The 20 grossest horror movies

Terrifier 2 is the rare horror sequel done right, and it sees the return of the malevolent being known as Art the Clown, who this time begins terrorizing Sienna Shaw. As with the first one, this film leans into the violence and gore, and there’s something more than a little disturbing about just how relentlessly it pursues its goal of distressing the audience with its depiction of violence. However, there’s also no denying that it has its appeal, too, thanks in no small part to Lauren LaVera as Sienna.

Having pushed the boundaries of what can be shown with the first Human Centipede, Tom Six decides to up the ante in every way imaginable with the second film. Its story about a man who decides to try to create a centipede of his own after watching the first movie is sometimes difficult to watch, as the camera lingers with horrifying affection on the scenes of carnage and bloodshed and brutal surgery. Indeed, there are times when the film almost goes so far over the edge that it becomes boring. Even so, one can’t help but admire Six’s commitment to his grotesque conceit.

Based on a series of novels by Jeff VanderMeer, Annihilation  stars Natalie Portman as a scientist who, along with several others, investigates a mysterious phenomenon known as the Shimmer. However, as the film goes on, they soon find their bodies beginning to slip out of their control, as the Shimmer’s power to reshuffle DNA takes hold. The film is filled with disturbing and deeply grotesque images, including a mutated bear, an alligator with shark’s teeth, and even a man whose body has been taken over by a beautiful fungus. This film is not for the faint of heart.

Eli Roth often uses his films to push the boundaries of the human body and what can be seen on the screen. The Green Inferno, for example, clearly evokes the cannibal movies of earlier eras, focusing as it does on a group of people who are, of course, terrorized and eaten by a tribe in South America. Even though the film might not be to everyone’s taste, there’s still something exciting about the way that it evokes the cannibal films of an earlier era.

Few directors are as committed to the grotesqueries of the body as David Cronenberg, and The Fly  is perhaps one of his very best movies. Jeff Goldblum gives a haunting and ultimately tragic performance as Seth Brundle, who inadvertently turns himself into a horrifying hybrid of fly and human. It’s a film that constantly pokes at the boundaries between the human and the animal, and, like so many other effective body horror movies, it forces the viewer to think about just how permeable and fragile their bodies ultimately are. 

Sam Raimi brings his inimitable horror touch to The Evil Dead, his 1981 film heavy on the gore. What begins as a traditional story about a group of friends alone in the woods soon turns into a true splatterfest. The film is heavy on the practical effects, which helps to give the blood and viscera a more immediate and authentic feel than one sometimes sees in more recent horror cinema. What’s more, it even adds a bit of comedy into the mix, in a style that only Sam Raimi could perfect.

Saw is arguably one of the most successful horror franchises still going, and it all started with the gore-fest of the first film, released in 2004. By now, the conceit is familiar, but there’s still something deeply chilling about the original, in which the Jigsaw Killer forces his victims to perform horrific acts of violence on themselves to earn their freedom. Beneath all of the gore, there’s an even more haunting message about the things that people will do to others to save their own skins.

Some horror films are so controversial that it’s impossible to think about them outside of the backlash they ignited. Take, for example, Cannibal Holocaust, which pulls no punches when it comes to depicting cannibalistic violence. Indeed, the violence in this film was so grotesque and realistic that it convinced some people it was secretly a snuff film. Its story about a group of Americans devoured by cannibals in the Amazon is exploitative, to be sure, but it is also truly terrifying.

Titane is one of the most unusual and compelling films to have come out of France in the 2020s. Directed by Julia Ducournau, it focuses on a young woman who ends up becoming pregnant after having sex with a car, after which she becomes pregnant and adopts a fake identity. The film is filled with murder and moments of grotesque body horror–particularly once main character Alexia/Adrien begins to show signs of her pregnancy. Strange and unsettling and utterly unique, this type of horror film is as challenging as it is beautifully crafted and acted.

Directed by Paul W.S. Anderson, Event Horizon expertly combines body horror and sci-fi. After all, this is a film about a ship that somehow managed to enter a wormhole into some kind of hellish dimension, and it features some visuals that sear themselves into the viewer’s eye and mind. One can never forget the images that flash across the screen, including an unfortunate victim who has gone so far as to tear out their own eyes. This is body horror sci-fi at its very best.

