Terrifier 3 is topping the box office, bringing its grisly delights to audiences that couldn’t be bothered to see another goddamn Joker movie. The third movie in the low-budget, high-profit series allegedly had people fleeing the theaters—something I’m too cheap to ever do, but I suppose one can’t be faulted for not wanting to throw up in a room full of people trying to eat their popcorn.
At least since the 1960s, horror filmmakers have gone to great lengths to delight and/or nauseate audiences: From the more sedately grotesque pleasures of Hammer horror, to the works of Italian filmmakers like Argento and Bava, to the anything-goes slashers of the 1980s, and straight into the torture-porn era, there’s been more than enough of an audience for movies that impress with their ability to make us squirm. Sometimes the over-the-top splatter-fests are made with a sense of impish glee, and sometimes they’re meant to leave us uncomfortably wondering why we didn’t have our dank, drippy basements finished. At best, these movies are jolts of adrenaline that remind us that we’re alive even as they have us entirely freaked out at the prospect of a violent death.
There are endless torture movies, zombie movies, gialli, etc. that might fit here, so I’ve tried to limit it to some of the best examples of each particular sub-genre.
Tokyo Gore Police (2008)
(Here’s the trailer, which is age-restricted and only available on YouTube.)
They’re not kidding with this title—and isn’t it refreshing when a movie tells you what it’s about before the opening credits? Director and special effects artist Yoshihiro Nishimura leads this story of a future Japan in which surgically and genetically altered “Engineers” are hunted by a special division of the Tokyo Police Force, one that plays judge, jury, and executioner to the Engineers—and any criminals that get in their way. Among them is Ruka (Eihi Shiina), who’s got an extra big chip on her shoulder following the assassination death of her cop dad. That’s mostly it for plot, but the execution is entirely unhinged, with disturbingly altered humans killing and being killed in increasingly grotesque and bloody ways. Limbs are replaced with swords and chainsaws; there’s a woman with an alligator (with a vagina inside) where her legs should be; an erect penis becomes a cannon; a sex worker is part chair and gets paid to pee on clients. You wanted body horror? Here you go.
Where to stream: Tubi, Crunchyroll
Evil Dead Rise (2023)
You could probably slide any of the Evil Dead movies in here, but the most recent is also among the very best of the series, and does the gloppy legacy of early Sam Raimi proud. Set mong a family in a high-rise apartment building beset by demonically possessed Deadites, the film opens with a scalp being ripped from a woman’s head, and gets more impressively gory from there. Much of what goes on here is cringe-inducing even on the page: A possessed teenager slowly eats a wine glass, hoping to kill the bugs she imagines are living inside of her; a woman and a child nearly drown in an elevator full of blood, until the weight of all the liquid sends them plummeting; and, very memorably, a cheese-grater used in ways it was not intended.
Where to stream: Max, Netflix, digital rental
Ichi the Killer (2001)
Director Takashi Miike directs a lot of movies for younger audiences these days, but that’s not where he built his reputation: The brutal Audition probably remains his most famous horror film, at least in the west, but Ichi the Killer took his penchant for nastiness even further. In the process, it became a near-poster child for “Asia Extreme,” a sub-genre of extremely intense horror and action movies. Opening with a room covered in blood and intestines (the remains of a yakuza boss), the movie finds the very disturbed Ichi (Nao Omori) being hunted by a yakuza enforcer (Tadanobu Asano) out for revenge. The violence is nearly cartoonish, but the prodigious amounts of blood and entrails have a visceral impact. One of the most disturbing elements here is Ichi’s tendency to become aroused in the presence of brutality, so be warned that there’s a fair bit of distasteful sexual violence here.
Where to stream: Peacock, The Criterion Channel, Tubi
Hostel (2005)
James Wan’s Saw and Eli Roth’s Hostel were the two pillars that supported the entire “torture porn” sub-genre, one that saw increasing numbers of characters tied up in filthy basements for extended periods of time. It all got boring rather quickly, but that’s not the fault of either of the genre’s progenitors and, of the two, Hostel goes just a bit further. It also gets credit for taking its time: the movie introduces its ill-fated trio of young travelers in Easter Europe (this movie can’t have been good for Slovakian tourism) and very gradually builds toward an impressively icky climax: We get decapitations, drills in places that ought not be drilled, and (ulp) sliced achilles tendons. Roth goes a step further than most of these movies in building our interest in these characters, making their various torments that much more uncomfortable.
