02x03 - Body Horror

[bunniefuu]

[tense music]

male narrator: What's the most
disturbing genre in movies?

[shrieking]

[metal and teeth scraping]

♪♪

For many,
the answer is body horror.

♪♪

[screams]

Sort of queasy to think

we're walking packages
of flesh

just waiting for a virus
to corrupt us.

[screaming]

When the body is the host
of something from within,

how horrifying is that?

[growling and screaming]

All these deep,
repressed things that people

don't wanna think about,
and what if they all came out?

♪♪

[whimpering]

We'll tear your soul apart.

Oh,
"Hellraiser""s incredible.

[bestial snarl]

It's sort
of wonderfully delicious.

[dramatic musical sting]

It is all about the terror
of being alive,

and the terror
of having a body,

and the terror
of other people,

and the terror of the naturl

and supernatural world.

♪♪

I am a human being!

[monkey snarls]

That is at the core
of body horror...

what makes the human being
a human being?

[screams]

Is it this
or is it something else?

♪♪

[expl*si*n]
- [screaming]

[eerie music]

♪♪

[screams]

narrator: We all have bodies.

Some are young and strong.

[artery hisses]

Others are crumbling prisons.

It doesn't take much to go
from one state to the other.

♪♪

A little time...

[groans]

narrator:
Disease...

[screams]

narrator:
And misfortune...

[screaming]
[boiling water hissing]

narrator: And you could be
living body horror.

[moaning growl]

narrator: But for some people,
there is a special thrill

in exploring the terrors
of the flesh

and the extremes of sensation.

People like Clive Barker,

writer-director
of the ground-breaking

psychosexual horror classic,

"Hellraiser."

[eerie dissonance]

We have such sights

to show you.

[gasps]

narrator:
"Hellraiser" begins

as thrill-seeking bad boy
Frank opens up a portal

to a dimension
o pleasure and pain.

[eerie dramatic music]

♪♪

After Frank's apparent death,

his brother Larry,
edgy second wife Julia,

and Larry's daughter Kirsty
move into the family home.

♪♪

But bits of Frank
are still in the floorboards.

A dash of blood gives him
a way

to escape the hell dimension.

[dramatic music]

♪♪

One of the things I love
about that film,

the transformation
from nothingness

to this man forming.

♪♪

Little by little, you start
to see more of the body,

and initially
it's some really wonderful

sort of puppetry work.

And then it turns
into a real actor

with this sort of
sinewy, bloody muscles.

[yelps]

♪♪

[yelps]

- Julia?
- [gasps]

narrator: Frank's return
reanimates

his secret affair with Julia.

You'll do it?

Yes.

I will.

narrator: She begins
luring men into the attic...

[grunts]
[bone crunches]

narrator:
To feed Frank their flesh.

[dark music]

The wonderful thing about
"Hellraiser" is that in fact,

though it's a horror film,

it's really
a very sick love story.

Julia is so in love

with Frank,
but she can't leave him.

We know what that's like.

You get in a relationship
with someone,

you know it's unhealthy,
but you just can't get out.

You won't leave.

[blow lands]
She is so addicted

to this diseased love affair

that she would be willing
to go out and k*ll people

to help bring him back
to life.

I'm going to live and
you're going to help me, yes?

Yes.

♪♪

narrator: In the ultimate case
of identity theft,

Frank kills his brother
and puts on his skin.

[dramatic musical sting]

But his plans are disrupted

by his resourceful
young niece.

Give me that.

♪♪

I think Kirsty
is a very normal girl

and doesn't expect that
the trajectory of her life

will end up having
to negotiate

with demons from hell

for her own soul.
[chuckles]

narrator: Kirsty
opens Frank's puzzle box...

[box zaps]

Accidentally summoning

Hellraiser's breakout stars,

the Cenobites,

transdimensional lords
of pleasure and pain.

They are
the perfect combination

of carnal
and something otherworldly

that is literally stitched
together.

