Goriest Movies Ever Made

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Horrorphile - December 2008

Horrorphile's 13 GORIEST MOVIES EVER MADE

December 1st 2008 23:44

I had to follow up my previous post – 13 Scariest Movies Ever Made – with this one. It just wouldn’t be right if I didn’t. However when it comes down to it, compiling this list is a lot more difficult. I thought it would be easy. But the ugly truth of the matter is there are a lot more graphically violent movies than there are intensely scary ones. To be precise; the kinds of movies that meet my criteria for “scariest” are fewer than the ones that meet my criteria for “goriest”.

Splitting headache courtesy of zombie baby

Firstly I had to eliminate the ones that are full of bloody carnage, but the blood doesn’t look real (i.e. Romero’s Dawn of the Dead and Argento’s Suspiria). That gets rid of quite a few. Then I had to disregard the ones that try to gross the audience out with dismemberment and disembowelment, but the guts look like plastic tubing and the severed limbs look like papier-mâché. That’s another bunch dealt to.

Extraordinary extraterrestrial gore

Gore has to be realistic and convincing in its graphicness. It needs to induce serious wincing and if possible cause the viewer to gag. Now, some people will gag at anything, so the gore needs to make hardened horrorphile’s have a rough time. There needs to be extreme brutality, cruelty, viciousness, and savagery.

Somebody should take an axe to this vamp

But what about special effects make-up vs. CGI? And therein lies The Rub. CGI as a rule doesn’t deliver the same palpable, tangible effect as effects which are created and realised in front of the camera. You know it’s been digitally created and therefore the effect isn’t really there; essentially it’s been drawn in, added after, and so lacks the raw immediacy which is a crucial part of the horror. But I suppose that’s all academic. What you see on screen is what counts.

Yes, that's a pregnant belly, and yes, those are sharp scissors

There are numerous movies that claim to be the goriest ever made which I’ve not yet seen, such as the Japanese flick Guinea Pig: Flowers of Flesh and Blood (1985) and the Hong Kong flick Men Behind the Sun (1988). In itself this should present a problem, but I’m not going to let that weigh too heavily on my shoulders, I’ve seen enough to warrant a reasonably definitive list. I’ve seen the first two Saw movies. The first was inventive and the second was a pile of steaming crap.

You want torture? Takashi Miike delivers in spades

So have you eaten lunch yet, ‘cos I’m gonna spill the beans? It was very hard limiting it to my rule of thumb (13), and it was equally hard deciding on the order.

1. Day of the Dead
(US, 1985, George A. Romero)
2. Braindead
(NZ, 1991, Peter Jackson)
3. The Thing
(US, 1982, John Carpenter)
4. 30 Days of Night
(US, 2007, David Slade)
5. À l'intérieur
(France, 2007, Alexandre Bustillo & Julien Maury)
6. Imprint
(Japan, 2006, Takashi Miike)
7. The Evil Dead
(US, 1982, Sam Raimi)
8. Land of the Dead
(Unrated version, US, 2005, George A. Romero)
9. Cannibal Holocaust
(Italy, 1980, Ruggero Deodato)
10. Opera
(Italy, 1987, Dario Argento)
11. Re-Animator
(US, 1985, Stuart Gordon)
12. Frontière(s)
(France, 2007, Xavier Gens)
13. Hostel: Part II
(US, 2007, Eli Roth)

Hellbound: Hellraiser II (1988), Dawn of the Dead (2004), The Hills Have Eyes (2006), Dèmoni (1985), RoboCop (1986), Feast (2005), and 28 Weeks Later (2007) didn’t make the final 13, but they deserve a mention.

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Posted By: Bryn - Category: lists

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Comments

8 Comments. [ Add A Comment ]

Comment by Damo

December 2nd 2008 08:57

For the Sake of Argument
My Apologetics

With the zombie baby the victim is still smiling.
You have to love that.

Comment by Morgan Bell

December 2nd 2008 12:31

Deep Pencil
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Artist Quirk

gore hmmm . . .

id probably say

- House Of Wax (2005)

actually i think thats my whole list, im not really that into gore

sometimes just a splash of gore in an otherwise non-gorey movie can make you shudder, like the cheek biting scene in Cape Fear, or the curly torture scenes in Pans Labyrinth

i liked 30 Days Of Night, i didnt find it that gorey, although i guess you do see more blood than a regular vampire flick . . . would you believe thats the only movie i have seen from your list?

Comment by Bryn

December 3rd 2008 00:47

Horrorphile

Damo, yeah, I worked on that flick! Great gory fun indeed!

Morgan, you didn't find 30 Days of Night that gory??!!! It has the best decapitation (savagely and messily by axe) scene in horror history (although The Omen runs a close second) ... also my father's in it, he's the first victim, the old codger.
I don't think I've seen House of Wax, or if I have I've completely forgotten it. I'll check it out (again), even if it's just to see Paris get offed.
Pan's Labyrinth has a particularly nasty bludgeoning by wine bottle ... and then there's the razor blade too.

Comment by Morgan Bell

December 3rd 2008 10:55

Deep Pencil
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Movie Train
Artist Quirk

oh wow, was that your father?

thats a very cool claim to fame!

maybe all the snow just gave it a clean feeling? *shrug*

Comment by Bryn

December 3rd 2008 15:47

Horrorphile

I'm just impressed you somehow missed how graphic and realistic that axe in the neck sequence was at the end of 30 Days of Night ...

Comment by Morgan Bell

December 3rd 2008 17:46

Deep Pencil
Current Business News
Movie Train
Artist Quirk

lets watch it shall we . . .

as you can see it was all totally implied

Comment by Kleonaptra

December 3rd 2008 20:40

Kalikapsychosis

Im glad you threw in the latest Dawn of the Dead - not necessarily gory worthy but so much suspense, the early on disaster scenes were so well done. And, you know, theres no hope, even at the end.

Popping off zombie celebs was a special moment.

Comment by Bryn

December 4th 2008 02:03

Horrorphile

Morgan ... mmmmmmm.

Kleo, yeah Zack Snyder impressed the hell out of me with his re-envisioning.

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