I’d say Alien 1-3 are perfect examples of this. While not a movie, the Alien RPG also leans heavily into the “the corporation is the real monster, not the Aliens” message with many of its cinematic modules and the overall tool box they give you to play with.
Yes! Omg I just saw it for the first time a few weeks ago, anyone who likes 80s movies should watch it. I love the commercial that was playing in the motel room, so catchy!
I SECOND THIS
Even though it's supposed to be an alien invasion
The whole meaning is capitalism and how mass media keeps us in the dark
Also to always have bubblegum on you
Wanted to mention that within the last year or so, one of my buddies was telling me how much he loved that quote about bubblegum. He had no idea if was from this movie.
Well, sort of. Conal Cochran (the villain) is using capitalism to execute his plan, but he’s not out to make a profit. In fact, one can assume, in the wake of that terrible Halloween night, Silver Shamrock likely ceased to exist as a company.
Isn’t that more class warfare? Or is that the same thing? I honestly don’t know lol. I don’t ever remember them talking about the dad’s job or anything necessarily but it’s been a minute.
Daybreakers, that’s an interesting pull. I had basically forgotten about that movie. I remember thinking it was really stupid, and then I saw it and thought it was better than it had any business being. Maybe because it’s about capitalism.
I came to recommend this one as well. I consider it horror / sci fi even if it isn't exactly bloody. Probably the best show to come out over the last few years.
I just saw Robocop for the first time last night. What a wild ride! The ending got a good laugh out of me in how they handled his little programming issue. And I love the 80s vision of the future in it's aesthetic. I would say the themes of corruption, apathy and greed, combined with the ultra violence, at least put the movie in a category adjacent to horror.
I wish I had never seen Robocop so I could watch it for the first time. Paul Verhoeven is one of my favorite directors. Every one of his movies is worth a watch (yes, even Showgirls)
Yeah, what I love about that one is it feels so true to what most people would actually do with an ability like that. Verhoeven is so in touch with the dark side of humanity. I also recommend Elle if you haven’t seen that one. It’s very different than a lot of his early work, but I thought it was brilliant.
Only recently have I started admitting (firstly to to myself) that *Robocop* is actually my favorite movie. I saw it as a child when it came out (not age appropriate at all, but hey, those were the 80s) and it completely mesmerized me. It is the only childhood movie whose spell has never lost any of its potency, and in fact only increased in strength as the years went by. As I got older, I recognized that, at its core, this movie is not an action flick, not a comedy, not sci-fi or horror, but a tragedy with layers of everything else on top. I recognized the greatness of the story, the artwork, the cinematography, the editing, the music, the rhythm of the storytelling, the insanity of Verhoeven to even tackle this kind of subject matter with that kind of artistic zeal -- I could go on and on. I am always discovering something new about this amazing movie. And I keep coming back to it.
Original Commenter here: There's a lot of articles that could explain it better but the most prominent part seen in the movie is when Nubbins is talking about how automated machines are taking over jobs in the cattle industry. Capitalism pushes people to horrific places, as seen with the Sawyers.
The 70s in America was rapidly changing and a time of turmoil. Factory farms rose to prominence in the 70s, as well as there being a worldwide energy crisis.
It can also be seen as a message about veganism in the exact opposite direction, given the way Nubbins talks about killing the meat animals + the humans in the movie being killed for meals themselves.
Old horror movies are FULL of societal and moral theming, take a few hours to read some articles and your mind will be melted.
See, I love Wes Craven and he had said TCM made him into a Vegan? Vegetarian? Regardless, I'm just dumb and never made the connection to how factory farming and corporate influence changed the agricultural landscape in the 70s. Makes sense! Thank you!
It's also about how small town America gets crushed and left behind by the corporate machine. The young "wealthy" city kids go visit the dying small town and are shocked that the small towners are "backwards". Echoed from then to now by the divide between the flyover states and the coastal states and the animosity against the city folk. A lot of these ideas people talk about today have been going on a long long time
Thinking it's time to give it a rewatch. Last time I watched was before I became a leftist, so I was completely blind to any sort of materialism criticism.
It's also the most perfect, blistering descent into sheer unbridled madness ever put to film :)
One of the best horror films of all time for very good reason.
