by Victoria Potenza, Staff Writer

With the upcoming release of Smile, we will get another entry into one of my favorite horror subgenres, medical horror. One of the aspects of medical horror I love is how many different genres it can cross with, as well as the various topics it can cover. Medical horror can also meld with sci-fi, body horror, thrillers, psychological horror. And we see everything from mad scientists, to zombielike contamination, to plastic surgery, to diseases, and the realm of mental health. It can be incredibly fantastical and look at the future of medical care and the new territory science can pursue as well as something more realistic and terrifying. As humans who deal with a variety of bodily issues and deal with medical issues in varying degrees I think this can also be one of the more terrifying subgenres. 

It also means that this was a very hard list to narrow down, there is so much ground to cover when it comes to Medical horror so I tried to break it down into a few different categories. But since I hate making choices I also created a Companion Letterboxd List that you can reference if you are looking for other suggestions based on my medical horror watches. I also think there is plenty of room for debate as to what actually constitutes itself as medical horror so I am looking forward to what other medical horror films people love.  This has a smattering of a variety of types of horror although an area that can be particularly hard is mental health and psychiatric care, especially since this can be incredibly exploitative, triggering, and can spread  misconceptions about mental illness. Keeping all this in mind here are some of the films that I think cover a lot of ground when beginning your journey into medical horror. 

Medical School 

Congratulations on beginning your journey into medical school! Here are a few suggestions of some classical medical horror films that are great for those eager to learn about what this subgenre has to offer. 

Frankenstein (dir. James Whale, 1931)

Starting off with a classic is always a good way to go, and considering this is one of the great sci-fi/medical horror novels and an entertaining film adaptation, it’s hard to go wrong. The classic story of Doctor Frankenstein and his obsessive desire to reanimate a corpse and prove that life can continue on after death, is the quintessential mad scientist film. There have been countless adaptations (Frankenhooker is a cult favorite of mine) and satirical films (Young Frankenstein is another one for the comedy/horror fan) proving that it stands the test of time, much like the monster himself. With Boris Karloff’s empathetic performance and Colin Clive bringing Frankenstein’s madness to the screen it is a perfect starting point for those interested in this brand of medical horror. The pursuit of extending human life is always in the backdrop of medical horror and this brings it front and center. It also brings into question the ethics and philosophical conversations around bringing life into the world and the ways in which we inevitably mess up our children. 

Eyes Without a Face (dir. Georges Franju, 1960)

I love this as a beginner film because it is part mad scientist story and part early plastic surgery which becomes a major focus of many medical horror films (American Mary, The Skin I Live In, Helter Skelter). For those not familiar with this French cinema classic, a surgeon goes to incredible lengths to get a new face for his daughter after he causes an accident that leaves her disfigured). Disfigurement is such a huge aspect of many classic horror films, for better or worse, as it is a way to “other” and turn humans into “monsters”. There is another aspect of this film that sticks with me, which is the focus on how changes to the face can change our identity. The effects of trauma, especially that on the face, is a fascinating visual way to delve into human consciousness and the questions of what makes us, us? Films like Seconds and Face of Another similarly deal with these philosophical aspects of medical horror and have been a consistent source of inspiration for filmmakers. But Eyes Without a Face is one of the best places to begin with these cross sections of medical horror. 

The Brood (dir. David Cronenberg, 1979)

Cronenberg is the king of body horror, but his work also frequently melds with medical horror (Dead Ringers, The Fly, Rabid, Crimes of the Future). So he is the perfect director for beginners, but I suggested The Brood for various reasons.

First, this film focuses on the ways that trauma, anger, and mental illness could manifest physically in our body. While there are no cases of real life rage babies being born, we do know that there are a lot of ways in which things like stress physically manifest in the body.

The Brood also focuses on an interesting part of social history, deinstitutionalization. Shortly after the invention of antipsychotics in the 1950s mental health institutions began closing, meaning large groups of people were displaced with nowhere to go and a variety of issues still untreated. We see this happen on a small scale in the film when Dr. Raglan (Oliver Reed) closes his facility to focus on his star patient, Nola (Samantha Eggers) who’s rage has birthed children to enact violence on those who have harmed her. It also deals with problematic mental health care (especially in regards to women, a focus point in my graduate studies) and the distrust of psychiatry that came from it. This movie has its issues especially in regards to misogyny, but considering it was written in response to a real life traumatic moment in Cronenberg’s life, it is not the most objective in its portrayal of Nola. However, for those interested in medical and mental health horror this is a good place to start the journey. You can find more thoughts and musings in my Cronenberg on Sex and Gender entry.