Where to stream: Starz, digital rental
Hellraiser (1987)
It’s a movie about a man (Frank, played by Sean Chapman) who was ripped apart by these kind of kinky sexy hell priests, and now wants his girlfriend (Clare Higgins) to bring him fresh supplies of flesh and blood so that he can gradually rebuild his human body. That’s all impressively gory, but the bit that always makes me cover my eyes is when Frank’s brother, Larry, snags his hand on a nail while moving some furniture. If you’ve seen the movie, you know exactly what I’m talking about: It hurts because it’s so relatable.
Where to stream: Shudder, Tubi, AMC+, Prime Video
A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
Almost certainly not the grisliest of Wes Craven’s films, Nightmare gets extra credit for one of the most impressive fountains of blood this side of The Shining. Poor, simple Glen (Johnny Depp), sucked into his own bed for no greater crime than having been a teenager and falling asleep. The resulting explosion of bloody splatter is one of cinema’s most memorable.
Where to stream: Max, digital rental
Martyrs (2008)
Cresting the wave of the New French Extremity era, when French horror filmmakers were shocking and scandalizing audiences with some absolutely batshit nastiness (that’s a compliment). Martyrs is one of the most extreme of the extreme, with a young woman who’d been imprisoned and tortured returning to wreak brutal revenge on those she blames, only to draw another woman into her violent quest. AND THEN we meet up with the death cult that’s looking to uncover the secrets of the afterlife by inflicting the most brutal tortures imaginable. Come for the revenge, stay for the extended skin-flaying.
Where to stream: Tubi
Maniac (1980)
This cult classic comes from porno director William Lustig, while boasting some early and very impressive effects work from the great Tom Savini (who also plays a victim). Joe Spinell plays Frank Zito, who murders and then scalps women throughout New York City. The scalpings are a highlight(?), as is the death of Savini’s character, who takes a memorably messy shotgun blast to the face. The kinda cool/kinda wacky conclusion involving a character being ripped apart by (maybe) mannequins involves more great work from Savini.
Where to stream: Shudder, Tubi, digital rental
Cannibal Holocaust (1980)
One of the original found-footage horror films is also one of the most effective, a gruesome testament to the power of suggestion so visceral, it tricked the authorities into thinking the filmmakers had committed a real murder. After a crew goes missing while filming a documentary about indigenous cannibal tribes in the Amazon rainforest, the anthropologist sent to find them uncovers only their thoroughly gruesome footage. Some have seen it as a smart commentary on the horrors of the modern world; others think it’s mostly just gross (if effectively so). Bear in mind that some actual animals were killed in the filming, so if your taste for gore doesn’t extend beyond cool effects work, this might be one to avoid.
Where to stream: Peacock
The Butcher (2007)
You may enjoy gruesome torture horror movies (no judgments), but have you ever wanted to be in one? This South Korean film, from director Kim Jin-won is straightforward in its plot—a snuff film producer in a pig mask tortures victims to death—but less so in its execution. Those on the receiving end of the various torments are wearing head cameras, so everything happens through their, and by extension your, point of view. Which is a little rough.
Where to stream: Kanopy, Fandango at Home
Thanatomorphose (2012)
Laura (Kayden Rose) is a depressed and introverted young woman with an abusive boyfriend, but wait,it gets worse. She wakes up in the middle of the night to find a strange spot on her groin. And then one of her fingernails falls off—did I mention this is body horror? Laura begins literally decomposing, following the various stages of decay of a human body while very much alive and conscious. It’s extremely visceral, but the movie has bigger ambitions than just grossing us out; Rose’s impressive lead performance makes clear that we’re watching a movie about psychological trauma via an extremely grisly body horror metaphor.
Where to stream: Tubi
The Human Centipede 2 (Full Sequence) (2011)
Writer/director Tom Six’s first Human Centipede movie, about a German surgeon who joins unwitting tourists together by sewing one’s mouth to another’s butthole, was a weird shock novelty that didn’t make a lot of money but still earned a brief spot in the zeitgeist for anyone with the stomach to talk about it. As is the way of such things, the sequel (about a copycat seamster) had to up the ante in order to justify its existence—and, when you’re starting from a premise of people who poop into other people’s mouths, that’s an ask. This one goes full meta, with a man obsessed with the first film determined to make his own 12-person centipede, to include actress Ashlynn Yennie from the earlier movie. Consensus is generally that this is the best (grossest) of the trilogy.