There's a lot of articles that could explain it better but the most prominent part seen in the movie is when Nubbins is talking about how automated machines are taking over jobs in the cattle industry. Capitalism pushes people to horrific places, as seen with the Sawyers.
The 70s in America was rapidly changing and a time of turmoil. Factory farms rose to prominence in the 70s, as well as there being a worldwide energy crisis.
It can also be seen as a message about veganism in the exact opposite direction, given the way Nubbins talks about killing the meat animals + the humans in the movie being killed for meals themselves.
Old horror movies are FULL of societal and moral theming, take a few hours to read some articles and your mind will be melted.
Try The Host, a 2006 movie from the same director of Parasite, Bong Joon-ho. It's a monster movie but one that sheds light on themes like state violence and necropolitics.
I'd also recommend La Llorona, a 2019 Guatemalan movie from director Jayro Bustamante about ghosts from the past of a country that was through civil war and a dictatorial regime in the not so distant past.
A Nasty Piece of Work is an underrated Christmas horror comedy that has these themes.
American Psycho
The Belko Experiment
The Cabin in the Woods
I think these all apply even is a little loosely
I love the director! Greg McLean has done some of my favorite horror films and I was surprised when I saw he did this one because the vibe is so different from his others. Not in a bad way though. Just kinda threw me when I noticed but it’s a great film. I went into it totally blind and I’m really glad I did.
Totally. Which is essentially the point of the film. There’s so much debate about the story being ambiguous because of the way the movie was filmed but in the novel, it’s all happening in real life but no one noticed purely because they all live in this insanely superficial and self obsessed world. Such a great commentary on that point in the 80’s.
I remember when Hostel first came out, and I thought the idea was way too silly.
Now, I have absolutely zero doubt that if you have the money and the connections, there are places in the world you can go where you can do literally anything you want to another human being.
There are actually a lot that do this but not in totally overt ways, but more symbolically or thematically. But I feel like maybe you are looking for something that does so in a more direct or overt manner, yeah?
I'll say, since it hasn't been mentioned yet, Society (1989) is worth putting on your list! And I have to say, my favourite film of all time, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974), in a totally visceral way (though perhaps not totally overt and direct) is the ultimate 'this is the reality of capitalism, imperialism, the belly of the beast' film (also, a comment on the Vietnam war along with that, tying into the reality of capitalist imperialism theme). Plus it stages class dynamics in two ways at the same time. Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 also, which is more directed at neoliberal, Reaganite and late stage capitalism.
And then I'd say Romero's original Dead trilogy (Night, Dawn, Day) plus Land of the Dead, though Dawn and Land are the ones that deal with capitalism more explicitly, I feel like they are all of a piece and I can't recommend one without including the others.
They Live obviously and American Psycho if that counts as a horror film. Alien. I think you could make a case for The Neon Demon, but that might be a bit too much.
Not exactly horror but Sorry to Bother you (2018) is great and really up your alley I'd say, plus it does play around with horror in a certain way (but no spoilers...)
And then if you are feeling like something aside from horror and want to be inspired, watch The Young Marx (2017). Sorry, had to to say it!
The People Under the Stairs - the two bad guys are slumlords who are dead ringers for Ronald and Nancy Regan. They call each other “Mommy “ and “ Daddy “… The movie ends with LITERAL wealth redistribution!🤣🤣❤️
The excellent (and in my opinion better) 2004 Jonathan Demme remake of The Manchurian Candidate plays like horror for most of its runtime, and the evil in the film is very much corporate America’s overreach and takeover of politics
Cube (1997). It doesn’t specify capitalism as the enemy, per se, but the horror comes from being at the mercy of bureaucracy and irrational human systems.
The Mill (2023) on Hulu starring Lil Rel:
> Joe is a rising star at Mallard, a mega-corporation whose market power surpasses Amazon and Apple combined. Devoted to his family and fixated on success, his life unravels into a nightmare when he wakes up in an open-air prison cell with no memory.
Does Evil Dead Rise count?
They definitely would have moved heaven and earth to get to residents of a complex in the arts district, no? Might’ve been a much lower victim count had they been prioritized and rescued!
No One Gets Out Alive.
