Body horror, biological horror, organic horror or visceral horror is horror fiction in which the horror is principally derived from the unnatural graphic transformation, degeneration or destruction of the physical body.Definition of "body horror"
CollinsDictionary.com. Collins English Dictionary – Complete & Unabridged 11th Edition. Retrieved November 01, 2012. Such works may deal with decay, disease, deformity,

parasitism Parasitism is a Symbiosis, close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives on or inside another organism, the Host (biology), host, causing it some harm, and is Adaptation, adapted structurally to this way of lif ...

, mutation or mutilation. Other types of body horror include unnatural movements or the anatomically incorrect placement of limbs to create "monsters" from human body parts.

David Cronenberg David Paul Cronenberg (born March 15, 1943) is a Canadian film director, screenwriter, and actor. He is one of the principal originators of what is commonly known as the body horror genre, with his films exploring visceral bodily transformation ...

, Frank Henenlotter, Brian Yuzna,

Stuart Gordon Stuart Alan Gordon (August 11, 1947 – March 24, 2020) was an American filmmaker, theatre director, screenwriter, and playwright. Initially recognized for his provocative and frequently controversial work in experimental theatre, Gordon is perh ...

, Lloyd Kaufman, and Clive Barker are notable directors of this genre. The term ''body horror'' was coined with the "Body Horror" theme issue of the University of Glasgow film journal '' Screen'' (vol. 27, no. 1, January–February 1986), which contains several essays on the subject.

Notable films and television series

Notable writers

In his introduction to ''The Mammoth Book of Body Horror'', the film director

says that "Body Horror has been with us since long before there were movies". According to the summary of this anthology, the important writers of Body Horror are : * Mary Shelley * Edgar Allan Poe * H. P. Lovecraft * John W. Campbell *

George Langelaan George Langelaan (19 January 1908 – 9 February 1972) was a French-British writer and journalist born in Paris, France. He is best known for his 1957 short story " The Fly", which was the basis for the 1958 and 1986 sci-fi/horror films and a ...

* Richard Matheson *

Stephen King Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author of horror, supernatural fiction, suspense, crime, science-fiction, and fantasy novels. Described as the "King of Horror", a play on his surname and a reference to his high s ...

* Clive Barker *

Robert Bloch Robert Albert Bloch (; April 5, 1917September 23, 1994) was an American fiction writer, primarily of crime, psychological horror and fantasy, much of which has been dramatized for radio, cinema and television. He also wrote a relatively small ...

* Ramsey Campbell * Brian Lumley *

Nancy A. Collins Nancy A. Collins (born September 10, 1959) is an American horror fiction writer best known for her series of vampire novels featuring her character Sonja Blue. Collins has also written for comic books, including the ''Swamp Thing'' (vol. 2) se ...

* Richard Christian Matheson * Michael Marshall Smith *

Neil Gaiman Neil Richard MacKinnon GaimanBorn as Neil Richard Gaiman, with "MacKinnon" added on the occasion of his marriage to Amanda Palmer. ; ( Neil Richard Gaiman; born 10 November 1960) is an English author of short fiction, novels, comic books, gr ...

* James Herbert * Christopher Fowler * Alice Henderson * Graham Masterton * Gemma Files * Simon Clark *

Barbie Wilde Barbie Wilde is a Canadian-born British actress and writer, perhaps best known for appearing as the Female Cenobite in '' Hellbound: Hellraiser II'' (1988) – the second of ten Hellraiser films based on Clive Barker's novella, ''The Hellbound ...

* David Moody * Axelle Carolyn * Tony Vilgotsky * H. G. Wells But others names could be quoted, according to Xavier Aldana Reyes in his book ''Body Gothic'' : *

Poppy Z. Brite Billy Martin (born May 25, 1967), formerly Poppy Z. Brite, is an American author. He initially achieved fame in the gothic horror genre of literature in the early 1990s by publishing a string of successful novels and short story collections. He i ...

* Kathe Koja * Dennis Cooper * Bret Easton Ellis

Notable graphic novels

Use in video games

In recent years, the subjects of human experimentation, medical research, and infection have played large roles in video games whose plots are heavily influenced by themes common in body horror.

Use in tabletop gaming

References

External links

Inside Out: Body Horror

Internet Movie Database films listed under keyword body-horror
{{DEFAULTSORT:Body Horror Horror fiction lists Body horror