Horror movies

Director Coralie Fargeat’s The Substance is rightfully drawing praise from critics and body horror fans these days. It’s a colorful, creative, and surprisingly entertaining examination of the self-loathing generated by society’s expectations of the female body.

If you’ve heard nothing else about the film so far, you still probably know that it is one of the most violent and disturbing horror movies to come along in quite some time. The internet—or at least the film-obsessed corners of social media—is already filled with stories of people leaving their screenings, vomiting outside the theater, or otherwise finding themselves unable to process what they’ve just witnessed. Such reactions are more than understandable.

But if you were one of those viewers who found themselves intrigued by The Substance and hungry for more, I’ll let you in on a dark secret. The Substance isn’t the most disturbing body horror film out there. It’s barely a blip on the radar in that particular category. If you’re willing to see just how dark that rabbit hole is, then here are some notable body horror movies that put The Substance to shame in terms of sheer audacity.

• The Fly (1986)
• Street Trash (1987)
• Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1989)
• Society (1989)
• In My Skin (2002)
• Taxidermia (2006)
• Teeth (2007)
• The Human Centipede (2009)
• American Mary (2012)
• Swallowed (2022)