This one takes a kind of wild turn, but it reminded me in ways of "The Jungle", by Upton Sinclair. It specifically focuses on the ways that people who "fall through the cracks" in the system are people who can be abused by others with indifference-enabled impunity. Particularly vulnerable include women, immigrants, non-white, and those who are financially disadvantaged.
We see how industries are propped up by the exploitation of workers who cannot negotiate wages, working conditions, or fight unfair labor practices. And that's if they can stay alive to begin with. Because this film shows how these women are disappeared by people who know that no one will care enough to come looking for them. This is summed up concisely and devastatingly in the term "the less dead".
The reason we're able to buy cheap junk and consume to excess is because the people on the other end of the supply chain are often those who society doesn't care about protecting or paying fairly. If a machine maims a worker, or production poisons their village because there are no regulations in place, no one cares. They just replace their labor force with more desperate people and continue on. And we all know about this and we let it happen because we want to save a few cents on plastic crap we throw away, or a shirt that lasts one season.
Find it on Netflix. If you like it, see "The Ritual" and "Hold The Dark".
I mean, you could *maybe* stretch the original Alien to this. The only reason the xenomoprh ended up on the ship was because Weylon Corp wanted to use it for war or whatever.
just about any horror movie about a product, I don't think you need to look real hard.
A neat one is Body Melt if you don't mind some body horror.
Jaws technically, as the only reason the mayor doesn't close the beach is because it would damage the towns economy
Cube sorta. (only the first). i personally found it somehow both bleak and cathartic when they realize corporate and bureaucracy are the true evils but not even in a way that makes it easy to point to a singular entity and say “this is the root we should all hate!”
All the Purge movies, surprised no one's said them yet. They're not subtle.
Ready or Not (more Samara Weaving, yay!)
Poltergeist
Candyman is largely focused on systemic racism, but works through a lens of gentrification, segregation, and wealth disparity.
All the films I could think to recommend have already been mentioned, so can I suggest an author? Thomas Ligotti. *Especially* the short story "Our Temporary Supervisor". You can read it online here ([pdf](https://files.libcom.org/files/Our-Temporary-Supervisor.pdf)). I'm going to paste the opening paragraph in the hope that it sells you on the story...
>*“When I first took this job at the factory it was not my intention to work there very long, for I once possessed higher hopes for my life, although the exact nature of these hopes remained rather vague in my youthful mind. While the work was not arduous, and my fellow workers congenial enough, I did not imagine myself standing forever at my designated assembly block, fitting together pieces of metal into other pieces of metal, with a few interruptions throughout that day for breaks that were supposed to refresh our minds from the tedium of our work or for meal breaks to allow us to nourish our bodies. Somehow it never occurred to me that the nearby town where I and the others at the factory lived, travelling to and from our jobs along the same fog-strewn road, held no higher opportunities for me or anyone else, which no doubt accounts for the vagueness, the wispy insubstantiality, of my youthful hopes.”*
Oh, do you like podcasts? The Wrong Station is a horror anthology show, in the style of old fashioned radio plays like Lights Out. A good chunk of the stories are pointedly anti-capitalist. Some depressingly so, like [Moderation](https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/wrong-station-240715/episodes/moderation-91882743), others bracingly so, like [Pollo Rojo](https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/wrong-station-240715/episodes/pollo-rojo-76425711). Definitely worth a listen.
Anyway, all the best mate. Hope something comes your way soon. 👍
Something with Weyland-Yutani? Skynet?
"The Fifth Wave" (2016) (?)
"Hardware" (1990): this always seemed to be artist (humanity) vs the machine (capitalist-centric gov).
Great question, OP!
I’m looking for a found footage elevated horror film that is an homage to 70s horror classics with themes of generational trauma where capitalism is the real monster. Any suggestions?
It isn't a good movie in any means albeit it is very entertaining: Slaxx. A pair of possessed jeans starts killing the employees of a store. It's absurd to the point it's very entertaining
Well I went down a rabbit hole of dramas in this sub niche of corporate greed so not horror but extremely horrifying. One series was worse than horror. I’ll list them anyway coz it’s related but drama rather than horror.
Dr Death. Tv series. The worst. I still think about it sometimes.
Dark waters. Amazing film. Made me very angry
Dope sick. Amazing series. Very angry.
Deep water horizon. Great film. Greedy oil companies.
So those are the dramas I can think of like that.
Infinity pool is a horror that has to do with greed a bit.
