This is the fourth in a series of articles where we’ll be covering the Top Body Horror Films by decade. Body Horror is a Horror subgenre that features viral or medical transformations of the human body. Changes in the body are often grotesque and visually disturbing. Body Horror often shares similarities with other Horror subgenres such as Psychological and Medical Horror and Splatter and Gore films and Sci-Fi subgenres including Sci-Fi Biotech Films. However, Body Horror often focuses on the mutilation of the body or resulting transformation.
This fourth article will cover the Best Body Horror Films from the 1990’s and you can check out additional articles by decade below:
- Best Cronenberg Body Horror Films
- Top Body Horror Films You Haven’t Seen – 1970’s
- Top Body Horror Films You Haven’t Seen – 1980’s
- Top Body Horror Films You Haven’t Seen – 1990’s
- Top Body Horror Films You Haven’t Seen – 2000’s
- Top Body Horror Films You Haven’t Seen – 2010’s
- Best Recent Body Horror Films
- Best Body Horror Films of All Time
The 1990’s were a down decade for Body Horror as the quality and quantity of subgenre films decreased. Though there were a few classic films of the subgenre released during this period, overall it was likely the worst decade of the last 50 years for Body Horror films. Body Horror themes in the 1990’s included a further embrace of Splatter and Gore film elements, a rash of sequels to previous Body Horror films, Comedy films using Body Horror as a metaphor or satire and continued film adaptations of Horror novelists.
While elements of the Body Horror subgenre have always included some form of visual Body Horror, Splatter and Gore elements became much more prevalent in the 1990. No film embraced Body Horror with bucket loads of gore more than the classic film of both the Body Horror and Films About Zombies subgenre – Dead Alive (Braindead)(1992). This Peter Jackson film is considered one of the goriest films of all time and features some very disgusting Body Horror. But, the film is also a comedy which somewhat blunts the impact of the non-stop splatter fest. Other Body Horror films of the decade that also included Splatter and Gore elements included Baby Blood (1990), Bride of Re-Animator (1990) and Splatter: Naked Blood (1996).
Most of the Body Horror films in the 1990’s were sequels of previous Body Horror films. These sequels often fell into two silos – the good and not so good. Prominent sequels that were considered worthy successors to their previous films included Bride of Re-Animator (1990), Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth (1992), Alien³ (1992), Tetsuo II: Body Hammer (1992) and Alien Resurrection (1997).
Other sequels that did not live up to fans or critical expectations and were considered inferior films included Basket Case 2 (1990), Scanners II: The New Order (1991), Scanners III: The Takeover (1992), Basket Case 3: The Progeny (1992), Amityville 1992: The Sequel (1992), Return of the Living Dead 3 (1993), Scanners: The Showdown (1995) and Hellraiser IV: Bloodline (1996). Two films that were remakes of previous Body Horror films include Body Snatchers (1993) which was a remake of the 1956 and 1978 Body Snatchers films and The Wasp Woman (1995) which was a remake of The Wasp Woman (1959).
Though Comedy elements had started to make their way into 1980’s Body Horror films such as Night of the Creeps (1986) and Brain Damage (1988), the comedy was usually more subtle. However, in the 1990’s the comedy became much more prominent in films including Freaked (1993) and Idle Hands (1999). Both of these films used Body Horror to great comedic effect and though had Horror genre designations, were much more about laughs than scares.
And finally, the 1990’s also continued to see Body Horror film adaptations from prominent Horror novelists. Bride of Re-Animator (1990) was a loose adaptation of H.P Lovecraft’s Herbert West-Reanimator (Episode V & VI), Lord of Illusions (1995) was based on the Clive Barker short story The Last Illusion (from Barker’s the Books of Blood) and Thinner (1996) was a film adaptation of the Stephen King novel of the same name (written under his Richard Bachman pseudonym).
Our complete list of Body Horror Films features over 186+ films from 1956 – 2022. We’ll outline some of the rare and lesser-known Body Horror films from the 1990’s below and if you’re looking for some Body Horror film recommendations, subscribe to our newsletter to get updated as we release our series of articles outlining rare and lesser-known Body Horror films by decade.
Classic, must see Body Horror Films of the 1990’s: Bride of Re-Animator (1990), Dead Alive (Braindead)(1992), Alien³ (1992), Body Snatchers (1993), Event Horizon (1997), The Faculty (1998), eXistenZ (1999) and Audition (1999).
