Through its often bloody and gruesome imagery, thebody horror subgenredeals directly with matters of human identity and transformation. Horror is often most resonant when the audience can relate to the fears and experiences they are watching, and body horror is uniquely identifiable in this way. Imagining your own body contorting, mutating or being methodically altered is cringe-inducing,emphasizing just how vulnerable our physical forms can be.
Body horror is commonly associated with the works of Canadian filmmakerDavid Cronenberg, as well as his son Brandon Cronenberg, and both men have explored the limits of the human body in disturbing and thought-provoking ways. However, women filmmakers have also offered fascinating and intense takes on the subgenre, many of which are given particular resonance due to the filmmakers' direct experiences of the marginalization of objectification of women’s bodies.
10Jennifer’s Body (2009)
Directed by Karyn Kusama
Directed byKaryn Kusamaand written byDiablo Cody,Jennifer’s Bodyis a darkly comedic supernatural slasher film. The film follows teenage friends Needy (Amanda Seyfried) and Jennifer (Megan Fox) as Jennifer becomes possessed by a demonic entity and begins a killing spree targeting local boys. At the time of its release, the film was negatively received due to beingwrongly marketed towards the male gaze. The film’s reputation has since undergone a critical reevaluation and Jennifer’s Body is now regarded asa sapphic horror classic.
Despite its quippy and comedic dialogue,Jennifer’s Bodycontains some genuinely gnarly body horror elements. As Jennifer transforms from a pretty and popular high school student to an evil succubus, she begins to look and feel increasingly ill and lifeless, with the audience essentially watching the real Jennifer slowly die before their eyes. Additionally, the film’s creature effects are appropriately monstrous, showing Jennifer’s face distorting until she has a demonic maw full of razor sharp teeth.
Jennifer’s Body
A newly-possessed high-school cheerleader turns into a succubus who specializes in killing her male classmates. Can her best friend put an end to the horror?
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9American Mary (2013)
Directed by Jen and Sylvia Soska
Written and directed by identical twin sistersJen and Sylvia Soska,American Maryis a Canadian body horror film. The film starsKatharine Isabelleas Mary Mason, an aspiring surgeon who begins to work in the business of performing illegal and extreme body modifications to fund her studies. After being assaulted by a senior doctor at a party, Mary delves fully into underground surgery as well as seeking revenge on her attacker.
American Maryhas a cult followingdue to its excellent lead performance from popular scream queen Katharine Isabelle and its uniquely gruesome premise. The filmfeatures feminist themesthrough its woman-focused approach to the controversial rape-revenge subgenre and its exploration of bodily autonomy taken to extremes, makingAmerican Maryan essential film in the canon of body horror films made by women.
American Mary
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8Rabid (2019)
Written and directed by theSoska sisters,Rabidis a Canadian body horror film, andis a remake ofDavid Cronenberg’s 1977 film of the same name. The film follows Rose (Laura Vandervoort), an aspiring fashion designer who suffers an extreme facial disfigurement in an accident and receives an experimental stem cell treatment to help heal her injury. Although the treatment proves to be effective, Rose begins to experience the side effect of insatiable bloodlust.
The film’s body horror is grotesque, with Rose’s initial injury in particular being brought to life by excellent special effects. Additionally, the film has a charmingly comedic screenplay, satirizing beauty norms and the fashion industry and differentiating itself from the original by highlighting more feminist themes.Rabidstrikes a strong balance between being fun and being appropriately gross, making it a very enjoyable body horror film.
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7Ravenous (1999)
Directed by Antonia Bird
Ravenousis a cannibal horror Western film directed by English filmmakerAntonia Bird. The film is inspired by historical accounts of cannibalism such as Alferd Packer and the Donner Party, as well as the Algonquian folklore story of the Wendigo. Set in the mid-1800s,RavenousstarsGuy PearceandRobert Carlyleas members of a military outpost forced to resort to cannibalism due to desperate circumstances.
Taking inspiration from the idea of the Wendigo - evil spirits that cause people to become dependent on cannibalism for strength - the film’s body horror revolves around characters being forced to eat human flesh in order to survive. Although its protagonists do not physically become monsters, their actions cause them to undergo internal transformations from men to beasts, providing a critique of greed, imperialism, and the 19th century ‘manifest destiny’ beliefs of White American settlers.
6Honeymoon (2014)
Directed by Leigh Janiak
Directed byLeigh Janiak, known for her popular Netflix film seriesFear Street,Honeymoonis an extraterrestrial horror film with strong body horror elements. The film follows Bea (Rose Leslie) and Paul (Harry Treadaway), a young married couple on their honeymoon week at a remote cabin, as Bea begins to display strange physical and personality changes including losing her memory and shedding pieces of her skin.
