5 Body Horror Movies You Might Have Missed

Writer-director Pedro Almodovar has called his 2011 mind bender “a horror story without screams or frights,” but there are plenty of scares to be had. The movie, which explores the complicated relationship between an obsessed scientist and his human experiment, relentlessly increases the tension as the tragic history between the characters is slowly revealed. While it’s true that the usual jump scares, music stings, and even visual gore are missing from this symphony of body horror, the truth behind Vera and Robert’s story is sure to leave you with chills.

Prolific horror writer-director James Wan has made a career out of pushing the envelope, and with this 2021 release he may have shoved it right off the table. It’s the source of the body horror that sets Malignant apart from its genre counterparts. While other favorites in the field center their horror around cancerous growths, disturbing deformities, and awful augmentations, this rollicking rollercoaster of a film establishes a world of creeping dread for its protagonist before spiraling into gleeful absurdism once the physical threat is revealed. Sure, the evil at the center of Malignant is pure fantasy, but that won’t stop your skin from crawling when Gabriel finally enters the frame …

Even 35 years later, there’s never been another movie like Tetsuo: The Iron Man. Written, directed, and produced by Shinya Tsukamoto, the experimental sci-fi horror follows an ordinary man as he violently transforms into a machine. At the time of shooting, Tsukamoto claims he was "preoccupied with chaos,” and that preoccupation more than comes alive on screen in this relentless, punk rock scream of a film that includes scenes of scrap yard surgery, metal pipe probes, and more than one intimate encounter with a drill.

If you prefer your horror restrained and understated The Perfection isn’t for you. Too surreal to be serious but also too grounded to be considered goofy, this devilish satire throws two talented cellists into violent competition. But just when you think you know what the movie is all about, things take a left turn so wild it threatens good taste. Allison Williams hones the unreliable horror heroine routine that she first delivered in 2015’s Get Out, while Logan Browning brings the heart necessary to pull off one of the most bananas endings in 21st century horror.

You likely first saw writer-director Julia Ducourna’s work with Raw, her 2016 feature film debut about a cannibal-curious veterinary student. But if you haven’t seen her sophomore outing, Titane, you ain’t seen nothing yet. Viewing this stunning labyrinth of a picture should be approached like holding water in your hands: let go of all control. It’s not easy to explain what Titane is about. Does the story follow a homicidal woman with an extreme fetish for cars? Or, is this an exploration of a lost man’s redemption? No matter your opinion on the plot, when you peel away the broken bones and sprays of blood, Titane is about the intense experience of a changing body and the importance of acceptance.