10 great body horror films

10 great body horror films's icon

Created by Igor_Brynner.

Favorited 1 time, disliked 0 times, added to 0 watchlists.

“The term ‘biological horror,’” David Cronenberg once said, “really refers to the fact that my films are very body-conscious. They’re very conscious of physical existence as a living organism, rather than other horror films or science-fiction films which are very technologically oriented, or concerned with the supernatural, and in that sense are very disembodied.”

As the Canadian maestro returns to the big screen with Crimes of the Future (2022), a film pitched in the press – if not by its director, who has long shied away from applying the term to his own work – as a return to the realms of ‘body’ or ‘biological’ horror, we’re taking a look back at some great films that deal in the treacheries of the flesh.

Referring to a distinct subgenre in horror cinema that variously trades in aberration, mutation, transformation and a loss of conscious control over the human body – often accompanied by generous volumes of squicky corporeal trauma – body horror usually requires a certain level of tolerance for on-screen yucks.

The genesis of the term itself can be traced back to a 1983 essay by the Australian academic Philip Brophy – who would go on to practise what he preached by directing the 1993 feature Body Melt – but its conceptual tropes stretch all the way back into the realms of gothic literature.

While biological horror movies offer boundless opportunities for the greatest FX artists in the business to let their imaginations run wild, the subgenre has long proved fertile ground for its political potential, where questions of bodily integrity and autonomy are inherently foregrounded.

Here are 10 greats that you might not want to watch on a full stomach.

Remove ads

Filter

  1. 1 new

    Altered States

    1980, in 5 top lists Check
  2. 7 new

    Body Melt

    1993, in 2 top lists Check
  3. 5 new

    Brain Damage

    1988, in 2 top lists Check
  4. 2 new

    The Fly

    1986, in 11 top lists Check
  5. 8 new

    Ginger Snaps

    2000, in 6 top lists Check
  6. 4 new

    Slime City

    1988, in 0 top lists Check
  7. 3 new

    Street Trash

    1987, in 2 top lists Check
  8. 6 new

    Tetsuo

    1989 — a.k.a. Tetsuo: The Iron Man, in 10 top lists Check
  9. 9 new

    Titane

    2021, in 4 top lists
    Check
  10. 10 new

    We're All Going to the World's Fair

    2021, in 1 top list
    Check
Remove ads

Last updated on Apr 20, 2024; source