10 More Great Horror Movies That Are Ugly On Purpose

Adapted from William S. Burroughs nigh-illegible novel of the same name, Naked Lunch sees David Cronenberg take everything he's known for and turn it up to 11. A body horror of the finest order, the movie follows bug exterminator Bill Lee (Peter Weller) who gets hooked on his own bug-killing powder and a drug made from centipedes designed to get him off it, both of which take him on a physical, metaphysical, and hallucinatory journey out of the States and into a state.

A stand-in for Burroughs himself, Bill's adventures mimic some of the drug odysseys the author went on while writing Naked Lunch, winding up abroad in a mysterious Mediterranean city with only a mutating, bug-like typewriter for any kind of permanent company. And, although he reins in Burroughs' text's lack of structure and narrative, Cronenberg's attention to detail is immaculate.

Recreating the most evocative passages from the book while adding his own flair, the director realises a consistent stream of grim imagery on screen, with unexplainable fleshy apparitions, shapeshifting centipedes, human body suits, Mugwumps, beetles, and fluids of every kind. No expense is spared in the ugliness of this flick, and so effective is the craft that you'll probably never want to watch it again.