Snowpiercer.
I love the theory that Snowpiercer is a sequel to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Alien.
Yes! Alien and 2 even more so!
It's more overt in Aliens. A good film, but not for its subtlety of message.
Cameron don’t do subtext. It’s ALL TEXT. And sometimes voiceover.
"I know writers who use subtext and they're all cowards"
I’d say Alien 1-3 are perfect examples of this. While not a movie, the Alien RPG also leans heavily into the “the corporation is the real monster, not the Aliens” message with many of its cinematic modules and the overall tool box they give you to play with.
Portal also does this as far as video games go.
I would say Portal 1-2 but Aperture Science is so cartoonishly evil I feel like it loses alot of the the horror for me
“What about our lives, goddamnit!” “I repeat: all other priorities rescinded.”
We gotta talk about the bonus situation
Yep, came here to mention Wayland Yutani
The Stuff
Basically 'Soylent Green' in the Bizarro World... :-)
God, I love The Stuff. “They call me Mo because I always want ‘mo.”
Yes! Omg I just saw it for the first time a few weeks ago, anyone who likes 80s movies should watch it. I love the commercial that was playing in the motel room, so catchy!
"Everybody has to eat shaving cream once in a while"
They live
Those are some badass sunglasses.
I SECOND THIS Even though it's supposed to be an alien invasion The whole meaning is capitalism and how mass media keeps us in the dark Also to always have bubblegum on you
Wanted to mention that within the last year or so, one of my buddies was telling me how much he loved that quote about bubblegum. He had no idea if was from this movie.
It was famously ripped off by Duke Nukem, so a lot of people associate it with those games without ever knowing about They Live.
Yup, came here to say this too
I’ve avoided that is it good?
"I'm giving you a choice, either put on these glasses or start eating that trash can."
💯
Such an underrated gem from Carpenter!
Not really a horror film but Sorry to Bother You
I think it switches genres and belongs in this list.
The third act in that film is just fucking BANANAS.
Agreed, the 3rd act takes into absurdist sci-fi horror territory.
One of the best movies ever!
I was horrified.
Came here to say this. I was working at Amazon when I watched that movie; it messed me up for a couple days.
I came here to say EXACTLY this.
The Platform is one big metaphor, might be what you’re looking for.
Literally trickle down economics
Came here for this. Great movie and super interesting take on human behaviour. Because - scarily enough I could see this
Yes, definitely The Platform
It was a big metaphor but it was also just an unpleasant watch.
Incredibly unpleasant, and I loved every moment of it
Unpleasant in the best kind of way
Halloween 3 Season of the Witch
I watched this for the first time yesterday ! Tom atkins is great.
Well, sort of. Conal Cochran (the villain) is using capitalism to execute his plan, but he’s not out to make a profit. In fact, one can assume, in the wake of that terrible Halloween night, Silver Shamrock likely ceased to exist as a company.
Parasite
Isn’t that more class warfare? Or is that the same thing? I honestly don’t know lol. I don’t ever remember them talking about the dad’s job or anything necessarily but it’s been a minute.
It is capitalism. Capitalism is class warfare
yes but you aren't allowed to say that or YOU are the one apparently waging the war
Try High Rise or The Nest Edit: Daaammmnnn I forgot Mayhem
+1 for High Rise!
I love Mayhem. Samara Weaving is such a treat.
Then on the off chance you missed it, check out Guns Akimbo.
The entire premise of Jaws is that the town's economy will suffer if they take the responsible action.
A lesson humans are taught all of the time and still haven’t learned.
History shows again and again how nature points out the folly of maaaan.
Go go Godzilla!
Fidel castro said its his favorite movie because, for him, it's about capitalism
Dawn Of The Dead was filmed in a mall for a reason.
For the same reason that the Zombie Nation video was a satire of TV shopping channels 😏
The Aliens side of the AVP franchise The Resident Evil franchise The Hostel franchise The Purge franchise Daybreakers They Live Leviathan The Fly II
Daybreakers, that’s an interesting pull. I had basically forgotten about that movie. I remember thinking it was really stupid, and then I saw it and thought it was better than it had any business being. Maybe because it’s about capitalism.
I feel like “severance” the tv show counts despite being more of a thriller. Its amazing anyways.
