Body horror movies offer something dark and demented to hardcore genre fans. These films often feature graphic and grotesque depictions of the human body, meant more to disgust and cause unease than to strike fear into a viewer. The examples of body horror go all the way back to the silent era, although the masters are more recent.

David Cronenberg has proven to be one of the greatest auteurs who has mastered the subgenre, but there are many body horror filmmakers following in his footsteps. This includes young filmmakers helping pave the road for the next generation of horror, as well as some great releases starring icons like Demi Moore.

Bathroom Entanglement – Together (2025)

Together is an interesting body horror movie since it stars a married couple involved in some very disturbing scenes, specifically involving Sєx and body horror combined into one. Dave Franco and Alison Brie star in the movie and take things to the extreme, with several scenes that fans won’t soon forget.

The body horror scene in this movie that really stands out is the bathroom stall scene. In this scene, Tim (Franco) is supernaturally drawn to the school where Millie (Brie) works. Thanks to the uncontrollable urges they suddenly experience, they have Sєx in the bathroom and find that, startlingly, they can’t disengage.

When the camera drops below their waist, the shocking moment is revealed as their genitals have bonded. They find themselves terrified at what this means, while the viewer is grossed out by the entire appearance of this situation.

Birth Scene – тιтane (2021)

тιтane is a gross-out body horror movie with Agathe Rousselle playing a serial killer who has a disturbing fascination with cars. This leads to a scene early in the film where she appears to be having Sєx with an actual car. What is shocking is that she ends up pregnant as a result of this encounter.

The body horror scene that really elevates this movie is when Alexia finally gives birth to her baby. This all starts when, instead of her water breaking, she begins leaking motor oil. What happens next is the thing of nightmares and proves that Julia Ducournau is a horror director to watch.

In the тιтane ending, Alexia gives birth to her baby, who is part car and part human. What makes it so disgusting is that, while giving birth to her new baby, the hybrid infant tears her apart in a vicious display of violence. It is one of the most disturbing birthing scenes in any movie.

Arm Pull Scene – The Blob (1988)

While The Blob is a remake of a classic Steve McQueen movie, the 1980s version has some of the most horrific kills of any film in that era. What makes this so impressive is that the remake was mostly a B-grade horror movie, but it eclipsed that status thanks to some inventive sH๏τs, which made it a cult classic.

There were great kills in the movie, including the famous sink scene that plays in most of the film’s previews. However, there was one scene that fully embraced the body horror aspect of the film. This scene took place in the hospital, where the pink blob was stuck to the ceiling and was preparing to pounce on its next victim.

The blob falls onto Paul, and Meg tries to save him by grabbing his arm, only to have it rip off, and she lands on the ground holding it. Paul’s face remains visible through the gelatinous blob, the skin pulling back and melting. As his face freezes in a scream, the blob eats away at the rest of his skin.

Torture Scene – American Mary (2012)

Released in 2012 by horror directors Jen and Sylvia Soska, American Mary was a dark horror movie that ended up becoming a cult classic. Katharine Isabelle stars as Mary Mason, a medical student who wants to become a surgeon. However, school is expensive, so she gets a job in the body modification community.

This is what leads to the disturbing body horror, as she starts to use her talents learned in medical school to perform various cosmetic surgeries illegally. After she ends up Sєxually ᴀssaulted, she then uses this experience to later torture her attacker.

This shockingly violent body horror scene shows Mary performing surgery on Dr. Grant, who was her professor, mentor, and rapist. She does various painful things to him in the name of revenge before finally leaving him dangling from a meat hook. It was graphic, disturbing, and he deserved every second of the torture.

Stomach Television – I Saw The TV Glow (2024)

Most of I Saw the TV Glow is not body horror. Instead, this is a subversive science fiction movie about two young adults who might be living life inside a fictional television series without realizing it. I Saw the TV Glow is also a celebration of idenтιтy and has become an iconic film detailing the transgender experience.

This leads to the I Saw the TV Glow’s ending, where one character, a young man named Owen, realizes that he might actually be a woman named Isabel, who was transformed into Owen in the TV series. This makes him wonder who he really is supposed to be, leading to the graphic ending.