Honeymoonis aterrifying portrait of marriage, prestenting a loving relationship breaking down to the point where neither party fully recognizes each other anymore due to factors outside of their control. The film’s body horror elements are extremely disturbing, with one particularly brutal scene taking place as Bea begins to feel a strange creature living inside of her body which Paul must remove.
5In My Skin (2002)
Directed by Marina de Van
Written, directed by and starring Marina de Van,In My Skinis a seminalNew French Extremitybody horror drama film. The film follows Esther (de Van), a woman who suffers a gruesome accidental injury at a party and then becomes completely fixated on her own body and the process of removing pieces of skin. Although Esther attempts to keep her self-mutilation a secret, her obsession puts her life and career under extreme pressure.
In My Skinis a slow-burn drama peppered with scenes of wince-inducing body horror, making it aniconic entry in the New French Extremity canon. Through both her direction and performance, Marina de Van frames the film’s body horror as an almost sensual experience for its protagonist,inspired by her own personal experiences. The film explores themes of femininity, self-discovery and mental illness through a lens of simultaneous sensitivity and graphic imagery.
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4Blue My Mind (2017)
Directed by Lisa Brühlmann
Blue My Mindis a Swiss coming-of-age body horror drama directed byLisaBrühlmann. Rare for the horror genre,Blue My Mindis a mermaid film, following Mia (LunaWedler), a teenage girl who begins to experience unsettling changes to her body and mind at the onset of puberty. The film centers on Mia’s increasing feelings of alienation and fear stemming from her supernatural nature, as well as the intense feelings that Mia develops for her friend Gianna (Zoë Pastelle).
Mia’s physical transformation is executed through slow and deliberate sequences of body horror, involving scenes such as her becoming fixated on eating live fish and discovering her toes becoming completely webbed together. The film is a beautiful and brutal portrayal of womanhood and queerness, as represented by “the longing for the sea, for the freedom away from all the systems"in the words of director Lisa Brühlmann.
Blue My Mind
3Fresh (2022)
Directed by Mimi Cave
Fresh, written byLauryn Kahnand directed byMimi Cave, is acannibal horror film/psychological thriller. The film is one of numerous recent acclaimed horror filmsreleased on Hulu, and marked anexciting debut from filmmaker Mimi Cave. The film follows Noa (Daisy Edgar-Jones), a young woman disillusioned with the misogyny of men she meets on dating apps, as she falls in love with and is then kidnapped by a handsome but mysterious suitor named Steve (Sebastian Stan). It is then revealed that Steve is in fact a serial killer and cannibal who butchers young women for both his own consumption and to sell their meat to wealthy male clients.
The film hasfeminist themesabout the perils of modern dating and the violence of patriarchy, with its cannibalism serving as a metaphor for the way misogynistic men objectify and steal autonomy from women. The film’s body horror is both gory and psychologically disturbing, with particular horror being drawn from Steve’s victims being kept alive for long periods of time as he harvests increasingly large portions of their flesh. With its strong performances and terrifying premise, the film is widely considered one of2022’s best horror movies.
After quitting dating apps, a woman meets the supposedly perfect man and accepts his invitation to a romantic weekend getaway, only to find that her new paramour has been hiding some unusual appetites.
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2Raw (2016)
Directed by Julia Ducournau
Raw, written and directed by French filmmakerJulia Ducournau, is a coming-of-agecannibal body horror film. The film follows veterinary student and lifelong Justine (Garance Marillier) as she develops an insatiable hunger for human flesh after eating meat for the first time during a university hazing incident. Director Julia Ducournauexplained in a 2017 interviewthat the film’s representation of cannibalism was intended as “a punk gesture against [the] patriarchy” prominent within academic life.
Raw’s scenes of cannibalism are frequently grotesque, featuring impeccable special effects and intense injury detail. Justine engages in cannibalism towards others as well as her own body, with both acts being visually shocking but never diminishing the empathy the audience feels for Justine. Both an intimate character study and a gory body horror film,Rawdeservedly put Ducournau on the map as one of the horror genre’s most distinct up-and-coming filmmakers.
1Titane (2021)
Titane, written and directed by Julia Ducournau, is a body horror film that exploresthemes of motherhood, gender and human connection. The film follows a serial killer called Alexia (Agathe Rousselle) who has a metal plate in her skull that causes her to feel more connected to machines than to humanity. Alexia becomes pregnant with a human-car-hybrid baby and goes on the run, posing as the runaway son of a man called Vincent (Vincent Lindon).
Titanehas asurprisingly tender core, showing its characters learning to accept and give love and kindness through the central relationship between Alexia and Vincent. The film is equal parts gruesome and sweet, a balance which makes its body horror elements all the more intriguing and disturbing. Like body horror master David Cronenberg’sdivisive recent filmCrimes of the Future,Titaneuses its body horror to explore themes of bodily autonomy as well as trans text and subtext to excellent effect.
