The appeal of horror movies owes quite a lot to the antagonist or the bit of mysterious element that drives the suspense forward. In sub-genres of horror, the nature of this antagonist can change and vary according to the theme, the plot, the setting, and the core reason for the movie’s fear. Mostly in science-fiction, supernatural, and paranormal horror films, these antagonists can adopt the body of a horrifying monster.
Within the range of monsters seen on TV or in movies, their intricate visuals and palatable looks also significantly differ. While some are more intimidating and sometimes even cool to look at, some are too scary to scrutinize in the dark. And some, in line with this article, are depicted in ways that are meant to trigger a repulsive reaction from anyone unfortunate enough to perceive their presence. Here are 10 disgusting horror movie monsters that may result in involuntary flinching or gagging.
9 Possum
Matthew Holness’ 2018 horror film Possum shows a children’s puppeteer named Philip (played by Sean Harris) as he tries to cope with a particular scandal by returning to his childhood home. The large and grotesque puppet he carries with him everywhere, called Possum, signifies a much more ominous and disturbing relationship between Phillip and his troubled past. The titular monster of Possum is, again, not a traditionally described monster.
The creature looks like a deformed spider with unusually long limbs and a swollen head. Its body is covered in matte brown fur that creates an unkempt appearance, and it has a blank stare that only contributes to the unsettling impression it leaves. Because the puppet causes the movie's central element of dread and fear, its disgusting looks become vital to the story's progression.
8 Facehugger
Started by the 1979 film Alien, the Alien anthology is a series of science-fiction horror films revolving around a group of people’s interactions with deadly extraterrestrial beings known as Xenomorph. The Xenomorph are a species that seek to kill and reproduce under any circumstance possible. The key element and parasitic creature that is responsible for the reproduction of the Xenomorph are known as the Facehuggers.
The spider-like creature is a bony exoskeleton with sharp claws, a prehensile tail, a leathery sac, a circular mouth with razor-sharp teeth, and a dripping tube of multiple mashed-up sexual organs. It uses its tail to first wrap itself around the victim’s neck, so they stay in place, then burrows its teeth into the host’s protective membranes and implants the embryo through the leathery sac on its underside. The gruesome process is also reminiscent of sexual assault violence and imagery. Not only is it disgusting, but also incredibly emotionally unsettling.
7 The Human Centipede
The highly unsettling 2009 Dutch horror film The Human Centipede, directed by Tom Six, is another feature that fits straight into the topic of this article. A deranged surgeon called Dr. Heiter has a horrifying mission: to create a “human centipede.” He kidnaps three tourists and surgically joins them together in one of the most visually nauseating ways possible. Though not a traditional monster, the human centipede is nonetheless a disgusting creation.
Consisting of several human beings, the creature is still a single organism with a singular digestive system that directly results from Heither’s graphic sewing of random people. The gruesome sense of the film is mainly derived from the fact that the nature of the creature’s digestive system and the actual creation of it is a collective abuse of human nature and is, unfortunately, not impossible to imagine.
6 Graboids
Also known as Dirt Dragon or Tu Lung, The Graboid is the main antagonist of the Tremors franchise. The first installation, the 1990 American western horror film by Ron Underwood, is set in Nevada’s secluded town of Perfection and portrays a group of friends and town residents that are all attacked by gigantic worms or larvae with bodies resembling serpents called “graboids”.
Anatomically, the graboid is depicted as a tube encased by thick tissue and muscle, with an earthy brown skin color that helps blend in with its surroundings. The tentacles, almost reaching ten feet, are generally kept in the Graboid’s throat and used to indiscriminately hunt and ear sheep, cattle, horses, coyotes, and humans by grabbing and sucking them down the monster’s gullet. These cannibalistic creatures have evolved into different forms throughout the franchise, and although they may differ in function or appearance, their disgusting looks remain the same.
5 Brundlefly
In David Cronenberg’s 1986 science-fiction horror film The Fly, the scientist Seth Brundle (Jeff Goldblum) works to try and create a teleportation device. However, the experiment results in an accidental merging of Brundle’s DNA with a housefly. The brilliant scientist thus falls victim to a terrifying transformation and becomes the movie's main antagonist. As his violent actions increase, the more unpredictable he gets. The creature Brundle becomes, known as the Brundlefly, is a giant hunched-over humanoid with human-like eyes but no visible mouth.
The antennae placed between the eyes, the awkward left hand with embryonic-looking fingers, and the right hand that is an insectoid claw; all signify the remnants of someone who was once human. Every bit of the Brundlefly is proof of the gruesome transformation, and the corrosive vomiting and wall climbing only add to its disturbance.
4 Shape-Shifting Alien
John Carpenter’s The Thing is a 1982 science-fiction horror with an alien creature that is never ultimately revealed in its true nature or full name. Set in Antarctica, in a secluded research center, a group of scientists discovers a snow-buried alien spacecraft with remnants of an extraterrestrial being nearby. While trying to draw the creature out and study what it is, the scientists accidentally release a parasitic alien life form that shape-shifts and imitates the organisms it contacts.
Because the creature is depicted through the beings it assimilates, its exact form is never revealed. However, the manner in which it shape-shifts provides enough visuals to be included in this list. It is grotesquely seen as multiple-headed dogs and spider legs on a human torso. The melding of its skin with the organism it is assaulting triggers visuals that are pretty hard to look at.
3 The Ripley
Based on the same name novel by Stephen King, Dreamcatcher is a 2003 science-fiction horror film directed by Lawrence Kasdan, that tells the story of four childhood friends that discover they are connected to each other through telepathic communication while on a hunting trip in the woods of Maine. However, a deadly and sinister invasion of parasitic aliens is also at work to threaten their lives, as well as the world.
In the movie, The Ripley are the parasitoid alien macro virus that adopts different appearances according to their age. While adult ones look like serpent-esque beings, the younger ones are legless and created in a host organism’s stomach. Both adult and young versions have sharp, pointed teeth with a mouth slit that goes down their length, are covered in slimy mottled brown and green skin, and have glow-in-the-dark eyes.
2 The Sarah Creature
The 2016 horror The Void, directed by Steven Kostanski and Jeremy Gillespie, follows a mysterious cult ritual and a small-town sheriff that accidentally gets involved in their bone-chilling supernatural events. When a group of people gets trapped in a hospital, the ominous cultists and weird creatures are the ones to blame. One of the main plot points of the film focuses on Sarah Creature—a mutated and twisted monster with elongated limbs and claws that are razor-sharp, who was once a human. It is depicted in a truly violent and surreal form.
Sarah Creature’s body is contorted with veiny, pale, and scaly textured skin. Its pulsating veins and gaping maw emphasize the misshapen quality of its head, and the sunken black eyes elevate the otherworldly essence it radiates.
1 Dr. East’s Cockroach
Adapted from a Japanese manga and directed by Screaming Mad George and Steve Wang, The Guyver is a story about a young man, Sean Barker, discovering extraterrestrial artifacts that transform into a human-alien hybrid soldier named “The Guyver”. One of the scientists who willingly studied the artifacts includes Dr. East, played by Mark Hamill. Throughout his ambitious work of trying to gain control over the Guyver Unit, he becomes infected by a Zoanoid virus and starts a disgusting transformation from a human to a monstrous cockroach creature.
As a result, Dr. East’s body becomes covered in chitinous plates with stretched-out limbs and, overall, a more insect-like appearance. Even his mouth becomes an insectoid proboscis, and his eyes get increasingly enlarged to the point of becoming too awkward to look at. Being the movie's main antagonist, Dr. East’s cockroach version is a vital monster for the plot with its dangerous nature and uneasy looks.
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