Lesser-known and Rare Body Horror Films from the 1990’s that didn’t make our list: Basket Case 2 (1990), Basket Case 3: The Progeny (1992), Amityville 1992: The Sequel (1992), Scanners: The Showdown (1995), Crash (1996), Splatter: Naked Blood (1996), Strangeland (1998) and Idle Hands (1999).
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Here is our list of the Top Body Horror Films from the 1990’s You Haven’t Seen:
#10
Baby Blood
Plot: A cruel circus owner beats and abuses his pregnant wife. One day the circus receives a leopard newly captured in Africa, but the animal soon dies. However, an evil creature that was inside the leopard bursts out of the animal’s body, burrows into the wife’s body and takes over her fetus. It soon starts demanding blood, and the woman goes searching for victims for her new baby.
KBZ’s Take: This is a hard film to categorize into one subgenre as it has elements of Body Horror, Splatter and Gore, Slasher Films and Psychological Horror Films. What we can definitively say is that it has some of the more creative Body Horror and Gore scenes of the decade.
For the film itself, it harkens back to early 80’s Body Horror where a woman is ‘impregnated’ by an alien or monster to give birth to its offspring. Unlike those films, the monster inside of her can speak to her and push her into increasingly bloody kills. It’s a strange film but worth seeing by fans of the subgenre.
Where to Stream / Buy: https://amzn.to/3LcvaT6
Plot: A scanner discovers a plot by renegade elements in the city government to take power with the help of evil scanners.
KBZ’s Take: Why Scanners (1981) has never been remade is anybody’s guess. The initial film was a classic of the subgenre though it was made on an extremely low budget of $3.5M. It more than tripled its budget at the box office which lead to a rash of sequels. Unfortunately, like Hellraiser (1987), each sequel is progressively worse.
As for the first sequel, it’s the best of the lot though made on a shoestring budget. However, the ideas in Scanners II: The New Order fits in well as a natural progression of the themes Cronenberg explored in his original classic. Though the acting and special effects are subpar, there are some creative Body Horror elements in the film that make the film worth watching.
Where to Stream / Buy: https://amzn.to/3T5ck2h
#8
Body Parts
Plot: A criminal psychologist loses his arm in a car crash and becomes one of three patients to have their missing limbs replaced by those belonging to an executed serial killer. One of them dies violently, and disturbing occurrences start happening to the surviving two.
KBZ’s Take: This is another film of the subgenre where if the Body Horror visuals had been toned down a bit, would likely have resulted in a much better film. In its current state, it’s a B film of the subgenre led by Horror genre stalwarts Jeff Fahey and Brad Dourif.
The film’s premise is intriguing but gets lost as the film progresses and focuses more on the Body Horror elements. It’s a film that subgenre fans will likely still enjoy but it could have been a much better Psychological Horror film if more focus had been placed on the plot.
Where to Stream / Buy: https://amzn.to/3l3WLuY
Plot: A top surgeon is besotted with a beautiful woman who once rebuffed him. Unable to come to terms with life without her, he tries to convince her that they need each other. She has other ideas, but a horrific accident leaves her at his mercy.
KBZ’s Take: This film is extremely hard to find and was marred in controversy before it even released. It was initially given an NC-17 rating and had Kim Basinger, Madonna and Ed Harris all drop out of the film before production.
The other controversy surrounding the film dealt with the film’s subject matter – a surgeon who becomes obsessed with a woman and the methods he takes to keep her hostage. We won’t go into those methods here as that’s a main plot point of the film, but the film has developed a bit of a cult following over the years. It’s not as extreme or shocking nowadays as it was back in 1991, but it’s still one of the curiosities of the subgenre worth checking out.
Where to Stream / Buy: https://amzn.to/3JwV2Yq
Plot: Janice Starlin is an aging model who owns a cosmetics company. When a researcher experimenting with wasps brings her a serum that will turn back the aging process, she decides to first try it on herself. The serum works, but it also turns her into a killer wasp woman.
KBZ’s Take: This is a Roger Corman film which is a remake of The Wasp Woman (1959). And if you watch Corman films, you’ll likely be prepared for a low budget film with questionable acting and special effects.
Even with those restraints, the film is surprisingly better than its low reputation and rating. If you appreciate Psychological-themed Body Horror in the vein of The Fly (1986), then you might enjoy this film. Just be prepared that the special effects aren’t anywhere near as good as those found in The Fly or other subgenre films and are quite poor.
