Body horror

A woman in zombie makeup

Body horror, or biological horror, is a subgenre of horror fiction that intentionally showcases grotesque or psychologically disturbing violations of the human body or of another creature.[1] These violations may manifest through aberrant sex, mutations, mutilation, zombification, gratuitous violence, disease, or unnatural movements of the body. Body horror was a description originally applied to an emerging subgenre of North American horror films, but has roots in early Gothic literature and has expanded to include other media.[2]

  1. ^ Cruz, R. A. L. (2012). "Mutations and Metamorphoses: Body Horror is Biological Horror". Journal of Popular Film and Television. 40 (4): 160–168. doi:10.1080/01956051.2012.654521. S2CID 194091897.
  2. ^ Halberstam, J. (1995). Skin shows: Gothic horror and the technology of monsters. Duke University Press.