This week, many of you will be gathering with friends and/or family to eat good food, share thanks, and argue with grandpa about politics. But for the sickos amongst us-myself included-Thanksgiving is also a time where we test the mettle of our stomachs with a good old fashioned disgusting movie. I’m talking nasty, gooey, gut-churning cinema that’ll have you reaching for the barf bag.
Below, you’ll find six streaming films that I think do just that. Of course, different things disgust different people, so what some may find tame, others will find revolting. I tried to avoid most of the films you’ll find on every other nauseating horror list-with a couple exceptions-so don’t expect to see titles like The Fly or Salò.
Whether you want to ruin Thanksgiving dinner or challenge what your stomach can handle, here are six titles you’ll want to consider for a vile feast.
Cannibal Mukbang (dir. Aimee Kuge)
I’ve been watching horror films since I was three years old (no, seriously). After decades of desensitizing myself, not much bothers me. Except for cannibalism. If the only way I could survive Hannibal Lecter was by eating a man’s liver with some fava beans and a nice chianti, I’d ask him to just finish me off then. Writer/director Aimee Kuge’s debut feature concerns a cannibalistic serial killer who falls in love with a man and decides to introduce him to her special hobby. From there, the film explores their relationship through love, food and bloody murder. Though it isn’t quite as gross as more infamous cannibal titles such as Cannibal Holocaust, there’s still plenty here to get the stomach churning.
Streaming on: Prime Video
The Human Centipede 2: Full Sequence (dir. Tom Six)
Listen, I’m not a fan of the Human Centipede films, but it would be malpractice of me not to include one of them here. If you came to this list looking for something truly vile, offensive, and straight-up nauseating, then The Human Centipede 2 (Full Sequence) has you covered. Tom Six’s sequel to his film about a mad doctor that stitches a chain of victims together ass-to-mouth opts for a meta-approach. In it, a quiet parking garage attendee takes inspiration from The Human Centipede to make his own. What follows is ninety minutes of grotesque cinema filled with gore, gas and the devouring of human shit. My one polite comment is that it delivers on exactly what it promises. And if you happen to watch it out of curiosity, you’ll find yourself thankful that Six at least chose to mercifully shoot the film in black and white.
Streaming on: Shudder
Feast (dir. John Gulager)
John Gulager’s Feast is a monster movie for us sickos. Written by Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan (The Collector, Saw V-VII), the film takes place at a middle of nowhere bar in the desert. There, the patrons find themselves swarmed by a horde of hungry (and horny) monsters. Shot with a high-octane energy and loads of meta humor, it’s a bloody as hell creature feature where no taboo is off the table. Yet what makes Feast truly disgusting are its vile monsters. These things barf acidic goo on victims. Tear patrons from limb to limb in a flash. And have a propensity for humping anything and everything (yes, you’ll see monster dong). Fun Fact: Feast was developed through Matt Damon and Ben Affleck’s Project Greenlight!
Streaming on: Prime Video
Hellbound: Hellraiser II (dir. Tony Randel)
When Clive Barker’s Hellraiser first got its hooks in audiences back in 1987, it left audiences reeling from its graphic depictions of gore and extreme use of body modification. Not to mention all the hooks piercing flesh. Tony Randel’s Hellbound: Hellraiser II looked at the first film and said, hold my bloody beer. In every conceivable way, Hellbound ups the ante (as any proper sequel should). It’s more grotesque; more frightening; more seriously fucked up. But I’m including it on this list for one moment in particular. In it, Julia (Clare Higgins) rises from the dead through a mattress after a disturbed mental patient who believes maggots are crawling out of his flesh begins cutting at them with a razor blade. The scene combines squirmy bugs and the horrific tearing of flesh for what I think of as the most cringe-inducing scene in the entire franchise.
Streaming on: Prime Video
The Ugly Stepsister (dir. Emilie Blichfeldt)
Writer/director Emilie Blickfeldt’s twist on the classic Cinderella story places audiences in the shoes of “ugly” stepsister, Elvira (Lea Myren). Existing in a patriarchy where beauty reigns, the young woman finds herself willing to make any sacrifice necessary to become beautiful. Unfortunately for Elvira and viewers, those sacrifices involve grisly solutions to problems such as not being able to fit a shoe on. Yet the real stomach-churner of The Ugly Stepsister comes in the form of a tapeworm that the vanity obsessed protagonist willingly swallows in an effort to stay thin. You can probably guess where that goes in a film where the journey to beauty is anything but pretty.
Streaming on: Shudder
Street Trash (dir. J. Michael Muro
While I wanted to avoid some films that you’ll find on any “gross” horror list, one I felt necessary to include here is Street Trash. The title says it all. J. Michael Muro’s one and only feature about a liquor store that sells flesh-melting booze to homeless people plays out exactly as, well, trashy as you’d expect. Characters melt into fleshy puddles of oranges, greens and blues. Fist fights end in the victor vomiting on his opponent. There’s even an extended sequence of catch with a severed penis. I’m not a big fan of Muro’s depiction of the homeless or some of the more unsavory elements of the film, but as far as disgusting, melting bodies go, Street Trash remains at the top of the gooey pile.
Streaming on: Shudder
What are some horror films that gross you out? Let us know in the comments below.
Happy holidays!
Categorized: Editorials