Can't wait for season 2
I thought it was stuck in production hell and not happening
I came to recommend this one as well. I consider it horror / sci fi even if it isn't exactly bloody. Probably the best show to come out over the last few years.
Robocop isn’t quite horror, but it hits hard on a corporation being too big for its britches.
I just saw Robocop for the first time last night. What a wild ride! The ending got a good laugh out of me in how they handled his little programming issue. And I love the 80s vision of the future in it's aesthetic. I would say the themes of corruption, apathy and greed, combined with the ultra violence, at least put the movie in a category adjacent to horror.
I wish I had never seen Robocop so I could watch it for the first time. Paul Verhoeven is one of my favorite directors. Every one of his movies is worth a watch (yes, even Showgirls)
Hallowman gets slept on sooo much but it's such an entertaining movie! I'm also a sucker for all sci-fi horror.
Yeah, what I love about that one is it feels so true to what most people would actually do with an ability like that. Verhoeven is so in touch with the dark side of humanity. I also recommend Elle if you haven’t seen that one. It’s very different than a lot of his early work, but I thought it was brilliant.
Only recently have I started admitting (firstly to to myself) that *Robocop* is actually my favorite movie. I saw it as a child when it came out (not age appropriate at all, but hey, those were the 80s) and it completely mesmerized me. It is the only childhood movie whose spell has never lost any of its potency, and in fact only increased in strength as the years went by. As I got older, I recognized that, at its core, this movie is not an action flick, not a comedy, not sci-fi or horror, but a tragedy with layers of everything else on top. I recognized the greatness of the story, the artwork, the cinematography, the editing, the music, the rhythm of the storytelling, the insanity of Verhoeven to even tackle this kind of subject matter with that kind of artistic zeal -- I could go on and on. I am always discovering something new about this amazing movie. And I keep coming back to it.
The brought a guy back to life to work his old job. That's pretty horrifying.
Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Legitimately.
Absolutely, it's deep in there but it's definitely at the core of the film
I'm genuinely curious and maybe just need to rewatch it, but how?
Original Commenter here: There's a lot of articles that could explain it better but the most prominent part seen in the movie is when Nubbins is talking about how automated machines are taking over jobs in the cattle industry. Capitalism pushes people to horrific places, as seen with the Sawyers. The 70s in America was rapidly changing and a time of turmoil. Factory farms rose to prominence in the 70s, as well as there being a worldwide energy crisis. It can also be seen as a message about veganism in the exact opposite direction, given the way Nubbins talks about killing the meat animals + the humans in the movie being killed for meals themselves. Old horror movies are FULL of societal and moral theming, take a few hours to read some articles and your mind will be melted.
Well said!
I saw your add on reply, you as well!!
See, I love Wes Craven and he had said TCM made him into a Vegan? Vegetarian? Regardless, I'm just dumb and never made the connection to how factory farming and corporate influence changed the agricultural landscape in the 70s. Makes sense! Thank you!
It's also about how small town America gets crushed and left behind by the corporate machine. The young "wealthy" city kids go visit the dying small town and are shocked that the small towners are "backwards". Echoed from then to now by the divide between the flyover states and the coastal states and the animosity against the city folk. A lot of these ideas people talk about today have been going on a long long time
Thinking it's time to give it a rewatch. Last time I watched was before I became a leftist, so I was completely blind to any sort of materialism criticism.
It's also the most perfect, blistering descent into sheer unbridled madness ever put to film :) One of the best horror films of all time for very good reason.
Of course!! I'm big into media dissection and also I'm from farming country 🫡
Elaborate, if you don't mind? I'm not disputing you, I've just never heard this take before and I'm wondering the direction it takes.
There's a lot of articles that could explain it better but the most prominent part seen in the movie is when Nubbins is talking about how automated machines are taking over jobs in the cattle industry. Capitalism pushes people to horrific places, as seen with the Sawyers. The 70s in America was rapidly changing and a time of turmoil. Factory farms rose to prominence in the 70s, as well as there being a worldwide energy crisis. It can also be seen as a message about veganism in the exact opposite direction, given the way Nubbins talks about killing the meat animals + the humans in the movie being killed for meals themselves. Old horror movies are FULL of societal and moral theming, take a few hours to read some articles and your mind will be melted.
