Among horror movie subgenres, body horror is one of the most revolting, with the most prominent offenders standing the test of time as delightfully disgusting films. Body horror is a term that encompasses a wide range of spooky subjects, from nauseating inhuman transformations of the flesh to traditional blood and gore rendered in increasingly creative ways. The most appalling body horror scenes tend to skew towards the former, making for some of the genre’s standout films that have withstood ages of scrutiny.
Interestingly, despite their reliance on special effects to work, some of the best body horror movies are mired in practical effects, with the medium somehow working more realistically when done with lovingly-crafted prosthetics. The infamous works of David Cronenberg stand out in this arena, being responsible for some chilling imagery that explores the true lengths the human body can go to in cinema. Whether traditionally sculpted or computer generated, the most recognizable body horror films stand out for their grostesque imagery and bizarre stories.
10 The Fly
Re-made a charming B-movie into a nightmare
David Cronenberg’s best-known film by far, The Fly is a true test of one’s stomach for terrifying gore and an exploration of the human mind’s capacity for animalistic influence. Loosely based off the iconic science fiction B-movie of the same name, the film follows Brundle, a brilliant scientist on the precipice of inventing teleportation technology. Just as he begins a relationship with a reporter fascinated by his work, Brundle suffers from a literal fly in the ointment – a common housefly that merges with his body, causing him to slowly morph into an insectoid monster.
Jeff Goldblum is singularly excellent as the eccentric scientist, whose kind nature is gradually corrupted by the influences of the creature now inhabiting his DNA. Whereas the original The Fly could only offer Vincent Price’s head squealing “Help me!” in a high-pitched voice on a fly’s body, Cronenberg’s version explores the limits of human transformation. Brundle’s flesh slowly sloughing off to give way to his horrific new hybrid form is an unforgettable image.
9 Tetsuo: The Iron Man
Melds metal with flesh in a garish union
As disturbing as biological transformations can be, Tetsuo: The Iron Man unleashes the full force of artificial machinery into the human form, to twisted results. The fever dream narrative begins with an unnamed white collar protagonist, simply referred to as “the salaryman”, who performs a hit-and-run on a strange figure obsessed with grafting metal to his flesh. Before long, the salaryman starts undergoing his own painful metamorphosis, with twisted, jagged pieces of metal growing from his skin until he becomes an unstoppable monster.
The lack of clear explanation for the salaryman’s transformation only makes the story all the more terrifying, the audience being left just as confused about the condition as the screaming characters. The black-and-white footage is the perfect mask for the impressive special effects, which make it difficult to tell where the human body ends and cold, hard steel begins. Laced witih a potent helping of psychosexual imagery to top off its scares, Tetsuo: The Iron Man is a wholly unique body horror chiller that more than makes up for its advanced age.
8 The Thing
The template for many body horror films
It would be remiss to not mention The Thing when it comes to discussing body horror. Perhaps the legendary John Carpenter’s single greatest film, the extraterrestrial invasion story begins with an eclectic crew of misfits conducting research in an isolated station on Antarctica. When a disguised alien organism makes its way into the facility, the crew is soon turned against each other, not knowing who to trust, as the titular amorphous creature tears through the station’s staff with its jaw-dropping shapeshifting abilities before hiding in plain sight.
Despite being an alien invasion movie, The Thing wrings plenty of body horror out of the unique abilities of its eponymous villain. The legendary spider-head scene is a shining example of body horror done right, and the lengths the creature is willing to go to in order to procreate and survive are almost dizzying. With a tense, uncertain ending and a handful of excellent action beats leading there, The Thing is a visionary work of horror that has since spawned countless imitators.
7 The Brood
Links body horror to mental health
A potent blend of psychological horror and body horror, The Brood manages to touch on fears of every kind while navigating its dark premise. Another one of David Cronenberg’s unsurprisingly dominant body horror features, The Brood follows a mentally tortured woman who is left in the clutches of a strange psychiatrist by her ex-husband following an incident in which their child was injured. Before long, the attacks of a bizarre pack of dwarf-like children threaten to break her already fraying sanity.
The drama of The Brood is just as gripping as its mutant antagonists, with the custody battle between Nola and Frank clearly being inspired by Cronenberg’s own experiences in co-parenting after divorce. But make no mistake, The Brood truly shines in its awful depictions of gore and disturbing homonculi, which wreak havoc on their “mother’s” unstable psyche. The nauseating scenes of the creatures’ psychosomatic birth is the horrifying cherry on top of an already deliciously scary body horror endeavor.
6 Crimes Of The Future
Cronenberg’s most recent body horror exploration
Even in the modern day, Cronenberg’s legendary body horror sensibilities remain unmatched, as verified by the likes of Crimes of the Future. Maddeningly unrelated to his previous 1970 film of the same name, the film takes place in a far-flung science fiction future in which humanity’s advancements in medicine have led to a golden age of body modification. Here, an eccentric artist uses surgery to create ghastly pieces that push the limits of human evolution.
