The cosmic horror genre has become a recent trend in horror films,giving leeway to be abstract and surreal. Cosmic body horror movies bring the vibes and the aesthetics to create more than just your run-of-the-mill slashers or creature features. They are entwined with the universe making the horror happen, allowing audiences to escape and suspend their disbelief.
When cosmic horror meets body horror, it creates some of the most cinematically enriching movies. Filled with the unknown and unexplainable, these movies delve into some of the unique anxieties and fears of viewers.The films that show the best cosmic body horror not only shock, but give audiences something worth being scared of.
10‘Bliss’ (2019)
Director: Joe Begos
Taking the artist’s struggle to new heights,Blissfollows Dezzy,a starving artist who is desperate to overcome her creative block. Deciding to turn to a potent new drug called bliss. As Dezzy spirals into addiction, she experiences increasingly violent and hallucinatory episodes that fuel her artistic drive but also have a negative effect on her mind, leading her to madness.
Artistic obsession is explored using the cosmic elements of drugs to illicit body horror taking place.As a personification of obsession, the drug unleashes a ferocious, bloodthirsty side to the main character which leads her to destruction. Bliss opens the audience’s eyes to the dark intersections of creativity and self-destruction, as it is presented withintense visual and visceral horror elements that make this a must-watch.
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9Annihilation (2018)
Director: Alex Garland
Annihilationis not your average horror sci-fi. It goes beyond the traditional genre tropes, following a group of scientists who enter an anomalous zone known as “The Shimmer” where an alien presence causes radical mutations in plants, animals, and humans. The result is a disturbing mutilation from what we know in our own reality.
With flora and fauna undergoing grotesque and unsettling changes,“The Shimmer” quickly becomes a study of how the laws of nature can be altered. It serves as a source of horror and revulsion for the characters and the audience alike. Surrounding it all in the atmosphere of dreadcreates unease and tension from the outset, giving complex ideas about identity and change.
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8‘The Fly’ (1986)
Director: David Cronenberg
StarringJeff Goldblum,The Flytells the story of Seth Brundle, a brilliant but eccentric scientist who invents a set of “telepods” capable of teleportation. While testing the device, Brundle unknowingly shares the telepod with a housefly, fusing his DNA with that of the fly. What results is a gradual and horrifying transformation into a human-fly hybrid.
Most horror fans are familiar with The Flyusing groundbreaking practical effects, which are vividly able to depict Brundle’s metamorphosis. Along with Goldblum’s sympathetic performance, it allows for the combination of visceral body horror with emotional depth, making ita powerful exploration of the consequences of unchecked scientific experimentation.
In a daring exploration of science’s potential to alter human life, a brilliant but eccentric scientist develops a technology for teleportation. When he decides to test the device on himself, a tragic error involving a common housefly leads to horrifying consequences. The film chillingly portrays his transformation and the impact it has on his relationship and psyche.
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7‘Color Out of Space’ (2019)
Director: Richard Stanley
Color Out of Spacequite literally brings the cosmos into the story.The unrelenting Lovecraftian horroris based on a family who experiences strange occurrences after a meteorite crashes on their farm, emitting a bizarre color that affects their minds and the surrounding environment. Blending cosmic and body horrorto explore the psychological terror of experiencing the unknown and incomprehensible.
The movie is truly terrifying, as characters experience grotesque and painful mutations, such as a mother and her son being fused together, leaving the family to wonder what they can do to save themselves. Not only exploring the fear of the unknown inherent in cosmic horror but also delving into the visceral terror of body horror,making the alien presence not just a threat to the mind, but to the very flesh and physical integrity of its characters.
Color Out of Space
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6‘Infinity Pool’ (2023)
Director: Brandon Cronenberg
Playing into the popular trend of eating the rich on vacations isBrandon Cronenberg’sunsettling horror about James and Em Foster. A wealthy couple who experience a tragic accident while on vacation, leading to the discovery of a dark secret that underlies the vacationers' presence on an isolated island. Indulging in a hedonistic and violent spree, James ends up having to confront his own identity before being able to leave.
Exploring themes of privilege, consequence, and the dehumanizing effects of absolute power has never been done like this. In the twisting narrative, viewers are sure to experience mind-mending antics that will leave them scratching their heads after. AsInfinity Poolis a film that may require more than one watchbecause of its cosmic body horror elements, which make it so evocative to watch.
Infinity Pool
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5‘Mandy’ (2018)
Director: Panos Cosmatos
Mandytruly takes a surreal approach that allows forNicolas Cageto shine bright. About a lumberjack, Red, living a peaceful, isolated life with his girlfriend, Mandy, in the Pacific Northwest, until their tranquil existence is shattered when aderanged cult leader fixates on Mandy.With the help of his followers and a demonic bike gang, the cult leader kidnaps and brutally murders Mandy, consuming Red with grief and rage.