♪♪

[teeth chattering]

There's a great image
from "Hellraiser"

that it's always just stuck
with me,

which is the Chatterer,

and he's sticking his fingers
down Kirsty's throat.

[screams]

And that, to me,
just sums up "Hellraiser."

It's invasive.
It just pushes the limits.

[yelping]

narrator: "Hellraiser""s
sadomasochistic imagery

was highly unusual
for its time.

The unique look
of the Cenobites,

tight, black leather and
extreme body modifications,

was inspired
by the S&M culture.

Clive Barker took
their darkly erotic style

into the mainstream.

Clive Barker is
kind of the master

of sexuality in horror.

[dissonant notes]

Clive is, quite famously, g,
and, you know,

a lot of his material comes
from that perspective,

but it's not abut
a sexual preference,

it's about gender issues,

it's about the thr*at of what
one's gender represents.

[dramatic music]

He's showing us
parts of ourselves

that we didn't even know
existed,

and because he doesn't make
moral judgement,

everything is fair game.

[tense music]

narrator: With the help
of the Cenobites,

Kirsty has her bloody revenge
on Frank.

[screams]

The Cenobites are impartial.

I don't think Clive wrote them
as bad or evil.

They give people
what they ask for.

- [whimpering]
- Explorers

in the further regions
of experience,

demons to some,

angels to others.

So in "Hellraiser,"

what is the monster?
What is the menace?

I think that the menace
is really obsession,

you know,
much more than the demons.

♪♪

You go with the demons

when you can't rise
above your own obsessions,

your own fixation
on the puzzle box,

when you've turned away
from your life

and into
that unhealthy fixation.

[rasping] Not leaving us
so soon, are you?

[hook screeching]

narrator:
Clive Barker blazed the trail

for sexually transgressive
monsters.

[women screaming]

But when it comes
to body horror...

[guttural sputtering]

One name stands
above them all:

[screams]

narrator:
Cronenberg.

[bone snaps]
- [screams]

[dramatic music]

[breathing heavily, snarlin]

[tense music]

narrator: Say the words
"body horror" and odds are

you'll immediately think
of a film

by David Cronenberg.

[yelling, screaming]

[pulsating music]

[screams]

narrator: The films
Cronenberg made in Canada

in the s and ' s probed
our deepest anxieties

about the fagility
of human bodies

and human minds.

[glass shatters]

[water splashing]

[tense music]
- [gasps]

narrator: Cronenberg
was never solely out to shock.

[gasping]

narrator: His early films

were pointed commentaris
on society,

never sharper than
in his film, "Videodrome."

[gasps]
[static hisses]

You wanna try a few things?

narrator: James Woods
and Debbie Harry

play Max and Nicki,
amoral hedonists

who become victims
of their dark desires.

♪♪

The plot of "Videodrome,"
a TV station programmer

wants something
with a little more pizazz

and finds this bizarre show
that shows t*rture.

[eerie music]

There's no plot.

It just goes on like tht
for an hour.

t*rture, m*rder, mutilation.

- For perverts only.
- It's absolutely brilliant.

I mean, look, there's almost
no production cost.

You can't take
your eyes off it.

It's incredibly realistic.

Where do they get actors
that can do this?

[dramatic musical sting]

He's fascinated with it

and he starts trying
to track it down.

Where are these videotapes
coming from?

[ominous music]

narrator: Max learns
that "Videodrome" tapes

contain a hidden signal
that triggers

vivid hallucinations.

♪♪

It's all part
of a right-wing conspiracy

to clamp down on lax morality.

Please.

You're getting fed
this message

through watching videos
that are broadcast

from a secret place
somewhere on Earth.

m*rder.

[whimpering]
[static buzzing]

We've all kind of
have a thing

of watching something tha-

that we probably
shouldn't be watching,

and we're kind of tantalized
by it in some way,

but we don't know why, or...
we shouldn't be watching this.

[screaming]
[flail snapping]

- God, I can't believe it.
- I'll turn it off.