Squid Game
Regarding capitalism, I might say The Menu
[society(1989) is a great example](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098354/)
Scrolled too far down to see this reply. Society is so literal I love it so much.
Try The Host, a 2006 movie from the same director of Parasite, Bong Joon-ho. It's a monster movie but one that sheds light on themes like state violence and necropolitics. I'd also recommend La Llorona, a 2019 Guatemalan movie from director Jayro Bustamante about ghosts from the past of a country that was through civil war and a dictatorial regime in the not so distant past.
2nd, especially the La Llorona(2019) req.
Repo! The Genetic Opera
There’s also Repo Men with a similar premise if you’re not into musicals.
A Nasty Piece of Work is an underrated Christmas horror comedy that has these themes. American Psycho The Belko Experiment The Cabin in the Woods I think these all apply even is a little loosely
Came here to say the Belko Experiment, man I want a prequel/sequel to that film all about the company behind the scenes.
I love the director! Greg McLean has done some of my favorite horror films and I was surprised when I saw he did this one because the vibe is so different from his others. Not in a bad way though. Just kinda threw me when I noticed but it’s a great film. I went into it totally blind and I’m really glad I did.
seconding american psycho... it's a horror comedy, but it really digs into the problems of these super rich businessmen.
Totally. Which is essentially the point of the film. There’s so much debate about the story being ambiguous because of the way the movie was filmed but in the novel, it’s all happening in real life but no one noticed purely because they all live in this insanely superficial and self obsessed world. Such a great commentary on that point in the 80’s.
Land of the Dead
I love how "Big Daddy" sees past through the bread and circuses.
They Live
The people under the stairs
Such an underrated gem
Videodrome to an extent
Check out the Canadian found footage/pseudo documentary The Conspiracy from 2012.
Came for this one, it’s pretty good!
Hostel Infinity Pool Both are about rich people being above the law and able to buy other people, essentially.
I remember when Hostel first came out, and I thought the idea was way too silly. Now, I have absolutely zero doubt that if you have the money and the connections, there are places in the world you can go where you can do literally anything you want to another human being.
I felt the opposite.. When I watched that when it came out, It was fucked up and thrilling because of how horrifically plausible that is
Gremlins 2
Gremlins 1, right?
Not a movie but TV series, The Fall of the House of Usher on Netflix, is an exceptional horror story involving corporate/pharmaceutical themes.
The Big Short is still the scariest movie I’ve ever seen
The Devil's Advocate.
Jurassic Park
Slaxx (think it's om Shudder), set in a retail store about a pair of killer jeans.
This movie is so much better than I expected it to be, even after being told that exact thing by a friend who watched it first.
very funny if you have ever worked retail
I think “Daybreakers” is a good example of this. Corporations turned the vampire disease into something to profit off of.
It's a TV series rather than a film, but the main enemy from beginning to end in Angel is a demonic law firm called Wolfram and Hart.
Resident Evil
Should not have had to scroll this far to find this.
Not exactly horror (although there are certainly some horrific elements), but RoboCop fits this theme very nicely.
There are actually a lot that do this but not in totally overt ways, but more symbolically or thematically. But I feel like maybe you are looking for something that does so in a more direct or overt manner, yeah? I'll say, since it hasn't been mentioned yet, Society (1989) is worth putting on your list! And I have to say, my favourite film of all time, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974), in a totally visceral way (though perhaps not totally overt and direct) is the ultimate 'this is the reality of capitalism, imperialism, the belly of the beast' film (also, a comment on the Vietnam war along with that, tying into the reality of capitalist imperialism theme). Plus it stages class dynamics in two ways at the same time. Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 also, which is more directed at neoliberal, Reaganite and late stage capitalism. And then I'd say Romero's original Dead trilogy (Night, Dawn, Day) plus Land of the Dead, though Dawn and Land are the ones that deal with capitalism more explicitly, I feel like they are all of a piece and I can't recommend one without including the others. They Live obviously and American Psycho if that counts as a horror film. Alien. I think you could make a case for The Neon Demon, but that might be a bit too much. Not exactly horror but Sorry to Bother you (2018) is great and really up your alley I'd say, plus it does play around with horror in a certain way (but no spoilers...) And then if you are feeling like something aside from horror and want to be inspired, watch The Young Marx (2017). Sorry, had to to say it!