Where to Stream / Buy: https://youtu.be/rfaTpKkMjxc
#5
Freaked
Plot: A vain actor, his best friend, and an activist end up at a mutant freak farm run by a weirdo scientist.
KBZ’s Take: As we mentioned in our article introduction, this is more of a Comedy film that uses Body Horror for laughs vs. scares. In fact, the Body Horror and ‘mutations’ throughout this film are creative and hilarious. It’s not a Horror film by any means but it is one of the funnier films of the entire subgenre. Recommended for fans of the subgenre.
Where to Stream / Buy: https://youtu.be/JbFfhcDmFJY
#4
Thinner
Plot A fat lawyer finds himself growing Thinner when an old gypsy man places a hex on him. Now the lawyer must call upon his friends in organized crime to help him persuade the gypsy to lift the curse. Time is running out for the desperate lawyer as he draws closer to his own death and grows ever thinner.
KBZ’s Take: Another film of the subgenre where the Psychological Horror in the film is often more horrifying than the visual Body Horror. It stays somewhat faithful to the Stephen King novel its based on though it does add some subtle Black Comedy. Also, the visual effects in the film vary from bad (i.e. it’s an obvious fat suit when he’s overweight) to good (i.e. the visual effects as he becomes more gaunt from weight loss).
Films Based on Stephen King novels have often varied from the great – Pet Sematary (1989), The Shawshank Redemption (1996), The Mist (2007) – to the disappointing – Graveyard Shift (1990), Dreamcatcher (2003), The Dark Tower (2017). Thinner fits well in the second level tier of good King adaptations along with The Night Flier (1997) and Gerald’s Game (2017) and is one of the better films of the Body Horror subgenre.
Where to Stream / Buy: https://amzn.to/401o08g
#3
eXistenZ
Plot: A game designer, on the run, enlists the help of a man to see if her VR game has been damaged.
KBZ’s Take: Where The Matrix (1999) explores going down the rabbit hole of VR, ExistenZ takes everything to another level where you don’t know if the rabbit hole is reality or not. ExistenZ delves into philosophical questions regarding the balance (or unbalance) between the virtual world and reality. Plus it’s directed by David Cronenberg, so you can expect a steady stream of Body Horror with the VR ‘machine’ and world. This is another 1999 VR film that was lost a bit in the shuffle after The Matrix appeared.
Additional Lists: Top Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality Films You Haven’t Seen #5, Best Cronenberg Body Horror #6
Where to Stream / Buy: https://amzn.to/3OXY5dA
Plot: When Environmental Protection Agency inspector Steve Malone travels to a remote military base in order to check for toxic materials, he brings his family along for the ride. After arriving at the base, his teenage daughter Marti befriends Jean Platt, daughter of the base’s commander, General Platt. When people at the base begin acting strangely, Marti becomes convinced that they are slowly being replaced by plant-like aliens.
KBZ’s Take: If you read our lists regularly (especially Horror and Sci-Fi related lists), you’ll likely notice that we’re huge fans of the entire realm of Body Snatchers-themed films. We feel the theme of the Body Snatchers taking over human bodies is one of the best and most horrifying themes of Body Horror.
This version of The Body Snatchers isn’t as good as the previous films (1956 and 1978) but its visuals of the Body Snatchers taking over a body are some of the scariest of the subgenre. The Gabrielle Anwar bathtub scene alone is disturbing, horrifying and a sequence of Body Horror you won’t soon forget.
Where to Stream / Buy: https://amzn.to/3JuB94r
#1
Audition
Plot: Widowed man sits through actress auditions to find his next wife.
KBZ’s Take: Another film that’s often found on the Most Disturbing Films of All Time lists, Audition does a complete head fake halfway through the movie. At first, you’re watching a romantic comedy about a father and son who are missing the now deceased matriarch of the family. But then it completely turns into a Body Horror film with quite a few WTF moments.
The less said of this film’s plot, the better, as it’s a film you have to see for yourself. But, be warned, it’s not for the squeamish! And we wouldn’t advise the old “convince your girlfriend or significant other into thinking they’re watching a romantic comedy so you can watch a horror film” trick as it won’t end well for you either.
Additional Lists: Top World Cinema Horror Films You Haven’t Seen #4, Top Scariest Halloween Films for Adults You Haven’t Seen #6
Where to Stream / Buy: https://amzn.to/3B2agQu
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