Hospital Residency 

You’ve graduated medical school, what a feat! Now it is time to begin your residency and really get your hands dirty. 

Re-Animator (dir. Stuart Gordon, 1985) 

Re-Animator is clearly one of the stories that was inspired by Mary Shelly’s novel Frankenstein. That being said, this is much bloodier and crazier than some of the classic films we discussed in “medical school” . It also is part of the cross section of medical horror and body horror, as well as horror comedies. The body is weird and sometimes gross, so we should laugh at it, and Stuart Gordon is great for that. Jeffrey Combs plays Doctor Herbert West, whose work focuses on reanimating the dead with a serum he is constantly working on.  Havoc ensues as various humans, pets, and decapitated heads are brought back from the dead and exhibit zombie-like tendencies towards violence. It is funny, thoroughly strange, and offers various memorable performances from some of our horror greats. While it is less philosophical than some of the films on the list, it is a great next step in all that this subgenre can offer. 

Excision (dir. Richard Bates Jr., 2012)

This is a unique entry into medical horror, as the focus is on a disturbed high school student who is obsessed with becoming a surgeon. As her own body changes and she experiences various sexual urges that often meld with her fascination of surgery we get to see the potential darkside of those who are actually drawn to the medical field. AnnaLynne McCord gives an incredible performance as the lead of the film, Pauline. While the film itself is dark and deals with the conflicting expectations of family, religion, science, and teenagers, it also has a fascinating sense of humor in regards to the human body. Its focus on a young girl is also a stark contrast to the other films typically included in the genre, and the male-dominated field in real life. There are several fantasy sequences that are forever burned in my brain and are some of the first ones I think about when I think of medical horror. Blood, surgery, sex, and a character study of a disturbed mind, this deals with a variety of medical focuses.

Swallow (dir. Carlo Mirabella-Davis, 2019) 

So we have seen how varying the subgenre can be, but we have not yet honed in on a film that depicts a particular medical issue. Swallow is a recent release that focuses on a pregnant housewife Hunter (Haley Bennett) that develops the dangerous disorder Pica, in which she ingests dangerous household objects. While watching someone swallow various objects like pins and batteries is hard to see, it is grounded in the reality of a real disorder. This becomes a case study of Hunter. What would cause someone who, by societal standards, “has it all” to engage in such a dangerous habit?

While the film is about Hunter and Pica it is also about gaslighting, emotional abuse, and relies on the history of women having little autonomy over their body. The film echoes much of the true history of women who are controlled and meant to simply obey and make babies. Director Carlo Mirabella-Davis, said that he created the film based on his grandmother’s life, a housewife who was forced into mental health treatments because she was not acting like “a housewife should”. This is an important entry into medical horror not only because of the depiction of medical disorders, but because it highlights the ways women have interacted with medical treatment and how hard it is for them to be listened to. 

Bonus: Choosing a Specialization 

Okay so I don’t have any first hand experience in the field but I assume this is the next step in becoming a doctor with a specialty? Anyways, here are some bonus viewings for those interested in just how strange medical horror can get. 

Antiviral (dir. Brandon Cronenberg, 2012)

For those that did not know that David Cronenberg’s son is also a director, who also has a focus on medical and body horror, well you are in for a treat. Antiviral imagines the not too distant future where companies can bottle celebrity diseases so that way their fans can purchase and be exposed to the diseases of their favorite idols. Part sci-fi, part dystopia, this is an interesting musing on what our celebrity obsessed culture could look like. Brandon Cronenberg has a knack for showing how late-stage capitalism can further exploit us through various means, including paying to get sick. In a pre-COVID world this was disturbing but the past few years have only amplified many of the themes of this movie. 

Hypochondriac (dir. Addison Heimann, 2022)

Hypochondriac came out this year and is easily one of the most interesting new horror films I have seen. Similar to other films on the list it deals with various themes of medical care, psychiatry, trauma, and disorders. This follows a gay potter who is working on building a life with his new boyfriend. However, he hears from his mother who almost killed him when he was a child due to her own struggles with mental illness. This triggers him to the point where he begins to worry he might be going down the same dangerous path his mother did. I included this because I feel that it is one of the films working towards improving how horror can portray mental illness, and doing so for the better of the genre. Its character study of Will (Zach Villa) is terrifying, sad, and at times funny and drug induced. It shows how complicated wading into the waters of proper medical care can be. 

So you’ve done it, you completed your medical horror studies. While I can’t offer you a job or any money after taking this journey I can offer you a variety of additional study materials with the medical horror  Companion Letterboxd List. Go forth medical horror doctors and explore what else the genre has to offer.