Body horror has always been a hair-raising but intriguing genre to many. When one speaks of the genre of excess, Hollywood films by David Cronenberg and John Carpenter would probably be the first names that pop up in audiences' minds. Even literary works by authors such as Mary Shelley and Frantz Kafka may poke at one's imagination with explicit suggestions of unwelcome bodily transformations.

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Putting aside Western interpretations, Japan has its unique answer to vamping up the term "body horror" as well, whether it's body torture films or anime series involving parasitic monsters.

'Ichi the Killer' (2001)

Ichi the Killer
Image Via Media Blasters

One of the best live-action manga adaptations, Ichi the Killer, reportedly caused a few viewers to feel nauseous and throw up during the 2011 Toronto Film Festival, and it's not hard to see why.

This action horror film by Takashi Miike explores the sadomasochistic relationship between Ichi, a psychologically-disturbed hitman, and Kakihara, a masochistic high-ranking yakuza enforcer. When Ichi becomes involved in annihilating rival faction members, leaving behind sanguinary crime scenes, Kakihara becomes fixated on tracking down Ichi as the latter might fulfill his wish of being tortured in ways beyond his wildest dreams.

'Audition' (1999)

Audition

Before Ichi the KIller terrorizes viewers with hyperviolent imagery and toxic masculinity, there was Audition, which offers an instantly unforgettable ending sequence that no one will forget but wish they could.

When widower Shigeharu Aoyama is cajoled into finding a new wife, his friend holds a pretend casting audition where young single women auditioned to be Shigeharu's wife. One participant by the name of Asami Yamazaki immediately captivates Shigeharu. However, underneath her angelic face lies a dark secret and frightful hobby.

Wicked City (1987)

Wicked City

Wicked City is a testament that anime is not all bubbly animation and childish characters with adorable mannerisms. With unabashedly gratuitous body horror grotesque and sexual exploitations, the adult animation takes place in a futuristic world where humans and demons secretly coexist, with a secret police force known as the Black Guard protecting the harmony.

Produced by Studio Madhouse, Wicked City will satisfy viewers with an enormous appetite for no-nonsense, bloody action sequences and a soft spot for retro animation style.

'Parasyte: The Maxim' (2014)

Parasyte: the Maxim

This film centers on a high school student who just discovered that his right hand had become a talking monster...bummer. To stay alive, 17-year-old Shinichi Izumi has to work together with Migi, his right-hand monster, as they fight off other less amicable Parasites. Shinichi and Migi also ruminate on their bizarre relationship as they slowly appreciate each other's existence as parasitic monsters invading and resembling humans are roaming around the neighborhood,

Parasyte: The Maxim effectively fuses horror and science fiction elements into a high school setting. The show chooses to take an ambiguous stance, highlighting the perplexing nature of human beings and the vulnerabilities of the seemingly inhumane Parasites.

'Gozu' (2003)

Gozu

Literally translated as "cow's head," Gozu is a horror crime film that astonishingly merges yakuza tropes with ghost stories while not excusing comical elements that make the film almost otherworldly and alienating.

Another film by Miike, who is no stranger to violent deliriums and psychosexual encounters, Gozu follows a gangster named Minami, who, after accidentally killing his yakuza associate, becomes involved in a series of baffling circumstances. A woman claiming to be his deceased associate and a man wearing a cow's head appears in his dreams... to name a few.

'Tetsuo: The Iron Man' (1989)

Tetsuo the Iron Man

A cult classic for anyone who ever wondered what it's like to have a metal fetish. Although Tetsuo: The Iron Man is produced with a relatively small budget, its practical effects rival and even surpass many of Hollywood's blockbuster productions.

The Japanese cyberpunk film warps superhero tropes and archetypes into a Kafkaesque-nightmarish setting, where its main character is constantly tormented by his increased bodily synthesis of flesh and metal. With a maniacal metal fetishist on the loose, the salaryman has to adapt to his newfound powers while dealing with a few additional surprises; most specifically surprises located around his lower belt.

'Devilman Crybaby' (2018)

Devilman Crybaby

Based on a popular 1970s manga series by Go Nagai, Devilman Crybaby is one of the first Netflix productions that spawned viewers' interest in the streaming service's massive potential in creating engrossing anime shows.

With the show's settings updated to the 21st century, Devilman Crybaby spares nothing in delivering cranked amounts of graphic gore while dealing with other themes such as friendship, puberty, and LGBTQ+ identity. When demons are tenacious in destroying humanity as we speak, shy high school student Akira Fudo is possessed by a powerful ancient demon, Amon. With his newfound powers and greater self-confidence, Akira becomes convinced that he is the solution to wiping out all demons.

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'Meatball Machine' (2005)

Meatball Machine

Aside from being a body horror film, Meatball Machine is also a tragic love story.

Taking full advantage of practical effects to aggrandize the gore and carnage, the film sees alien parasites start invading earth and taking over human bodies, turning them into maniacal killing machines called NecroBogs. When a lonely factory worker is incapable of expressing his love for another lonesome female co-worker, an infection by the parasites leads to a showdown between the two doomed lovers in this quirky take on a Shakespearian love story.

'Spiral' (2000)

Spiral (2000)

Most audiences familiar with Japanese horror will not be estranged by the name Junji Ito, a masterful manga artist adept at illustrating and magnifying readers' phobias and incomprehensible supernatural phenomena.

Based on one of Ito's most celebrated manga of the same title, the film recounts cryptic tales in a small town plagued by a mysterious curse involving spiral patterns. Sounds like an overblown hoax? Perhaps the design itself poses no threat to our daily lives, but when placed in an Ito adaptation, even the mere knowledge that the cochlea located within our ears is a spiral tube feels eerie.

RELATED: New Junji Ito Anime Anthology Series Coming To Netflix

'Akira' (1988)

Akira (1988)
Image via Toho Co., Ltd.

Contributing to one of the most famous "bike slide" scenes in cinematic history, Akira's legendary status is further consolidated by becoming one of the first anime to encompass body horror as the film's climax. When Tetsuo Shima's newfound telekinetic abilities are evolved and transform him into a colossal mass of mutation between flesh and machine, it's up to his childhood friend Shotaro Kaneda to put an end to Tetsuo's road to destruction.

The great sci-fi animated film has gone on to influence other famous works like the manga series Ghost in the Shell, and Elfen Lied as well as Hollywood productions such as The Matrix and Netflix show Stranger Things.

KEEP READING: Underappreciated J-Horror Films That Are Not 'The Grudge' Or 'Ringu'