No, no, no, it's okay.
I can take it.

[ominous notes]

It definitely starts
a disintegration of the mind

as well as the body.

♪♪

The TV starts, like,
reaching into him,

and he's got a...
I mean, let's call it.

It's a chest vag*na.

♪♪

The videotape goes into him

or it goes into the TV...
there's a lot of both.

Oh, my God!
[gasps]

It all feels very personal,
you know?

James Woods pulling the g*n,

that image of him just pulling
the g*n out of his stomach.

♪♪

[g*nf*re and screaming]

Yes, you sh**t flesh pellets
from a flesh g*n

that's attached to the end
of your arm,

but is that really happening

or is that because
of what you've been fed

through watching television?

Death to "Videodrome"!
Long live the new flesh!

[feedback screeches]

[tense music]

♪♪

What are you waiting for,
lover?

It's got all these crazy
metaphors in it about, like,

intimacy,
and sexual weirdness,

and exposing that part
of yourself to other people,

and also how you're influenced
by the media

and, like,
what have you decided

and what has the media decided
for you,

which I still think is stuff
that's if not as relevant,

more relevant now.

Long live the new flesh.

[expl*si*n]

My films tend to be
very body-conscious,

and the body, and what is,
and what it does,

and what it can do tends to be
very central in my films.

To a certain extent,

it's your own body
that's the monster.

[tense musical sting]

He had lost his mother
to cancer

and was experienced

with seeing the decline
of the human body from within,

a revolt from within,

and so much of his work
is about a body in revolt,

and changing,
and turning septic,

and almost evil.

[ominous music]

narrator: Cronenberg's
first American studio film

was his acclaimed remake
of "The Fly."

[dissonant music]

I'm working on something
that'll change the world

and human life as we know it.

narrator: Seth Brundle,

memorably played
by Jeff Goldblum,

has invented
a teleportation device.

Unfortunately,
when Seth tests it out,

his genetic pattern mixes
with the DNA of a housefly.

[ominous music]

♪♪

[guttural sputtering]

♪♪

[screams]

narrator:
Seth slowly transforms

into a hybrid
of man and insect,

much to the horror
of hi lover,

played by Geena Davis.

He's turning into a fly,
she loves him madly,

is seeing this change,
can do nothing to stop it,

and neither can he.
He doesn't want to stop it.

He thinks he's being enhanced,
and in the beginning, he is.

It's purified me,
it's cleansed me,

and I'll tell you,
I think it's gonna allow me

to realize
the personal potential

I've been neglecting
all these years.

[bone snaps]
- [screams]

[dramatic notes]

But then he's being
destroyed from within,

and their love has to pass
this metamorphosis,

and it's not possible.

- What will happen?
- [panting]

Well, I think
it's showing itself

as a bizarre form of cancer.

The film was always looked
upon as an AIDS metaphor.

It was made during the height
of the AIDS epidemic,

but Cronenberg himself said
he sort of saw it more

as a metaphor
for the aging process

and how that gets
fast-forwarded

in this character.

[soft dramatic music]

Body horror is a meditation

on the transitory nature
of the human form,

and, you know,
we all get old, we all decay.

That's true horror to people.

[both screaming]

Geena Davis' character is
really what that movie's about.

She was trying
to stay in there with him

as long as she possibly could.

[whimpering]

God, no, no!

But ultimately,

she was the one who had
to pull the trigger.

[breathing heavily]

[wheezing]

I think that "The Fly" says
as much about love

as any film I've ever seen.

♪♪

[cries]

narrator: But there's
even more to body horror

than decaying flesh
and physical abnormality.

♪♪

It also describes the reality
of being dehumanized

because you're desirable.

[gags]

narrator: Pretty faces,
though, can mask deadly minds.

[tense music]

narrator:
When we think of body horror,

we usually think
of disease and deformity.

[tense music]

But being attractive

can also open up a world
of body horror,

especially for women.

