10 Body Horror Movies That'll Make You Squirm

American Mary is a strange, but welcome addition to 21st century horror gems.

This 2012 film was written and directed by the fantastically spooky Soska sisters (who made a cameo in the film as “The Demon Twins from Berlin”). These filmmakers are no strangers to gore – they’ve even been nicknamed “The Twisted Twins”, a name that is only strengthened by the body horror of American Mary.

Most body horror films deal with an unwanted change, some kind of mutation or metamorphosis that occurs against a person’s will. But here we see a horror that people strive for: body modification.

As Mary falls into the strange world of illegal surgeries, we see a variety of willing participants (with one unlucky exception) being disfigured into altered versions of themselves.

From common place surgeries like devil horns and split tongues, to more extreme choices… if you want to know what those are, you’ll have to watch the film. But needless to say, the gore isn’t over done, which makes it incredibly effective when it does occur.

Looking back at this film from our futuristic world of 2020, where body modifications are becoming evermore accepted and common place, you may wonder what makes this film horrific.

The horror doesn’t lie in the acts of body mutilation, but rather the reasoning for them. Mary uses these surgeries as a way to deal with her growing need to hurt others after a traumatic incident. This is seen in her enthusiasm to torture her friend’s enemies and intimidate the other dancers.

It’s dark, disturbed, and makes for a solid body horror.