Body horror, orbiological horror, is a subgenre ofhorror fiction that intentionally showcases grotesque or psychologically disturbing violations of the human body or of another creature.[1] These violations may manifest throughaberrant sex,mutations,mutilation,zombification,gratuitous violence,disease, or unnatural movements of the body. Body horror was a description originally applied to an emerging subgenre of North American horror films, but has roots in earlyGothic literature and has expanded to include other media.[2]
According to the film scholarLinda Williams, body horror falls into one of three "gross" genres or "genres of excess" which also includespornography andmelodrama.[3] Williams writes that the success of these body genres "is often measured by the degree to which the audience sensation mimics what is seen on the screen".[3] For example, an audience may experience feelings of terror through horror, sympathy through melodrama, or sexual arousal through pornography.[4] Body horror specifically focuses on the limits and transformative capabilities of the human body.[5]
Body horror often overlaps with, but is distinct from, other horror subgenres. For example, while elements of mutilation may be present in body horror, other similar subgenres such asslasher,splatter, ormonster horror may also share this trope, but differ in message and intent.[6] A common difference in the body horror genre is that violations or distortions of the body are rarely the result of immediate or initial violence. Instead, they are generally marked by a loss of conscious control over the body through mutation, disease, or other tropes involving uncontrolled transformation.[7] The genre can invoke intense feelings of physical and psychological disgust, orsquick, and play upon anxieties of physical vulnerability.[8] In addition to common tropes used within the broader horror genre, some tropes specific to the body horror subgenre may include invasion, contagion, mutation, transformation, disease, mutilation, or other unnatural or violent distortions of the human body.
Some body horror films, such asCrimes of the Future[9] andTitane,[10] have been likened toerotic horror.[11]
The term "Body-horror" was first used byPhillip Brophy in his 1983 article "Horrality: The Textuality of the Contemporary Horror Film".[12] He coined this term to describe an emerging subgenre which occurred during a short golden period for contemporary horror film.[13] Although Brophy coined the term to specifically describe a trend within cinema, film directorStuart Gordon notes that the body horror trope had existed before its adaptation to the screen, most notably within fictional writing.[14][5]
Mary Shelley'sFrankenstein (1818) is an early example of the body horror subgenre within fictional writing. The success ofgothic horror in the 19th century, in combination with the birth ofscience fiction as a literary form, is thought to be the origin of body horror as a literary genre.[2] According to Halberstam, "By focusing on the body as a locus of fear, Shelley's novel suggests that it is people (or at least bodies) who terrify people... the landscape of fear is replaced by sutured skin."[2]
I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream byHarlan Ellison (1967) prominently features elements of body horror. The story explores extreme bodily mutilation, forced transformation, and the stripping of autonomy, emphasizing the grotesque and unnatural manipulation of the human body.
Franz Kafka'sThe Metamorphosis is another early example of body horror literature. It shows Gregor Samsa transform into a large bug for unknown reasons. The work has influenced other body horrors likeThe Fly.
The Quatermass Xperiment (1955) is considered the earliest body horror film.[15] Canadian filmmakerDavid Cronenberg is considered a principal originator of body horror through early films such asShivers andRabid, and his remake ofThe Fly.
Body horror tropes existed within film prior to wider recognition of the genre. Early examples of the body horror genre arose out of 1950s American horror cinema includingThe Blob andThe Fly, both of which set the standard for the genre due to the films' primary focus on mutation and visceral special effects.[16][unreliable source?] Many contemporary films of the horror genre (those produced after 1968), including body horror, are considered to bepostmodern in contrast to classical horror.[17] However, postmodernism is concerned with blurring boundaries between categories, making delineations between genres difficult to define.
The body horror genre is widely represented throughoutJapanese horror and within contemporary media, such asanime.[18]Katsuhiro Otomo's 1988 filmAkira is an early example of body horror within anime. The film uses the genre to explore the "notion of the adolescent body as a site of metamorphosis, a metamorphosis that can appear monstrous both to the figure undergoing it and to the outside world."[19]The Substance made history in 2025 when it was nominated in five categories at the97th Academy Awards, includingBest Picture, making it the first body horror film to be nominated in the category.
Manymanga authors, such asHideshi Hino, specialize in writing within the horror genre and use body horror tropes in combination with narrative storytelling devices ofJapanese horror.[20] Highly influenced by theliterary works ofH. P. Lovecraft,Junji Ito's manga depict obscene body horror through both aesthetic and narrative in order to invoke feelings ofabject terror.[1] In contrast, Canadian cartoonistMichael DeForge incorporates recurring body horror aspects within his work through less graphic aesthetic and narrative styles.[21]
Since the eighteenth century, the horror genre has been popular among readers but dismissed as controversial by some critics who saw the genre and its thematic elements threatening or dangerous to society.[22]
Because of the use of graphic violence or themes that may be consideredtaboo, horror media that fall within the body horror genre are oftencensored orbanned across a variety of countries.[23]
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