Kevin Smith brings his unique sense of humor and sarcasm to Tusk, which stars Justin Long as a podcaster who falls into the clutches of a man who wants to make him into a walrus. Though the film’s premise might be absurd, there’s still some genuine body horror here, particularly once Wallace Bryton is sewed into a walrus costume made from human skin. There’s something pathetic and even a little tragic about his fate, particularly since the film makes it clear that, despite his broken mind, a piece of the old Bryton might still be left inside his walrus body.

It’s not every sequel that can continue to push a horror franchise in new and unsettling directions, but Terrifier 3 certainly more than does the trick. The latest installment goes all-in on the blood and gore and violence, with many kills that are so shocking it’s hard to believe they actually made their way to the screen at all. At the root of it all are Art the Clown and his sinister associate, Vicky Heyes, who has become just as evil as he is. Together, they are the very epitome of monstrousness. 

Ridley Scott has worked in several genres, and with Alien, he more than proved his mettle with horror and science fiction. After all, this is the film that has some of the grossest and most horrifying scenes in the genre, with its facehuggers and chestbursters, both of which are unsettling reminders of just how permeable the human body really is. The film retains its power to horrify, and though it has produced many fine sequels, none has yet quite lived up to the simple terror of the original. 

Religion is a recurring theme in many horror movies, but Martyrs takes this to the next level. After all, it's not every film that chooses to depict a young woman being flayed alive so that she can supposedly have access to some sort of visions from the next world. Unlike some other gross horror films — in which the violence is merely meant to titillate without any larger purpose — Martyrs actually does seem to be interested in the way that religious ecstasy has long been bound up with pain and the mortification of the human body. 

A Serbian Film is arguably one of the most controversial films that emerged from horror in the 21st century. It takes a rather traditional story about a struggling adult film star and turns it into a feast of violence, bloodshed, and torture. This is the film, after all, that doesn’t pull any punches when it comes to what it depicts, up to and including pedophilia and necrophilia. Whether or not one buys into the idea that the movie offers some sort of commentary or whether it’s indulging in violence simply for the thrill of it, there’s no doubt that this is a truly gross-out film.

While horror is one of those genres that always flirts with bad taste, The Human Centipede takes this to the next level. What else would one expect from a film focusing on a mad doctor and his efforts to create a human centipede by sewing unfortunate tourists together? It’s a film that truly delights in grossing out the viewer, often seeming to want to bury whatever plot it has beneath an ick factor. 

Eli Roth cemented his reputation as a horror auteur with Hostel, with its story about a group of tourists who find themselves imprisoned and tortured by the wealthy. Roth seems to delight in showing as many gruesome details as possible, finding inventive new ways to maim and torture his protagonists. Beneath all of the splatter, however, there are some surprisingly sharp bits of commentary about the depredations of the wealthy on those who do not possess their resources, as well as on the chaos then engulfing the nations of the former Soviet bloc.  

John Carpenter’s film The Thing has grown in esteem since its initially lukewarm reception. It’s easy to see why, since it is one of the best examples of body horror of the 1980s (as well as one of the director’s most audacious films). It includes some deeply unsettling imagery, particularly once the titular creature begins to terrorize the researchers living in the Antarctic. In addition to being quite gross, the film is also a testament to the power of practical effects to illustrate the dissolution of the human body.

Slither wears its silliness and sliminess on its sleeve. It’s a film, after all, that is all about an alien life form that infests the bodies of the residents of a small town, with suitably grotesque results. This is one of those films in which director James Gunn lets his freak fly, and as a whole, Slither ends up being as funny as it is disgusting. Given how much it leans into the grossness of its alien forms and the people it inhabits, this is no small thing.

Bone Tomahawk  perfectly blends two genres: Horror and western. Kurt Russell stars as Sheriff Franklin Hunt, who becomes part of an effort to save people from a cannibalistic tribe of Indigenous Americans called Troglodytes. The grossest scene in the entire film is undoubtedly the moment when the character Nick is bisected while still alive and then eaten by the Troglodytes. It’s one of those nausea-inducing moments at which horror so often excels, and it certainly pushes the envelope in terms of what can be seen on screen.