Owen believes he is dying and races into the bathroom, where he then cuts his stomach open. It is horrific and graphic, and then he has the shocking realization that there is a television in his stomach playing The Pink Opaque, proving he has never been who he thought he was the entire film.

Impaled By Mutated Genitals – Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1989)

Tetsuo: The Iron Man is an ’80s body horror movie that remains a masterpiece of the subgenre. Made in Japan, it is arguably better than most American body horror movies, except those by the masters of the genre, such as David Cronenberg. In this film, the main character (known as “salaryman”) hits someone with his car and flees the scene.

Soon after running from the accident, this man begins to transform into some sort of steel monstrosity. This leads to a Sєx scene in Tetsuo: The Iron Man, which offers up one of the most disturbing and disgusting moments in the entire film. When his girlfriend takes his pants down, she finds something ᴅᴇᴀᴅly waiting for her.

His genitals have turned into a giant metal spinning drill, and it impales his girlfriend, killing her in what was previously an act of pᴀssion. What makes this even more shocking is that she seems to give in to the gory death without trying to escape.

Birth Scene – The Brood (1979)

The Brood was David Cronenberg’s look at motherhood at a time when he was going through a bitter divorce and had a lot to say about the custody battle he had with his soon-to-be-ex. In the movie, Nola is a woman going through a divorce who is accused of hurting her daughter while fighting for custody.

However, as her husband, Frank, tries to move on, he realizes his life is in danger, as well as that of anyone who is close to him and even his own child. The danger comes from a murderous creature that turns out to be one of many known as the Brood. This also leads to the gross-out body horror scene.

Nola is in a complete rage, and as a result, she is giving birth to these monstrous beings through a psychoplasmically induced external womb. She is also out of control as she gives birth to the animalistic creatures and then licks them clean after they come out, offering easily the most disturbing look at childbirth in any movie.

Skin Stretch – Hellraiser (1987)

Hellraiser is based on the horror novel by Clive Barker and explores sadomasochism, accompanied by a substantial amount of body horror along the way. The entire series sees people calling on Pinhead and the Cenobites to come to offer them pain, which many long for.

The first movie saw a young, innocent teenager named Kirsty manipulated into solving the Lament Configuration, but Pinhead won’t kill her. Instead, she offers to help them find Frank Cotton, a man who escaped from Hell. When they find Frank, it is time for him to pay the price.

Pinhead launches his chain at Frank, and it latches onto his body. Pinhead then stretches Frank’s skin in different directions, grotesquely and disturbingly. It reaches its zenith, at which time Frank says, “Jesus wept,” before his body is completely ripped to shreds by the various chain hooks, blood and guts splattering everywhere.

Genital Bite – Teeth (2007)

Teeth is a female empowerment movie that is a lot more than it seems from the description. When many people discuss the film, they call it the vagina dentata movie, but there is a lot under the hood here, and even some memorable body horror scenes. Dawn is a virginal teenager who has teeth in her vagina.

However, what she soon learns over time is that the teeth only come out when she feels threatened or someone is forcing themselves on her. When she has consensual Sєxual encounters, her partners are in no danger. Of course, this movie has her being ᴀssaulted, so her teeth can bite hard.

The horror film has the virgin as the ᴅᴇᴀᴅliest character in the story, but only to those who deserve it. The best body horror scene came after a man tries to rape her in a cave, and she bites off his genitals. When she goes back to the scene, she finds his severed member covered with maggots.

Eye Slice – Un Chien Andalou (1929)

Un Chien Andalou was the movie that influenced David Lynch to make some of his most surreal films, and Eraserhead owes a great deal to this silent-era classic. This is a surreal film by Luis Buñuel, who co-wrote the screenplay with Salvador Dalí. It was designed to shock and disturb the viewer, serving as an attack on conformity.

The opening scene was easily the most disturbing in cinema at the time of its release. The scene cuts from a man sharpening a razor to the moon. A young woman then sits there as the man brings the razor to her eye. As a cloud pᴀsses the moon, it then shows the man slicing open the woman’s eye.

It was shocking, and Buñuel made the film to disturb the intellectual youth of his era, feeling it was a violent reaction against the artistic snobbery of many of his contemporaries. It has since become a mᴀssive influence on many filmmakers, with Akira Kurosawa listing it as a favorite and David Bowie playing it during his 1976 tour.