Canadian director Brandon Cronenberg's second feature Possessor is visceral, graphic and exceedingly frightening. It tells the story of a body-spanning hitwoman (Andrea Riseborough) hired by deep-pocketed clients to kill the affluent and arrogant CEO John Parse (Sean Bean).
Surreal, seizure-worthy visual sequences intersperse what feels like a high-adrenaline action/thriller, which is simultaneously disturbing and terrorizing like a horror movie. A good deal of the psychological 'pawing' employed by the film is related to body-horror, with scenes of face-melting, body-morphing and nudity. The musical score enhances Possessor terrifically with eerie yet hypnotic electric noise.
Fans of Cronenberg's mind-bending story will certainly find entertainment in other extreme horror movies whose content may be difficult to watch.
10 V/H/S (2012)
V/H/S is an anthology horror film containing six shorts that grapple with everything from succubi to plastic-masked honeymoon terrorizers. The micro-budget work takes advantage of the first-person camera medium, refraining from spoiling scares with crude special effects.
One of the scariest parts of V/H/S is its frame narrative "Tape 56," telling the story of a gang breaking into a creepy, thought-to-be deserted home, where they uncover the murderous compilation, cohesively tying together all of the shorts. The film had great underground success and has since added two more installations.
9 Inside (2007)
The French horror/slasher Inside is similar to Possessor in that it will torment anyone even slightly squeamish with jarring gore and brutal violence. Alysson Paradis plays an expecting mother and widow terrorized by a maniacal woman who wants her unborn baby.
To make matters worse for Sarah, the attack occurs on Christmas Eve. Her struggle for survival is compellingly suspenseful, and Inside is an absolute bloodbath of a film full of engaging camera work.
8 The Beach House (2019)
Critics applauded this horror/drama's ability to bring the impact of body horror to a whole new level, with its focus on slimy parasitic worms and shelled, alien creatures whose physical features resemble parts of 'human anatomy' that are grossly infected.
While some viewers may find the film's body horror to be revolting, director and writer Jeff Brown deserves credit for his innovative approach to a genre that has seemingly already tried everything. If the graphic nature of Possessor wasn't enough to induce queasiness, give The Beach House a try.
7 Teeth (2007)
Teeth is another body horror that brings audiences Dawn, a high schooler struggling with an extremely rare anatomical condition. She is a member of her school's charity club, but consequences are bloody and irreversible when romance sparks between her and another student.
Director and writer Mitchell Lichenstein's picture is laced with an undertone of dark humor to go along with its torturous, libido-deterring plot. Teeth makes for a unique experience that is as, if not more visceral and unthinkable as Cronenberg's Possessor.
6 V/H/S/2 (2013)
After the success of the original, creator Adam Wingard came back the next year with a new string of directors and an increased budget. The shorts in V/H/S/2 are visually sharper than those of the first. New directors contribute some petrifying stories that stretch all over the supernatural realm, including evil doctors, ghosts, zombies and more.
The anthology film is cohesively crafted like its predecessor. The franchise's favorable aesthetic as a dark, clever collection of first-person shot nightmares didn't translate into a quality third chapter. However, after a horror fan watches the first two films in the series, it may be difficult to ignore V/H/S: Viral.
5 The Lawnmower Man (1992)
The Lawnmower Man is based on a short story by Stephen King but deviated from the original text so much that the author sued New Line Cinema. Despite contrasting with the original story, the movie is a creative sci-fi/horror that uses VR and augmented intelligence to dangerously extend the capabilities of a landscaper who used to have an intellectual disability.
The graphics of Lawnmower Man may not be up to par with the dynamic, alluring look of Possessor. However, horror fans should still enjoy its playfulness and imagination despite its blocky, limited animation.
4 Hour Of The Wolf (1968)
This psychological horror classic from the '60s shares qualities with Possessor through its, at times, erratic cinematography, an unraveled male protagonist and eerie suspense that surpasses typical expectations for the horror genre.
Hour of the Wolf was made by experimental Swedish director Ingmar Bergman, whose work still influences art house cinema to this day. Without modern filmmaking advantages, Bergman's picture — although it may lag slightly behind his more notable works — is still bone-chilling, tapping into deep-rooted sources of fear without being overly graphic and bloody.
3 Enter The Void (2009)
An American drug-dealer living in Tokyo is killed by police. When Oscar (Nathaniel Brown) dies, he adopts a panoptic view of the living world, traveling as a wandering eye over the city. Oscar watches as paramedics arrive at the scene of his death, then he wanders off to find his sister Linda (Paz de la Huerta), who works as a prostitute.
Enter the Void is not what one would think of as horror. Still, the psychedelic drama/fantasy's grave subject matter concerning life, death and the afterlife is intense and affects unease. Its vibrant color and abstractness should be fit for the tastes of Possessor fans.
2 Mulholland Drive (2001)
Mulholland Drive is a mystery/thriller written and directed by David Lynch. Taking place in Los Angeles, it's about a woman who's become amnesiac after a car crash and cannot remember her identity nor the events that led up to the crash. She meets an aspiring actress, and together, the two women journey through a seemingly utopian version of the city to connect the pieces of Rita's puzzle.
A young Naomi Watts stars in the critically-acclaimed thriller, which earned a nominee for Best Director at the Academy Awards. Its cinematography is spectral, experimental, Kubrick-esque while its fractured timeline is reminiscent of Christopher Nolan's Memento.
1 Irreversible (2002)
Before Enter the Void, Argentine filmmaker Gasper Noé made this even more extreme rape-revenge picture, whose graphic, unvarnished footage was almost banned in several countries. The film's unique aesthetic — partially driven by a wretchedly coarse yet enthralling musical score and the camera spinning around wildly — can make a viewer nauseous.
According to IMDb, users think highly of the French drama/mystery despite several sequences that are so severe and unrelenting, Irreversible becomes unwatchable. Nevertheless, its nuanced approach to filmmaking and lack of barriers is comparable with Cronenberg's Possessor.
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