Body Horror: The Key Elements That Define The Genre

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Horror can come in so many forms that one terrifying story can bear no resemblance to the entries next to it, despite comfortably occupying the same genre. Some subgenres focus on masked serial killers, others take on larger political themes, but only one chooses to focus on the horrible truth of what's within.

Fans of horror cinema will hear about a lot of different subgenres, some more prolific than others. The boundaries are almost always a bit vague when slicing a genre into even finer groups and there's always a fair amount of crossover, but most know body horror when they see it.

5 Underrated Body Horror Films

Body horror is the subgenre of horror concerned with the disturbing violation of the basic structure of the human form. Of course, most horror media features unspeakable things done to flesh and bone, but body horror puts special focus on the process and unique meaning behind its effects. Noted film scholar Linda Williams defines it alongside melodrama and pornography as «genres of excess», which exist to evoke extreme emotions. These works seek to poke and prod specific neuroses, causing physiological reactions. Body horror typically pushes the physical form of its subjects to their limits and beyond. Though the visuals can feel like an empty spectacle to the uninitiated, body horror is a subgenre that is prone to social commentary. At least in the good examples, the visceral disgust put forth by this unique subgenre is rarely without purpose.

The key to differentiating one subgenre of horror from another is determining what about it is the scary part. The villain of a slasher film might hack their victim to death with a kitchen knife. The abomination from a monster movie might eat its prey like a wild animal.