's Baby is a psychological horror film directed by Roman Polanski, and it is renowned as one of the best in the genre. It's about a young pregnant woman who begins to suspect that her neighbors are members of a cult.
Rosemary's Baby is very relevant today, as it deals with women's liberation. Throughout the movie, every character tries to get involved with Rosemary's pregnancy, causing her to be paranoid that the cult might want to steal her baby. Making things worse, she's dealing with her husband's indifference, her doctor providing misinformation, and her longing for a child. It gives a very real message about women's rights and mental health.
1 Society Is Thought Provoking And Terrifying.
Society is a horror comedy that makes fun of posh and elitist society. It's a silly body horror flick that takes the phrase "the rich feed off the poor" quite literally in a radical satire that straight-up laughs in society's face. It follows a teen in Beverly Hills that feels alienated from his parents and sister.
Eventually, he begins to think they are members of some elite cult. Society purposefully blows everything out of proportion, making the wealthy an entirely different species who gaslight the poor. It's funny, pretentious, disgusting, and a successful satirical horror.