- [screams]
- [gagging]

[soft tense music]

Walking around in
a female body is terrifying.

You're a target,

you're an object,
and I think

that is part of the reason why

we put up all these walls
is to, you know,

obviously, protect that.

[gasps, screams]

narrator: Beauty can make you
the target of predatory men.

[gags]

narrator:
Just as a perfect surface

can mask something twisted
underneath.

In horror, both things
can be true at the same time,

as we see
in the films "Audition"...

[gagging and screaming]

♪♪

narrator:
And "Under the Skin."

♪♪

"Under the Skin" follows
an alien succubus

whose mission is to collect
men for use as a food source

for her people.

♪♪

[mechanical thunk]

♪♪

The Collector knows humans
are easily manipulated

by appearances,
which mean nothing to it.

- Do you think I'm pretty?
- Aye, I think you're gorgeous.

- Do you?
- Aye, definitely.

Good.

narrator: So when
the Collector picks up a man

suffering
from neurofibromatosis,

the Elephant Man's disease,

she can effortlessly
capture him.

♪♪

narrator:
But for the first time,

she feels sympathy
for her prey.

We all love the assassin

who struggles
with carrying out their task

because they've fallen in love
with their target,

and that's essentially
what happens

in "Under the Skin,"

is that she slowly becos
enamored of humanity

and the complexities
of being human.

♪♪

One of the most
beautiful moments

in "Under the Skin," for me,

was when
Scarlett Johansson pauses

and stares at the fly
trapped in the spider's web

and then decides
to let one of her victims go.

[door latch clicks]

And that is the cascade
that everything falls apart

and leads to her demise.

narrator: The Collector
abandons her mission

and attempts
to enjoy her human body,

but she's doomed to fail.

[chokes]

♪♪

She tries to engage
in consensual sex,

and it tears her suit.

♪♪

And the fact that his penis,
his human penis,

tore her human skin suit
because it's, like...

she's not there
for penetration,

was a fascinating kind
of, like, wake-up call for her.

♪♪

It's not your body,

and you've convinced yoursef
that it's your body,

so it absolutely is
Cronenbergian in that aspect.

[tense music]

narrator:
Because the Collector

is in the body of a wom,

she becomes the target
of a violent man

who first wants to r*pe her
then wants to m*rder her.

[gasoline splattering]

[tense music]

♪♪

We experience through horror

what we tend to gloss over
and pretend isn't there.

The horror
of what our own bodies can do,

the horror
of what other people can do,

the sexism that we deal with
every day

is just what we deal with
every day.

It's how you react to it,

it's whether you
let it bother you or not,

and most of the time,
you let it roll off your back,

and we're all very used to
how we're treated in general.

♪♪

[wet squelching]

narrator: But in some
body horror films...

[loud wet squelching,
piano keys playing]

Women are the punishers.

[gagging]

narrator: They turn the tables
on men who've objectified them

and abused their power
for sex.

[flesh sizzles]
- [screams]

narrator: That's what happens
in Takashi Miike's

profoundly disturbing film...

[moans]

narrator: "Audition."

"Audition" is... is horrifying.

♪♪

It starts out almost
a social comedy

about a lonely guy,

and you're very sympathetic
to the guy.

This man is a widower
and he is being encouraged

by his son to get back
out there

and give it a go
in the dating field.

[speaking Japanese]

And they do

just the absolutely
despicable thing

of auditioning women
to be his girlfriend.

narrator:
With the producer's help,

the widower stages a
fake casting call for a film,

but he's really casting
for his ideal woman:

physically perfect
and perfectly submissive.

He thinks he finds her
in shy, serene Asami.

And this woman, you know,
becomes enamored of him.

She falls in love with him

and realizes the premise with
which she has come to know him.

And being unstable,
as the woman is,

and being existing within
a horror film,

her response to that is to

get very specific
and really innovative revenge

on the man who deceived her.