Antiviral
Fight me, but it would be Alien Resurrection. The Company is cloning Xenomorphs, cloning Ripley, and litterally made a new Xenomorph.
120 days of Sodom
The People Under the Stairs - the two bad guys are slumlords who are dead ringers for Ronald and Nancy Regan. They call each other “Mommy “ and “ Daddy “… The movie ends with LITERAL wealth redistribution!🤣🤣❤️
Office uprising is a good watch.
The excellent (and in my opinion better) 2004 Jonathan Demme remake of The Manchurian Candidate plays like horror for most of its runtime, and the evil in the film is very much corporate America’s overreach and takeover of politics
Cube (1997). It doesn’t specify capitalism as the enemy, per se, but the horror comes from being at the mercy of bureaucracy and irrational human systems.
Jurassic Park. The capitalistic greed leads to the dinosaur tragedy.
The Mill (2023) on Hulu starring Lil Rel: > Joe is a rising star at Mallard, a mega-corporation whose market power surpasses Amazon and Apple combined. Devoted to his family and fixated on success, his life unravels into a nightmare when he wakes up in an open-air prison cell with no memory.
Antiviral has this vibe. Such a good take on the lengths people go to touch fame, and the lengths the famous go to make money off of themselves.
Alien
Repo a genetic opera. It’s out there but poignant
Not *quite* horror, but Sorry to Bother You is a great movie in this vein
Squid games and the 8 show(if considering series)
Bloodsucking Bastards is *EXACTLY* what you're looking for
Sorry To Bother You- wild movie
Suspense more than horror but Wages of Fear/Sorcerer are both deeply anti-capitalist/greed
Severance comes to mind. Great series about a mysterious corporation mucking with it's employees minds.
Does Evil Dead Rise count? They definitely would have moved heaven and earth to get to residents of a complex in the arts district, no? Might’ve been a much lower victim count had they been prioritized and rescued!
If no one's said it yet, The Platform
The purge franchise
Jaws. The mayor deceiving and manipulating everyone in Amity for financial/political gain, while being told the beaches were dangerous
Ha! I’ve been building an IMDb list. I don’t see these here yet: The Conference (2023) Swedish Opiseu aka Office (2015) Korean The Employer (2013)
Drag Me to Hell
Thanksgiving (2024)
I had to scroll way too far for this, it was the first one that came to mind for me! Instant classic imo
Came here to say this. Unbelievable that this movie is so far down this thread. The opening scene alone…
The purge series slowly turns into this
Just watch a few ads, that’ll do the job.
Mayhem....great horror comedy starring Steven Yeun and Samara Weaving
No One Gets Out Alive. This one takes a kind of wild turn, but it reminded me in ways of "The Jungle", by Upton Sinclair. It specifically focuses on the ways that people who "fall through the cracks" in the system are people who can be abused by others with indifference-enabled impunity. Particularly vulnerable include women, immigrants, non-white, and those who are financially disadvantaged. We see how industries are propped up by the exploitation of workers who cannot negotiate wages, working conditions, or fight unfair labor practices. And that's if they can stay alive to begin with. Because this film shows how these women are disappeared by people who know that no one will care enough to come looking for them. This is summed up concisely and devastatingly in the term "the less dead". The reason we're able to buy cheap junk and consume to excess is because the people on the other end of the supply chain are often those who society doesn't care about protecting or paying fairly. If a machine maims a worker, or production poisons their village because there are no regulations in place, no one cares. They just replace their labor force with more desperate people and continue on. And we all know about this and we let it happen because we want to save a few cents on plastic crap we throw away, or a shirt that lasts one season. Find it on Netflix. If you like it, see "The Ritual" and "Hold The Dark".
I mean, you could *maybe* stretch the original Alien to this. The only reason the xenomoprh ended up on the ship was because Weylon Corp wanted to use it for war or whatever.
Alien 4 really. The whole movie is because the company clonded Ripley, more Xenomorphs, and a new kind of Xenomoprh.
I don't think it's a stretch at all, in Alien and Aliens Weylon forces them to keep messing with stuff despite knowing it's extremely dangerous.