Where to stream: AMC+, digital rental
Nekromantik (1987)
What’s a little necrophilia when two of the people involved really love each other? West German director Jörg Buttgereit’s film is almost pure shock value, involving endlessly gross (though inventive) scenes of splatter and sex with corpses. It starts off with a threesome between a man, his girlfriend, and a corpse he found on the street, before becoming more overtly murderous. It’s wild subject matter, but the gory imagery is filmed in the style of soft-core porn—which makes it all even more impressively icky.
Where to stream: Shudder, AMC+
Raw (2016)
A vegetarian veterinary student develops a taste for meat. A lot of meat. All the time. Much of it human. Human cannibalism is disturbing, but hardly unheard-of. Raw takes it several graphic steps further, leaving even the most jaded audiences feeling queasy, though it’s also a coming-of-age story. Its director, Julia Ducournau, who went on to win the Palm D’Or at Cannes for Titane, seems destined to make Fucked-Up Films classics.
Where to stream: digital rental via AppleTV
Opera (1987)
Director Dario Argento had already made a career out of shocking audiences when Opera came out, but went as far here as he ever had, and arguably ever would. A cat-and-mouse game largely set in the title’s opera house during the production of an avant-garde MacBeth (shades of Phantom of the Opera), the movie finds Betty (Cristina Marsillach) being pursued by a mysterious man from her past, and one who’s determined to inflict the maximum psychological torture on Betty before he gets what he wants. It’s tautly constructed throughout, while also including some of the most grisly imagery in the master’s oeuvre; the most memorable image here is of Betty, razor blades taped under her eyelids to prevent her from blinking, being forced to watch a murder.
Where to stream: Shudder, Tubi
Inside (2007)
Another classic of New French Extremity (well, it was new in 2007), Inside scandalized audiences but did surprisingly well with the critics, who couldn’t help but be impressed by the movie’s visceral charms and lead performances from Béatrice Dalle and Alysson Paradis. On the verge of giving birth, Sarah is visited by a mysterious woman who’d been stalking her, and who soon makes clear that she’s there for the baby. And she has scissors handy to make sure she gets it. As it happens, La Femme (as she’s referred to) has a good reason for claiming Sarah’s child—at least in her own mind. Stick around for the absolutely wild final act.
Where to stream: Tubi, digital rental
Dead Alive (1992)
Peter Jackson’s early zombie fest (also known as Braindead) is, quite simply, a bloody funhouse ride of a movie. Lionel loves his rather difficult mother Vera, even after she’s bitten by a hybrid rat-monkey creature and slowly transforms into an undead creature infecting people all over South Wellington. It’s all a goofy good time, if your idea of a good time involves endless buckets of blood and viscera being tossed at the screen with complete abandon.
Where to stream: digital rental
The Beyond (1981)
Often, over-the-top gore becomes cartoonish, making it all easier to stomach. Lucio Fulci, on the other hand, goes, well, beyond but never winks at the audience, the result being this stomach-churning work of art following a woman who inherits a hotel in rural Louisiana, which comes with an undisclosed gateway to hell. Blindness is a theme here, and characters lose their sight in any number of ways: sometimes with acid, sometimes they’re gouged out and, on one occasion, a head is so viciously impaled by a nail that the eye just goes flying right out. Dogs eat flesh and so do tarantulas, and zombies are shot and killed endlessly. It’s a grisly triumph for giallo master Fulci.
Where to stream: Peacock, Tubi, digital rental
Day of the Dead (1985)
When George Romero and effects master Tom Savini join forces, there’s no stopping them. The third of Romero’s zombie films, Day of the Dead is both an underrated classic—packing as much plot and biting social commentary as ever—and also some of the gnarliest zombie-on-human action you’ll find this side of hell.
Where to stream: Shudder, Peacock, The Criterion Channel, Tubi, digital rental
Street Trash (1987)
A cult film that feels like it’s maybe meant to be social commentary, but is mostly just a face-melting good time, Street Trash comes from James Cameron protegé J. Michael Muro, and involves a Brooklyn bodega that starts selling some expired booze found in the basement. Not good! Anyone who drinks the outdated hooch melts away in increasingly graphic ways (the “melt film” was a small, but venerable, ’80s horror subgenre). Come for the dissolving humans, stay for the games involving dismembered genitals that make up several scenes throughout the movie.
Where to stream: Tubi, AMC+