Film
Excision
- Horror
- Very dark
- Strange
A fever dream of a film about a disturbed teenage girl obsessed with surgery and medicine, wrapped in body horror and black comedy. It's visually arresting and deeply uncomfortable—sometimes brilliantly, sometimes just uncomfortable. For viewers who want cinema that doesn't flinch and aren't looking for easy answers.
Should you watch it?
Watch it if you like your coming-of-age stories jagged and darkly funny, with a heroine whose oddness is the point and a willingness to make you squirm.
Skip it if you need a plot that moves forward; this is more a run of fixations and provocations than a story, and squeamish viewers will struggle with its surgical imagery.
What it asks of you: Under ninety minutes, it lurches in brisk, lurid bursts between bleak suburban comedy and sudden shocks, and expects you to stay with its tone when it turns uncomfortable.
Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.
If you liked this
Heathers1989
A caustic teen dark comedy that balances horror and humour without ever softening its edge. Winona Ryder's Veronica is an outsider with a twisted worldview, trapped in a high school nightmare that demands you laugh at the darkest moments.
But The satirical tone can feel dated, and the shift from comedy to genuine tragedy might feel tonal rather than earned depending on your mood.

Carrie1976
The definitive teenage outcast horror film. De Palma's direction transforms a girl's rage and isolation into something mythic and visual. It's opera, but grounded in the real humiliation of being young and powerless.
But If you've absorbed it through culture already, watching the actual film can feel less shocking than its reputation suggests.

Raw2017
A body horror film about a vegetarian girl who discovers her appetite for meat, told as a coming-of-age story. Visually stunning, deeply discomforting, and genuinely interested in how the body betrays the mind during adolescence.
But The gore is relentless and the pacing is slow. If either of those things bores or repels you, this won't convince you otherwise.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Excision
The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
Xtro1982
Both use body horror and sexual transgression as the language through which a fundamentally alienated character experiences the world. Both are more interested in nightmare logic than narrative sense.
A bonkers British sci-fi horror film in which an alien impregnates a man, who then gives birth, and the resulting creature is raised as a son. It's visually bizarre, deeply unhinged, and genuinely interested in psychosexual horror as body transformation rather than psychology.
But It's a 1982 creature feature with dated special effects and a rambling structure that defies plot logic. It's fascinating precisely because it doesn't cohere, which means it's often tedious.

More like this (7)
Ginger Snaps2000
A werewolf film that's really about female adolescence and rage. It gets the specific sting of being an outsider girl and uses genre as a perfect vessel for that particular kind of alienation and body horror.
But It's a low-budget Canadian film from 2000, which shows. If you need slick production values, you'll be fighting the movie the whole time.

The Babadook2014
Australian horror that uses body horror and supernatural dread to explore a mother's unwanted thoughts. Gorgeous black-and-white cinematography and a willingness to sit with psychological discomfort rather than rush to resolution.
But It's slow and abstract. There's no cathartic final act—just the difficult work of living alongside the thing that haunts you.

Teeth2008
A girl discovers she has teeth in an unexpected place—a horror-comedy about bodily autonomy and male violence that doesn't let you settle into either register. Sharp, angry, and genuinely funny about something genuinely dark.
But The premise is deliberately provocative and the sexual violence, even played for dark comedy, might feel exploitative rather than cathartic depending on your tolerance.

Trouble Every Day2001
Claire Denis' film about a newlywed who discovers his bride has violent, cannibalistic urges. Slow-burn, sensual horror that treats its disturbed protagonist with more curiosity than judgment. Genuinely unsettling.
But It's glacially paced French art horror. If you need plot momentum or clear narrative progression, this will test your patience severely.

May2003
A lonely, bullied girl makes a doll from the body parts she admires in others. It's a grotesque love story masquerading as a slasher, deeply sympathetic to its monster while refusing to excuse her actions.
But It's often described as quirky horror, but the body horror is frequent and graphic. The tonal whiplash from dark comedy to gore-soaked tragedy won't work for everyone.

Starry Eyes2014
A struggling actress in LA makes a dark bargain for success, told as both body horror and a meditation on ambition, sex, and industry predation. Visually inventive and genuinely angry about who pays the price for success.
But It's a slow-building indie that only really finds its rhythm in the final act. The middle section drags considerably and the character isn't always likeable.

Neon Flesh2010
Both films use physical deformation and bodily transgression as the only honest language for psychological states that language itself cannot contain. Both are visions rather than arguments.
A Brazilian body-horror film about a prostitute whose body mutates in response to her trauma. Dreamlike, deeply strange, and genuinely visual rather than narrative. It treats mutation as a response to unbearable reality.
But It's in Portuguese, openly arthouse, and will frustrate anyone looking for conventional plot or character development. It's difficult and demands active interpretation.

People
Cast
AnnaLynne McCordPauline
Traci LordsPhyllis
Ariel WinterGrace
Roger BartBob
Jeremy SumpterAdam
John WatersWilliam
Malcolm McDowellMr. Cooper
Marlee MatlinAmber
Matthew Gray GublerMr. Claybaugh
Ray WisePrincipal Campbell
Molly McCookNatalie
Natalie DreyfussAbigail
Directing
- Richard Bates Jr.Director
- James CooneyFirst Assistant Director
- Yaron KaverFirst Assistant Director
- Shawn MatlockScript Supervisor
Writing
- Richard Bates Jr.Writer
Production
- Traci LordsAssociate Producer
- Carmen AielloCasting
- Matt ZambettiCo-Producer
- Ross OttermanCo-Producer
- Sloan HarrisCo-Producer
- Frank R. GardnerLine Producer
- Dylan Hale LewisProducer
- Sam KimProduction Manager
- Yaron KaverProduction Supervisor