The Body Horror of It All!

The Substance and now Together are part of a long tradition of gross-out cinema

- KAT PETTIBONE

Body horror didn't even have a name when it first gained popularity in the 1970s and '80s. The gross-out genre never disappeared — Superman director James Gunn debuted with 2006's Slither! — but it's recently surged with gooier, gnarlier and more elevated titles. Grotesque transformations, mutations and contortions are now used to comment on things like beauty, love, obsession and identity. It's about what's festering beneath the surface. If you can stomach it, sample these current and classic films.