DC Studios head honcho James Gunn is getting into the Halloween spirit with a list of body horror favorites, giving fans a gruesome movie marathon to tackle ahead of DC Studios’ upcoming body horror flick, Clayface.
Gunn took to Threads to share 12 classic body horror films that have stayed close to his heart for years. Among the selections are several genre-defining works from David Cronenberg, John Carpenter, and Guillermo del Toro.
“As many of you know I love a list and here’s one I just posted on Threads in preparation for #Clayface,” Gunn wrote. “Not all of these are classically great movies (although many of them are), but they’re all movies I’ve had a profound love for many years.”
Gunn knows a thing or two about grotesque horror. Before becoming a major Hollywood filmmaker with Guardians of the Galaxy and The Suicide Squad, he got his start working with Lloyd Kaufman at Troma Entertainment. The independent studio built its reputation on outrageous gore, gross-out comedy, and deliberately over-the-top horror, producing cult favorites such as The Toxic Avenger, Class of Nuke ’Em High, and Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead. All top-notch schlock for sure.
Gunn wrote Tromeo and Juliet (1996) and co-authored All I Need to Know About Filmmaking I Learned from The Toxic Avenger with Kaufman. His Troma roots make his appreciation for body horror especially fitting, given the genre’s love of grotesque transformations, practical effects, and monsters that push the human body to its limits.
With Clayface bringing one of Batman’s most unsettling adversaries to the big screen, Gunn’s recommendations offer a glimpse into the kind of horror that has influenced his filmmaking. The character’s ability to reshape his own body makes body horror a natural fit and with the details around how Matt Hagan becomes the villain known as Clayface being pretty dark and gruesome, we had to see what Gunn’s choices were.
James Gunn’s 12 Body Horror Picks
- ** Shivers (1975)** — David Cronenberg
- ** Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)** — Philip Kaufman
- ** The Brood (1979)** — David Cronenberg
- ** Altered States (1980)** — Ken Russell
- ** The Thing (1982)** — John Carpenter
- ** Basket Case (1982)** — Frank Henenlotter
- ** Videodrome (1983)** — David Cronenberg
- ** Re-Animator (1985)** — Stuart Gordon
- ** The Fly (1986)** — David Cronenberg
- ** The Blob (1988)** — Chuck Russell
- ** Cronos (1993)** — Guillermo del Toro
- ** Slither (2006)** — James Gunn
Cronenberg dominates the list with four films, including The Fly, his unforgettable tale of a scientist whose experiment leads to a horrifying physical transformation. Carpenter’s The Thing delivers some of cinema’s most disturbing creature effects, while Re-Animator and Basket Case represent the outrageous practical gore that made cult horror so memorable.
Gunn also includes his own Slither, a slimy alien-invasion horror comedy packed with parasites, mutations, and dark humor. It fits comfortably alongside the classics that helped shape his love for the genre.
For horror fans preparing for Clayface, Gunn’s list is a reminder of just how disturbing cinema can get when the human body becomes the monster. Given his history with Troma and his longstanding affection for the genre, he certainly knows where to start.