Red’s journey becomes a hallucinatory quest for vengeance, confronting the cult and its supernatural allies in a series of increasingly violent and bizarre encounters.Noted for having striking visuals and a haunting atmosphere, Panos Cosmatos puts viewers right next to Cage as he delivers one of his best and most intense performances.
Set in the primal wilderness of 1983, a lumberjack leads a peaceful life with his beloved in a secluded cabin. Their idyllic existence shatters when a sadistic cult leader and his followers seize her, propelling him into a spiraling, surreal rampage of vengeance fueled by both love and an otherworldly evil.
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4‘The Thing’ (1982)
Director: John Carpenter
The Thingis a classic science fiction horror film set in an isolated Antarctic research station follows a group of American researchers who encounter a shape-shifting alien that can assimilate and imitate any living organism. After discovering the creature through the remnants of a nearby camp, the team realizes that anyone among them could be an alien in disguise. With paranoia and mistrust being the main forces of peril, the team struggles to identify the entity before it assimilates them all.
The alien entity is a perfect embodiment of cosmic horror, representing an unfathomable threat from beyond the stars.The depiction of the alien’s ability to grotesquely assimilate and mimic other organisms results in some of the most inventive body horror scenes in cinema.With transformations that are both shocking and deeply unsettling.And even though you never see the monster,it still remains one of the scariest horror movies.
A team of researchers set out to study an alien spacecraft found in Antarctica, where they also discover an alien body on the site. The alien buried in ice is actually alive and has the ability to imitate human form. The group must find a way to distinguish who the real person is from The Thing and stay alive. John Carpenter’s 1982 film is a remake of 1951’s The Thing from Another World and stars Kurt Russel as the hero RJ MacReady.
3‘Hellraiser’ (1987)
Director: Clive Barker
Through pleasure and pain, the characters in this classic adapted from the work ofClive Barkertransform through the demonic Cenobites, who embody a grotesque form of body horror with cosmic horror undertones. Mainly revolving around a mystical puzzle box, known as the Lament Configuration, which, when solved, opens a portal to another dimension inhabited by the Cenobites -demonic beings who practice an extreme form of sadomasochism and seek to explore the boundaries of pain and pleasure.
Hellraisereffectively melds cosmic and body horror,creating a narrative that is both physically and psychologically disturbing. While dealing in the dark arts of existential dread, Hellraiser shows how desires can cause us harm. From the lament configuration to the body transformations,it deals with the taboo subjects, offering an experience that resonates with fans of the grotesque and unspoken.
Hellraiser
2‘Suspiria’ (1977)
Director: Dario Argento
Suspiriais a landmark horror filmthat combines supernatural elements with one of the most visually striking styles by a filmmaker. The plot centers around a young American ballet student named Suzy Bannion, who enrolls at a prestigious dance academy in Freiburg, Germany. But upon her arrival, strange and increasingly violent occurrences come to plague the academy.
Featuring graphic murder scenes, the violence is often excessive and grotesque, involving stabbing, slicing, and other forms of bodily mutilation. One of the most graphic scenes involves a young woman being repeatedly stabbed, revealing her exposed heart. But apart from the gore, it possesses such atmospheric and surreal qualities.Director DarioArgento uses vivid, almost dreamlike color schemes, particularly reds and blues, to create a visually arresting experience that enhances the film’s sense of otherworldly dread.
A darkness swirls at the center of a world-renowned dance company, one that will engulf the artistic director, an ambitious young dancer, and a grieving psychotherapist. Some will succumb to the nightmare. Others will finally wake up.
1‘Possession’ (1981)
Director: Andrzej Zulawski
Possessionrevolves around a couple, Mark and Anna, who are undergoing a tumultuous separation. Mark, a spy, returns home to find his wife behaving strangely and asking for a divorce. As he delves deeper into her life, he discovers her affair with another man, Heinrich. However, things take a darker turn when Mark learns that Anna is also involved with a mysterious, monstrous entity.
The film is known for its surreal, often disturbing imagery.Żuławski’s direction creates a nightmare demonic atmospherethat blurs the lines between reality and hallucination. Along with perhaps the most unsettling performance fromIsabelle Adjanias she experiences a metaphorical exploration of personal and psychological disintegration,making this one of the most distressing cosmic body horrors ever made.
Possession
A woman starts exhibiting increasingly disturbing behavior after asking her husband for a divorce. Suspicions of infidelity soon give way to something much more sinister.
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