♪♪

[tense musical sting]
- [groans]

narrator:
Every sh*t in "Audition"

is meticulously framed
and beautifully lit.

The film's perfection
hypnotizes you,

which makes the moment
Asami goes to work

with her needles and wire
all the more jarring.

[whimpering softly]

[groaning]

Suddenly,
this demon is unleashed.

[speaking Japanese]

[dramatic musical sting]

The wire cutting
in "Audition" is amazing.

[groaning and gasping]

[eerie music]

♪♪

What... what is it?
[speaks Japanese]

[tense music]

♪♪

That's... that's such
an upsetting film.

[ominous music]

narrator:
The otherwise decent man

abuses his power one time,

but he pays for all the times

it's been done to the womn
in the past.

[clanking]

And that's the point.

You only need to do it once
for it to be wrong.

The reaction to this man
doing a bad thing

is disproportionate,

but in the context
of a horror film,

this is exactly what he had

coming to him.
[chuckles]

♪♪

narrator: Body horror films
tear off our masks

and expose us
for who we really are.

[screaming]

narrator: And sometimes,
what's inside us

isn't pretty.

[sinister music]

narrator: Body horror movies
have always fascinated me.

[both screaming]

So much so
that my first film deals

with a highly-infectious
skin-eating disease

and how it tears apart
a group of friends.

[ominous music]
- [faintly] Oh, my God.

♪♪

I love how "Cabin Fever"
draws inspiration

from a lot of classic horror
and gore films from "Evil Dead"

to the body horror films
of David Cronenberg,

early Wes Craven
and George Romero.

[dramatic music]

Better close the door,
Marcy.

You don't want
to infect everyone.

♪♪

The thing about "Cabin Fever"

is we didn't know
what it was gonna be.

I had never read a script
like that.

I think at the time,

the scripts that were going ot
for people our age

didn't have that level of gore.

♪♪

They didn't have
that grittiness

and realness to them,

and they weren't
pushing the envelope so far.

The guy had bowled
people's organs.

Arms, legs, everything.

And I thought, "This
is gonna be really incredible

or it's gonna blow up
in our faces."

[tense music]

- [screams]
- Whoo!

No more (no audio) finals!

"Cabin Fever"
is about five friends

who embark on a vacation
in the woods, in a cabin,

and they each come down
with a flesh-eating bacteria.

[dramatic musical sting]

[wet coughing]

Oh, God. Here.

The paranoia
sort of sets in,

and they start turning
on each other.

Okay, we can eat alone,
we can sleep alone, whatever.

We have to talk to each other,
we have to work together.

♪♪

The tone is just so odd,
and it's mostly, you know,

about the saturation level
of the v*olence, and the gore,

and the... its intensity,
you know?

Everything is just so intene
that you're, like...

you jump and then you laugh

because it's so ridiculous
that this is happening.

[screaming]

This guy's lit on fire,

this dog
is suddenly attacking,

it's, like, it's just,
oh, my God,

it just keeps coming at yu

and that's sot of... that's
the fun of watching the movie.

Paul, that guy asked
for our help.

We lit him on fire.

My character, Paul,
is a horribly selfish person.

Party's over, Winston.
[thump]

He's just worried about
himself, and that's the karma.

It comes back to bite him
in the ass,

and then to bite them all
in the ass.

[horn blasts]

♪♪

The makeup effects were done
by KNB,

and they were back in LA,
but the person on set

was this amazing makeup artist
named Garrett Immel,

and it was really his ability
to improvise with what we had.

[tense music]

And when Garrett did the work
on Jordan's face, for instance,

this sort of legendary
skull look, I mean, it was...

it was incredible.

[dramatic musical sting]

I had never done
prosthetic makeup work before.

[dramatic musical sting]

It's incredible artistry,

so applying it was,
I would say,

two to four hours.

And then it's a slow process
to take off,

because they have
to re-use the appliances,

and if you just tear it
offyour face,

you'll tear your skin off,
and then, in fact,

it really... your face would
look like mine did in "Cabin Fever."

