Plot: The residents of a suburban high-rise apartment building are being infected by a strain of parasites that turn them into mindless, sex-crazed fiends out to infect others by the slightest sexual contact.

KBZ’s Take: Cronenberg’s first feature film has his signature Body Horror layered on top of a viral outbreak. Only Cronenberg would come up with a ‘parasite’ that takes over human bodies and exits in increasingly creative (yet horrific) ways. While the film drags in a few parts and can get confusing, the bookend sequences of the film are the best of the film and most chilling.

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Plot: Syd March is an employee at a clinic that sells injections of live viruses harvested from sick celebrities to obsessed fans. When he becomes infected with the disease that kills super sensation Hannah Geist, Syd becomes a target for collectors and rabid fans. He must unravel the mystery surrounding her death before he suffers the same fate.

KBZ’s Take: Like his father, Brandon Cronenberg came out of the gate with a unique Body Horror film. While there’s the signature Cronenberg Body Horror scenes in the film, the plot and setup of the film is most intriguing. This is a staple of most Cronenberg films which don’t use Body Horror for plain shock and awe effect, but rather as the output from an outlandish premise.

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Plot: As the human species adapts to a synthetic environment, the body undergoes new transformations and mutations. Accompanied by his partner Caprice, celebrity performance artist Saul Tenser showcases the metamorphosis of his organs. Meanwhile, a mysterious group tries to use Saul’s notoriety to shed light on the next phase of human evolution.

KBZ’s Take: We had mixed feelings on this film. While it was great to see David Cronenberg return to Body Horror, we had hopes from the trailers that Crimes of the Future would be one of his best films. While the film is still good and worth a watch, the plot gets a bit confusing in parts (especially for a Cronenberg film). With that said, once you know how the film ends and the threads tie together, it’s worth watching a second time to see how everything that culminates at the end has been setup.

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Plot: Elliot, a successful gynecologist, works at the same practice as his identical twin, Beverly. Elliot is attracted to many of his patients and has affairs with them. When he inevitably loses interest, he will give the woman over to Beverly, the meeker of the two, without the woman knowing the difference. Beverly falls hard for one of the patients, Claire, but when she inadvertently deceives him, he slips into a state of madness.

KBZ’s Take: This is one of David Cronenberg’s best films but would be considered much more of a Psychological & Medical Horror film vs. a Body Horror film. While the film does have some Body Horror elements, the true scares in the film are the psychological breakdown of one of the brothers and the dissolution of trust between doctor and patient. It’s also a film worth seeing for Jeremy Irons amazing performance playing the twins – Beverly and Elliot.

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Plot: A game designer on the run from assassins must play her latest virtual reality creation with a marketing trainee to determine if the 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 and remains one of Cronenberg’s most underrated Body Horror films.

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Plot A man tries to uncover an unconventional psychologist’s therapy techniques on his institutionalized wife, while a series of brutal attacks committed by a brood of mutant children coincides with the husband’s investigation.

KBZ’s Take: This film is likely relatively unknown by generations that did not grow up in the late 70’s and early 80’s. It’s also one of David Cronenberg’s lesser-known films, but one of his scariest.

Like most Cronenberg films there’s a fair amount of ‘WTF!’ in the film. The film delivers the scares and creepiness factor once the ‘brood’ starts to appear and once you get near the end of the film, you’re treated with one of the top Body Horror moments within the entire subgenre.

Additional Lists: Top Scariest Halloween Films for Adults You Haven’t Seen #10

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Plot: A corporate assassin uses brain implant technology to take control of other people’s bodies to kill other targets.

KBZ’s Take: The definition of a powerful film is one that stays with you months or even years after you’ve seen it. Possessor is one of those films we still can’t get out of our head 2 years later. This film is not for the faint of heart as it’s brutal, gory and will have you questioning the ethics and morals of the lead character (played by the great Andrea Riseborough). Directed by Brandon Cronenberg, Possessor is his signature film where the Cronenberg style of Body Horror is on full display. A disturbing yet powerful film and highly recommended.

Additional Lists: Top Assassins & Hitmen Films You Haven’t Seen #2

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Plot: Scanners are men and women born with incredible telepathic and telekinetic powers. There are many who exercise the benefits of their special gifts in a safe and judicious manner. However, there is a group of renegade scanners who plan to create a race that will rule the world.

KBZ’s Take: As with most Cronenberg Sci-Fi films, there’s almost always a healthy dose of Body Horror. Scanners delivers on both fronts as one of the best Films About Psychic Powers and some of the most iconic Body Horror of the entire subgenre. There are so many classic Body Horror scenes from this film that it’s hard to choose just one. Note: graphic content in the previous links and not for the faint of heart.

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Plot: When Seth Brundle makes a huge scientific and technological breakthrough in teleportation, he decides to test it on himself. Unbeknownst to him, a common housefly manages to get inside the device and the two become one.

KBZ’s Take: Cronenberg’s most mainstream and popular film, The Fly is considered a classic film within the entire Horror genre. As a remake of the equally terrifying The Fly (1958), where the remake differentiates itself from the original is with visual and disturbing Body Horror as Brundle’s condition deteriorates both mentally and physically.

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Plot: As the president of a trashy TV channel, Max Renn is desperate for new programming to attract viewers. When he happens upon Videodrome, a TV show dedicated to gratuitous torture and punishment, Max sees a potential hit and broadcasts the show on his channel. However, after his girlfriend auditions for the show and never returns, Max investigates the truth behind Videodrome and discovers that the graphic violence may not be as fake as he thought.

KBZ’s Take: Cronenberg’s most underrated film and arguably the best film of the entire Body Horror subgenre. Videodrome is not a film that will be fully understood or appreciated on a single viewing. It takes multiple viewings to understand the layers Cronenberg has created within the film from the Videodrome ‘conspiracy’ to the mutations of the human body.

What Cronenberg does best in this film is show how body mutations might take effect via Videodrome. This is where the Body Horror sequences fit perfectly within the film’s premise and are more shocking and disturbing after you fully understand the conspiracy’s goal throughout the film.

Though Videodrome was made 40 years ago, it’s a film that is more relevant today in the social media era than it was in the early 80’s with broadcast television. Watching the film through today’s lens, it’s much easier to see how the themes in Videodrome could become an unfortunate reality in the near future.

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