Blood, sweat and fears

Body horror is a movie genre that invites us to look at the parts of ourselves that unsettle us most, and confront our contradictions and terrors. Do you see yourself in any of these?

- Sukanya Datta

The human body is a grotesque battlefield, or at least that's one way to look at it.

In movies, the confounding vulnerability and powerlessness of being trapped in an aging, occasionally embarrassing, often-unpredictable sack of flesh, is reflected in the genre known as body horror.

Build the story around a female protagonist, and new seams open up: the scrutiny that attaches to being a woman; the wild quests to ward off the realities (and social consequences) of aging.

How do we navigate the experience of inhabiting a self that is susceptible to harm and transformation, and isn't just a personal entity but also a social and political one?

In the movies, the strain causes bodies to literally burst with rage, confusion, repressed desire.

Early examples include The British film The Quatermass Xperiment (1955; about three astronauts in a rocket, one of whom mutates into an alien-like organism) and David Cronenberg's The Fly (1986; a man and a fly merge in a teleportation machine).

In recent years, explosive new tales have emerged from France, Malaysia and South Korea. Take a look.