But it was devastating
to see myself that way.

We all had to be
sort of forewarned,

because, you know, we didn't
want Jordan to feel too bad.

You know, how ugly she looked?

'Cause it was like,
your immediate reaction

when she walked out
of the trailer was like,

"Oh, my God!"

♪♪

[dramatic musical sting]

You're there
with your best friend,

but then you have
to k*ll your best friend

because of this thing
that's inside them.

And that's what the disease
became in "Cabin Fever."

You're with your best friend,

but you gotta isolate them,
or you've gotta k*ll them,

because whatever is inside
them could get inside you.

And suddenly, you're
not seen as human anymore,

and I think that there's
something very real about that.

You know,
when lepers have leprosy,

what do we do?
We isolate them.

When SARS happened,

when there's disease
you don't understand,

tent 'em off.

People wanna get out?
Too bad.

Epidemic, population control.
Can't let it get out.

There's something really,
really scary about that.

Grim?

[ominous music]

I would say it begins
as a body horror film,

but then the real villain
is people's cruelty, you know?

And people not willing to help
somebody who has a disease.

[muffled]
Don't (no audio) come near me!

- Jeff!
- Stop, stop!

I don't want to get sick!

I don't want any of us
getting sick!

Horror films usually...
usually leave you

with a sense of dread
about the world,

and that's... I think
that's healthy to explore.

[gasps]

The more the movie
can make you feel

that reaction of, like,

"Oh, that's horrible, I dont
want that in my life,"

good because that's what,

you know,
we shouldn't want those things.

We shouldn't want...
like, v*olence is awful,

and if we can confront it
in a way that is, like...

makes you want to look away,
that is healthy, you know?

That's a good exercise
of your imagination.

[screams]

narrator: Paranoia was
the menace of "Cabin Fever"...

Showtime, Billy!

narrator: But sometimes,

they really are
out to get you.

[cloth ripping]
- What are you doing?

narrator:
Especially if you're part

of the twisted world
of "Society."

[cheers and applause]

narrator: F. Scott Fitzgerald
once famously said,

"The rich are different."

[excited clamoring]

narrator:
In the film "Society,"

the rich are literally
another species...

Wanna play?
[cackles]

narrator: Parasitic lifeforms
that feed on the poor.

[evil laughter]

♪♪

Brian Yuzna's "Society"
is one of my all-time favorite

body horror movies.

The makeup effects
by Screaming Mad George

in that film are unmatched.

[laughter]
- [moans frightfully]

"Society" is, like,

where ' s teen movie
meets Cronenberg.

You've got a family
with an older sister

who's getting ready to have
her debutante sort of thing,

and the younger brother
who just doesn't feel like

he fits into the family.

Can't figure out why.

They don't approve
of me, okay?

They don't accept my friends.

[ominous music]

And then it becomes
more and more clear that

he's not actually
part of the family.

The parents and the sister
are really the family,

and they are part
of this thing called "Society"

that they're always
worried about,

like,
"What will Society think?"

"Bill, be careful,
you have to fit into Society."

You know, you'll make such a
great contribution to Society.

[soft dramatic music]

I'd never seen
a horror movie

that had a mythology

that was based on class.

You're a different race
from us,

a different species,
a different class.

The idea was how can you have
fun with class exploitation?

narrator: The film's
paranoid teen hero, Billy,

learns that he and his friends
are pawns

in a sinister conspiracy...

[dramatic musical sting]

narrator: A conspiracy
that the wealthiest people

in Beverly Hills
all seem to be a part of.

[ominous music]

Definitely has the format
of a high school hijinks movie.

The difference is is it quickly
gets a little disturbing

when Billy listens to the tape

of his parents and sister going
to her coming out party.

On the schedule, first
we dine, then copulation.

With someone your own age
first,

then with your mother and me.

All of a sudden, it's taken

the high school hijinks
to another place.

That thing
what I think it is?

