10 Body Horror Movies That'll Make You Squirm

This Canadian werewolf flick owes its roots to the great lycanthropy films of the ‘80s (here’s looking at you, An American Werewolf in London) but the themes the director, John Fawcett (Orphan Black), chose to explore make this movie unique.

The power of Ginger Snaps comes from its links to puberty and menstruation. Periods have been used to represent a character’s transformation in horror films before (see: Carrie), but this film shows those changes in the form of a monstrous bodily change.

As we’ve seen on this list, body horror and metamorphosis are old partners. This means body horror can be intrinsically linked to puberty, which is a real-life biological nightmare that sees people’s bodies morphing into forms they don’t recognise.

The transformation takes place via small bodily changes that Ginger Snaps has inherited from its werewolf forefathers: a tail sprouting from her spine, fangs, fur. These effects by themselves aren’t disturbing, but when they are used and linked to a confused teenager, they take another meaning.

In one shudder-inducing scene, we watch Ginger desperately trying to shave the excess hair on her legs. But her new werewolf body won’t have it. Her skin rips and bleeds, showing us a type of extreme horror we can easily relate to real life experiences.

As a bonus, Ginger and her sisters school project is fantastic: a variety of staged, grizzly murders. "A" for effort, girls.