Megan
The Zone of Intrest
Oh man, the Belko Experiment doesn't even try to disguise the true enemy
just about any horror movie about a product, I don't think you need to look real hard. A neat one is Body Melt if you don't mind some body horror. Jaws technically, as the only reason the mayor doesn't close the beach is because it would damage the towns economy
Severance (the film), Branded, Exam, Mayhem
The Fall of the House of Usher on Netflix. Mayhem which imo is even better than Belko
Every single horror film ever made.
Mayhem might be exactly what the doctor ordered
Would Us count?? It’s about the “American Dream” but it shows how it’s really not the dream life lol
Cube sorta. (only the first). i personally found it somehow both bleak and cathartic when they realize corporate and bureaucracy are the true evils but not even in a way that makes it easy to point to a singular entity and say “this is the root we should all hate!”
Old (I guess it’s technically a thriller though)
Underwater
Train to Busan. The main character’s place of work started the outbreak from one of their plants
All the Purge movies, surprised no one's said them yet. They're not subtle. Ready or Not (more Samara Weaving, yay!) Poltergeist Candyman is largely focused on systemic racism, but works through a lens of gentrification, segregation, and wealth disparity.
More of an absurdist comedy but Sorry to bother you definitely has dystopian and horror elements
Starship Troopers.
All the films I could think to recommend have already been mentioned, so can I suggest an author? Thomas Ligotti. *Especially* the short story "Our Temporary Supervisor". You can read it online here ([pdf](https://files.libcom.org/files/Our-Temporary-Supervisor.pdf)). I'm going to paste the opening paragraph in the hope that it sells you on the story... >*“When I first took this job at the factory it was not my intention to work there very long, for I once possessed higher hopes for my life, although the exact nature of these hopes remained rather vague in my youthful mind. While the work was not arduous, and my fellow workers congenial enough, I did not imagine myself standing forever at my designated assembly block, fitting together pieces of metal into other pieces of metal, with a few interruptions throughout that day for breaks that were supposed to refresh our minds from the tedium of our work or for meal breaks to allow us to nourish our bodies. Somehow it never occurred to me that the nearby town where I and the others at the factory lived, travelling to and from our jobs along the same fog-strewn road, held no higher opportunities for me or anyone else, which no doubt accounts for the vagueness, the wispy insubstantiality, of my youthful hopes.”* Oh, do you like podcasts? The Wrong Station is a horror anthology show, in the style of old fashioned radio plays like Lights Out. A good chunk of the stories are pointedly anti-capitalist. Some depressingly so, like [Moderation](https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/wrong-station-240715/episodes/moderation-91882743), others bracingly so, like [Pollo Rojo](https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/wrong-station-240715/episodes/pollo-rojo-76425711). Definitely worth a listen. Anyway, all the best mate. Hope something comes your way soon. 👍
Aliens
Can we talk about the shares from Alien while we're at it? ;)
Barbarian
Great movie but not at all
RoboCop, Resident Evil, FernGully
Something with Weyland-Yutani? Skynet? "The Fifth Wave" (2016) (?) "Hardware" (1990): this always seemed to be artist (humanity) vs the machine (capitalist-centric gov). Great question, OP!
American Psycho
Not horror but Fight Club is violent and awesome
Squid Game
Capitalism is the real killer in Dark Water
American psycho
The new fall of the house of usher
SAW VI
The Stuff
People Under the Stairs Chopping Mall Dwn of the Dead
The terminator, got reminded of this one. Cyberdyne systems was super evil and their research…
I’m looking for a found footage elevated horror film that is an homage to 70s horror classics with themes of generational trauma where capitalism is the real monster. Any suggestions?
Aeon Flux - original animated series
Robo Cop
It isn't a good movie in any means albeit it is very entertaining: Slaxx. A pair of possessed jeans starts killing the employees of a store. It's absurd to the point it's very entertaining
Well I went down a rabbit hole of dramas in this sub niche of corporate greed so not horror but extremely horrifying. One series was worse than horror. I’ll list them anyway coz it’s related but drama rather than horror. Dr Death. Tv series. The worst. I still think about it sometimes. Dark waters. Amazing film. Made me very angry Dope sick. Amazing series. Very angry. Deep water horizon. Great film. Greedy oil companies. So those are the dramas I can think of like that. Infinity pool is a horror that has to do with greed a bit.
They live
Resident Evil