That's a really
disgusting thing

to bring
into Mom and Dad's bedroom.

[stutters]

Generally, it's accepted tht
horror movies deal with taboos,

and one of the main taboos
that we have is incest.

♪♪

It's so pervasive, that taboo,

that we don't hardly
talk about it much.

I think it's the basis
of a lot of horror movies

implicitly, not explicitly.

In "Society,"
we make it more explicit...

If you have
any edible fantasies

you'd like to indulge in,
Billy, now's the time.

[laughs]

That discomfort about sex,

which is really important
in horror movies...

I always feel like horror
and sex and death

are just so intertwined.

[dramatic music]

Mom?
Dad?

I'd like to have
a little chat with you.

♪♪

narrator: It turns out,

Billy was adopted
for the sole reason

of broadening Society's
inbred gene pool.

[laughter]

I do love the... [sniffs]

smell of the hunt...

and the taste of the Shunt.
[all cheer]

Let go of me!

♪♪

narrator: He'll be sacrificd
at an event called the Shunt,

where Society shows
its true face

and all of its other
body parts.

[all shouting]

[laughter]

narrator:
It's one of the strangest

and most disturbing sequencs
ever put on film.

♪♪

They get together
and their bodies merge.

Their clothes come off,

they start moving
to this amorphous blob,

and they eat poor people,
and they bathe in their blood,

and you see all of it
in graphic detail.

♪♪

It's the first time
I had a chance to direct.

I said, "Wow, what haven't
I seen that I'd like to see?"

I imagined a couple people
in a room

and their bodies kind
of melding together.

[laughter, slurping]

The whole idea
of a big orgiastic ending...

I saw "The Ten Commandments"
when I was a kid,

and it really affected me,

because, first of all,
it's very magical.

It's like a horror movie.

[tense music]

The sea turns into blood...

[staff clatters]

There's sticks that turn
into serpents,

there's a green mist
that kills kids,

but at the end,
there's this huge orgy

when they're worshipping
the golden calf.

That certainly influenced me.

The rich have always
sucked off

low-class (no audio) like you.

♪♪

Obviously, it's, like,
all a metaphor

about propriety and fitting in
and also capitalism

and having the upper class
act as though

they've got access to much
finer things, when really,

they have access to much more
upsetting and debased things.

♪♪

narrator: Physical monstrosity
is often equated

with moral deformity.

[screaming]

narrator: But sometimes,

the "normal" people
are the monsters,

and the so-called "freaks"
are too good for this world.

[whimpering]

narrator:
Body horror films play

on a dark part
of human psychology.

[frightened yelling]

narrator: Our discomfort
with any physical difference

from the norm.

[ominous music]

narrator:
They have their roots

in the carnival sideshows

of the th
and early th centuries,

where people
with birth defects,

so-called "freaks,"
were put on display

for the general public's
amusement.

Tod Browning,
the director of "Dracula,"

worked those carnivals
as a young man.

[laughter]

narrator:
He turned his fascination

with the performers
into one of the most

infamous horror films
of all time:

"Freaks."

[chanting]
Gooble, gobble, gooble, gobble.

[chanting]
We accept her, we accept her.

[chanting]
Gooble, gobble, gooble, gobble!

"Freaks" is a one-of-a-kind.
It's a unique movie.

How it got made,

under the aegis of MGM
in the s,

I will never understand.

Tomorrow night's
the big night, eh, Daisy?

Yes.
Your sister's getting married.

Because MGM was the
[indistinct] of movie studios,

so for that studio
to turn out this fascinating,

and yet,
sometimes repellant film,

is just a marvel.

"Freaks" didn't rely on
special effects makeups,

it used disabled
and deformed human beings

from real circuses and
sideshows across the country

to be its main players.

It reverses the tradition.

It has the freaks,
or the people we care about,

and the beautiful people,
the beautiful trapeze artists,

and the strongmen,
the physical specimens,

are the monsters.

