10 Great Shapeshifter Horror Movies You May Have Missed
Nothing is what it seems in these underappreciated shapeshifting horrors.
A person who can change their appearance at will is a pretty scary prospect, as you never know where (or who) they might be. Imagine revealing your deepest secrets to the person you thought was your therapist, only to find out it was your mortal enemy the entire time. Frightening stuff.
Horror movies have been making great use of shapeshifters for decades now, such as in 1951's The Thing from Another World, which was adapted from the same source material as John Carpenter's The Thing. The likes of It, The Fly, and every werewolf movie ever made have all followed suit, but what about the shapeshifting films everybody overlooks?
The following movies all feature creatures that can change form in some way or another, sometimes human, sometimes not. You won't find any werewolves here, as that feels like its own genre, but you will find plenty of other interesting disguises, including some that will make you question everything.
Fingers crossed you've got a pair of those glasses from They Kive lying around somewhere, as you're going to need them to spot these horrifying interlopers. Also, there are spoilers ahead, so be careful.
10. Society
As well as providing ample opportunity for scares, shapeshifters are also good for a laugh or two, as seen in this body horror comedy from 1989.
In Brian Yuzna's Society, a man named Bill becomes suspicious of his wealthy family so decides to spy on them. Through a series of startling discoveries, Bill works out that his family and the entirety of their Beverly Hills community are actually aliens disguised as human beings, with a neat, if disturbing party trick.
The aliens possess an ability called "shunting", which allows them to fuse their gelatinous bodies together into a single, hideous blob. This enormous mass of flesh is then able to absorb victims, draining them of their nutrients and adding to its own power.
To make matters worse, they also don't tip. These rich people are monsters!
Society is a blatant social commentary about how the wealthy have such different lives from ordinary people that they might as well be an entirely different species. It's good fun, though, and contains some pretty grim scenes of the shunting process.