10 Best Body Horrors That Make You Squirm

7. Re-Animator

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Empire International Pictures

Director Stuart Gordon sadly passed away just last month, but the filmmaker's body of work will live on and maintain his legacy as one of the greats of his generation. And standing loud and proud as the peak of Gordon's career is 1985's Re-Animator.

Loosely based on H.P. Lovecraft's tale of the same name, Re-Animator sees Jeffrey Combs's Dr Herbert West on a mission to perfect the concept of reanimation. Whether it's deceased pets or the residents of the local morgue, West will stop at nothing in his quest to conquer the very notion of death being the final chapter in life.

Along the way, audiences get to see body horror in its full glory. While maybe not quite as disturbing as some other body horror offerings out there, Re-Animator does still deliver some beautifully brutal sequences - with a particular scene with a severed head and a crotch still proving to be a delightfully twisted highlight.

Another aspect that makes Re-Animator great, is the simple fact that Herbert West is the hero of his own story. Like the greatest villains - be that in movies, in TV, in comics, in novels, in wrestling, whatever - West sees himself as doing what is right, as doing the best he can to make the world a better place. And for those poor victims left lobotomised or worse, they're merely necessarily casualties serving their purpose for the greater good.

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Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.