Despite being a more recent entry in his filmography, Crimes of the Future is just as graphic as Cronenberg’s older work. The film doesn’t shy away from the surgical undertakings of its central character, showing full-frontal nudity, stomach-churning vivisection, and horrific final “art pieces” that are difficult for all but the most seasoned body horror fans to stomach. Beyond the surface level spectacle, Crimes of the Future has a real point to its madness, ruminating on the dark possible intersection between performance art, eroticism, and scientific advancement.
5 Videodrome
A surrealist masterpiece with accurate claims about the future
Cronenberg’s first major cinematic outing, Videodrome proved for the first time why the legendary director’s name deserved to become synonymous with body horror. The movie follows the exploits of the CEO of a small-time UHF cable channel who stumbles upon a broadcast of snuff films that showcases vile and intense acts of violence. Airing the footage in hopes of chasing sensationalist ratings, James Woods’ Max soon delves into a depraved investigation into the broadcasts, uncovering what twisted means they hope to manifest.
In many ways, Videodrome is endearingly rooted in 80s technology, with the influence of cable TV being difficult to buy as a threat in the modern age. However, the film was quite prescient in its envisioning of a world overtaken by screens, something the digital age may have very well made into a reality. As a body horror film, the undulating combination of human flesh and digital consciousness runs up against the limits of human imagination, making for a singularly unforgettable staple of the subgenre.
4 Slither
A sickening evolution of Alien and The Thing
While he’s better-known today for superhero movie franchises, James Gunn’s filmography actually began with a slick body horror comedy called Slither. Taking clear inspiration from the likes of Alien and The Thing, Slither is named for its central villains, a series of slug-like alien parasites that infect the residents of a small South Carolina town. When one of the beings forms into a powerful monster that establishes a local hivemind, it’s up to a local police chief and a small band of recruits to take down the monster and slay the pack of creatures before they can infect anyone else.
Slither deserves commendation for the sheer breadth of body horror it’s able to show off. From violently gory kills to sickening transformations and the disturbing implications of the aliens capturing certain targets for “breeding”, there are a lot of different types of trauma to digest throughout the festivities. Between its high body count and hard-hitting humor, it’s easy to see why James Gunn was able to launch a career off of Slither.
3 Eraserhead
The furthest thing from easy viewing
The premiere work of surrealist visionary David Lynch, Eraserhead is a horrific experience that defies typical convention and classification. The loose story is hung around a nervous young man who is spurred into marriage by his girlfriend’s family after the two unexpectedly become pregnant. However, what the girl gives birth to is far from a typical human baby, and the maddening assault of the senses that follows looms around the man’s frustration in his circumstances.
Eraserhead is a deeply personal film rooted in Kafkaesque stagnation and surreal nightmare sequences that smear the structure of traditional storytelling. The ceaseless wails of the monstrous baby is only one small equation of the body horror that springs up in the vague narrative’s wake, with deformed dancing women who live in radiators and sickening sperm creatures all contributing to the confusing fever dream of terror. An assault on the senses, Eraserhead earns its infamy as an outlandish, but incredible horror movie unlike anything else.
2 Re-Animator
Another body horror comedy that stretches its source material to great lengths
Even if it doesn’t qualify as a true Lovecraftian horror movie, Re-Animator deserves props as one of the only movie adaptations of H.P. Lovecraft’s iconic horror stories to be played for laughs. The film posits Jeffrey Combs as Herbert West, the same character from Lovecraft’s original story who becomes obsessed with resurrecting corpses via a special serum of his own design. However, as is often the case with movie necromancy, his subjects soon begin to exhibit some unsightly side effects, coming back as zombie-like monstrosities.
Re-Animator might play much of its absurdity for laughs, but still knows when to dial back the humor to let the horror shine. Beats like the infamous severed head scene exemplifies the film’s ghoulish B-movie sensibilities, as well as demonstrating its gory creativity. Combs is endlessly entertaining as the frighteningly amoral Herbert West, who is nevertheless hard not to root for no matter how depraved his experiments become.
1 Raw
Whets the modern appetite for visceral gore
The best body horror movies are able to take something mundane and twist it into a depraved act that seems unthinkable by sheer exaggeration. Raw sets its sights on meat eaters as a thoughtful dissection of human consumption, centering on lifelong vegetarian veterinary student, Justine. After being forced to eat raw meat for the first time in her life due to a hazing ritual, Justine soon finds herself with an insatiable craving for the stuff, progressing from simple hamburgers to freshly-slain human flesh.
Raw is one of the best body horror films for how closely it ties its themes to the depravity unfolding on screen, making a true statement with its bloody carnage. The psychosexual and thoughtful meditation it offers on the nature of base human desires more than earns its most stomach churning setpieces, never inflicting violence without a good thematic reason. Simultaneously a great comedy, coming-of-age film and body horror movie, Raw is a modern classic in a subgenre full of legacy picks.