Well, here's something
for your eye!

[laughs]

narrator: The film spins
the tale of a trapeze artist

who marries a dwarf
for his money

then plots to m*rder him.

[dramatic musical sting]

When she's found out,

the freaks take revenge.

♪♪

The thing about that movie
that's so difficult

is it generates such sympathy
for the freaks.

And then the movie does
this strange turn...

[shouting]

Which is when they,
all the freaks,

come to mutilate her,

there's images
you don't forget.

♪♪

[shouts]

[screams]
[thunder booms]

[screams]

[squawking]

narrator: "Freaks"
was att*cked by critics

and shunned by audiences.

[screams]

narrator: For decades,

it was banned
in many countries.

Today, it's considered
a significant part

of film history.

[tense musical crescendo]

[screaming]

[indistinct]

narrator:
In , producer Mel Brooks

hired the young David Lynch
to direct "The Elephant Man,"

a very diffrent take
on physical deformity.

[dramatic carnival music]

[laughter]

Nominated
for eight Academy Awards,

"The Elephant Man" tells
the true story

of John Merrick,

who goes
from carnival exhibition

to friend
of the English aristocracy.

Because naturally,

some people do find
my appearance disturbing.

"The Elephant Man"
is probably the antithesis

of Tod Browning's "Freaks"

in that it is so sympathetic

and it's from the point
of view of someone

who was born as a monster,

even though his heart
was that of an angel.

This is a man who's
so deformed, so grotesque,

that he has to wear a mask

so that he doesn't
frighten everybody

he comes
in confrontation with.

[all exclaiming]

And is put on display
in circuses

because he's a freak.

Elephant... Man.

[audience murmuring]

narrator: Lynch employs
a naturalistic style

that reflects
the brutal realities of life

in Victorian England.

[all clamoring]

But combines it
with dreamlike touches

that are uniquely his own.

[distorted howling]

♪♪

That film,
in black and white,

just shimmers.

The use of light and dark
chiaroscuro sh*ts...

it's ironic that you can say
it's a thing of beauty,

even though it deals with

someone who is anything
but beautiful.

But the power of that film
is the very deft way

that Lynch first reveals
the look of John Marrick

and then gradually lets you
see him a little longer,

and you begin to understand

that it's not what's
on the outside,

but what's on the inside
that really does count,

corny as that may sound,
but that's the entire premise.

I am not an animal!

I am a human being!

The tagline of the movie
on the poster,

"I'm not an animal,
I'm a human being,"

that is at the core
of body horror...

what makes a human being
a human being.

Is it... is it this?

Or is it something else?
Is it something below?

My life is full
'cause I know that I am loved.

If you watch that film
on an emotional level,

I want to be John Merrick.

He's a pure goodness,
you know?

He's a loving creature

who's not been destroyed
by all the darkness he's seen.

What more could we wish
for ourselves?

She's very pretty,
your mother.

Oh, yes.

A friend of mine told me

he saw "Elephant Man"
in the theater,

and there was a scene
where the Elephant Man's

talking to the singer woman,

and it's a very sweet,
gentle scene,

and she's kind of looking
at him like he's a human,

and she saying,
"It's so nice to meet you."

And there's this quiet moment.

And a guy in the theater went,

"k*ll her, Elephant Man!"
[chuckles]

Like, he's like,
"It's a monster movie, right?

When's Elephant Man gonna start
k*lling people?"

[laughing]

[tense music]

[screams]

narrator:
Sometimes disgusting,

often disturbing...

[whimpers]

narrator:
But always powerful...

[growling]
[phone rings]

narrator: Body horror fils

make us question
our prejudices

against physical difference...

You filth!

narrator: Our attitudes
about sex and gender...

[wire sawing]

[screaming]

narrator: Our fear of
disease and contamination...

[shouts]

♪♪

narrator: And how much
our appearance

determines who we are.

[screaming]

narrator: They confront us
with the beauty

and horror of being human.

[screaming]