5 Of The Most Upsetting Body Transformations In Horror
Josh Korngut
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We’ve all been there. You’re just minding your own business when suddenly you look in the mirror and some things have … changed. Growing up is tough and 100% embarrassing, but what’s worse, it’s gross, too. However, puberty has got nothing on the bodily transformations in the following list. So grab a stack of Neutrogena acne pads and buckle in. We’re digging into the most terrible transformations horror has to offer.
Clown
Before entering the Spider-verse, director Jon Watts crafted a nasty vision of carnival carnage with 2014’s Clown. The film sees a regular dude slowly and painfully transform into a scary clown before killing just about everyone. But it’s the body horror in Clown that makes this horror moment stand out above the competition. Genre bad boy Eli Roth produced this grisly flick after a fake trailer surfaced online in 2010. Speaking to SlashFilm, Roth had this to share:
“I loved how ballsy they were, issuing a trailer that said, ‘From the Master of Horror, Eli Roth.’ Some people thought I’d made the movie, or that it was another fake Grindhouse trailer… I really felt these guys deserved a shot, and that people are truly freaked out by evil clowns. It’s new territory to make this a version of The Fly, where this guy can feel himself changing, blacking out only to find blood all over his clown suit. You’re sympathetic toward a monster until the monster actually takes over.”
Slither
The world just wasn’t ready for Slither in 2006, and can you blame us? This disgusting and totally outside-of-the-box sci-fi horror comedy was an outright assault on good taste. And I celebrate that. This future cult classic starred Nathon Fillion, Elizabeth Banks and Michael Rooker in a parasite/monster/alien/body horror mash-up that was totally unlike anything we had ever seen. Written and directed by James Gunn before his arrival to the mainstream, Slither concerns a very unfriendly alien bug invasion. There’s one particular body horror moment in this nightmare of madness that will leave you reaching for a bucket. Not the popcorn bucket, either.
The Fly
You can’t have a list of horrible body transformations without mentioning the granddaddy of modern body horror. David Cronenberg’s The Fly emerged from its chrysalis in 1986 and the world actually started turning in the opposite direction. The Fly stars Jeff Goldblum as an eccentric scientist who makes a grave error during an experiment. Soon he finds himself trans-mutating into a monstrous fly-human hybrid and the rest is history. Gina Davis costars and packs an emotional punch for the history books in this one. This remake of the 1958 film of the same name is a beautiful combination of horror and tragic romance. The Cronenberg film spawned itself a sequel in 1989 which was written, in part, by Dread Central favorite Mick Garris!
An American Werewolf In London
What makes An American Werewolf In London so upsetting is the way it lulls you in with its charm and humor. This 1981 horror comedy from John Landis accomplishes the impossible: the perfect lycanthropic hybrid of horror and laughs. The movie stars David Naughton, Jenny Agutter, and Griffin Dunno and became the ultimate New Hollywood werewolf classic. David’s nightmarish body transformation in this title is still unparalleled body horror and is solely responsible for shattering my childhood into a pile of broken glass. And I am forever grateful. Fun fact, the script of An American Werewolf In London initially spooked away potential investors for being too funny to be a horror film. We almost never got this one…
Tusk
One of the wildest films to make the list is Kevin Smith’s 2014 outlandishly nasty Tusk. The film stars Justin Long, Michael Parks and Haley Joel Osment and was planned as the first chapter in Smith’s ongoing True North trilogy. When Tusk premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, word began to spread fast about the evil transformation which takes place in the midst of this nasty little film. The plot for Tusk spawned out of SModcast’s story called The Walrus and The Carpenter. The episode concerns a Gumtree ad where a homeowner offers tenants the chance to live rent-free if they agree to live perpetually dressed up as a walrus. Tusk took things from there.
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