From the horrific to the downright goofy, human experimentation has a long and storied place in the history of movies. The strength of the genre lies in its flexibility, which allows it to both reference and distance itself from real-life examples. Much like howgood old-fashioned slasherssettled on foundational tropes, human experiment movies have discovered their own formula - pun intended - for success.
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Unsurprisingly, many of the genre’s tropes are founded in body horror, though that’s not to say that body horror is exclusive to human experiment movies (cult classics likeThe StuffandeXistenZ, for example, are body horror minus the experimentation). Regardless of genre or subgenre, however, these movies have the power to shock, horrify, and entertain.
10The Human Centipede Trilogy
It’s impossible to isolate just one movie fromThe Human Centipedetrilogy - from the first sequence to the last, they’re all insane and notoriously disgusting horror romps that no list about human experiment movies could do without.
The premise is simple: could someone turn a bunch of people into a single organismby connecting them surgically? The answer will test any audience’s sanity - and their gag reflex.
9Dark City
One year beforeThe Matrixrevolutionized the industry, there wasDark City. Its influences onThe Matrixare well documented, and the movie hassince been recognized as a cult classic, despite its awful box office showing. A man named John Murdoch wakes up in a hotel bathtub with acute amnesia; in the next room is a murdered woman and a bloodied knife. It’s implied he’s a murderer - but how?
The answer is surprising, and worth a spoiler-free viewing. It does, in fact, involve human experimentation, but who exactly is running the experiment?
8A Clockwork Orange
Ready for a bit of the old ultraviolence? When it’s time to break a milk-plus addiction, it’s time to break out the eye clamps.A Clockwork Orangeis a classic Kubrick movie set in dystopian Britain, where young delinquents run roughshod over the land’s genteel citizenry.
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Though Alex’s rehabilitation via the “Ludovico Technique” - where those eye clamps come into play - doesn’t comprise the bulk of the movie, it is fundamental nonetheless to the quandary that Burgess places at the center of his novel: If a person is a product of their environment, then what does the worst among us represent? And does a person’s successful rehabilitation, regardless of the methods used, absolve us, or does it only serve to further condemn us?
7Alien
Alienis one of the most foundational movies ever made, a smudgy counterpoint to theall-too-clean world of sci-fi at the time. While later movies likePrometheusandCovenantwould expand the canon beyond space truckers and xenomorphs, the firstAlienremains a thrilling horror movie for how simply it’s presented.
When Ash, a synthetic person (and a twitchy one at that) purposefully lets an alien creature aboard the Nostromo, he does so in the hopes of recovering a xenomorph specimen for Weyland-Yutani - I.E. that a person would be forcibly implanted with a Chestburster and enter hypersleep as a specimen.
6Re-Animator
Jeffrey Combs is a multi-genre fan favorite: from his frequent appearances onStar Trekto his horror cameos, he’s a well-beloved actor, and deservedly so.
Re-Animatoris foundational to Combs' body of work. In it, he plays Herbert West, a medical student at Miskatonic University who invents a serum capable of bringing the dead back to life. Itsunique blend of comedy and body horror- pioneered several years prior by Raimi’sThe Evil Dead- combined with Combs' deadpan performance creates a surreal, funny, and unforgettable movie experience.
5The Fly
Merely one year after Jeffrey Combsgraced the silver screen inRe-Animator, another perennial fan-favorite - Jeff Goldblum - had audiences shocked and disgusted as Seth Brundle, a scientist who, in the middle of testing his teleportation device on himself, winds up fusing with an errant fly.
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As a Cronenberg movie, it shouldn’t be surprising how much body horror is packed onto the screen, and yet the uncanny practical effects combined with Goldblum’s performance are enough to leave even modern audiences shuddering with disgust.
4Bride of Reanimator
Jeffrey Combs returns as Herbert West, medical student, and dead body enthusiast, in this uproarious sequel;Bride of Reanimatortook what worked so wellinReanimatorand turned the dials up to eleven. The plot centers around West’s vision to create a person out of different body parts, the most notable part being the heart of Cain’s current girlfriend.
However, the head of Doctor Graves returns to ruin the whole experiment - and, this time, he’s flying around with bat wings and using his psychic powers to manipulate the people around him. The true horror of West’s experimentation doesn’t become apparent until the movie’s finale, and it’s too good to spoil - suffice it to say that there’s a lot to appreciate for comedy and horror fans alike.
3Day of the Dead
Often overlooked in Romero’s trilogy,Day of the Deadis a classic in its own right. Similar toNight of the Living DeadandDawn of the Dead,it’s a bottle movie, only the bottle this time around is a secret research bunker instead of a house or shopping mall. The movie pits military personnel and well-meaning scientists against one another as both groups approach the limits of their patience and sanity.
One of the waysDayof the Deadstands out is Bub, a zombie domesticated by Doctor Logan, played brilliantly by Sherman Howard. Together, they form a twisted child-parent relationship - what could possibly go wrong? Another standout performance worth mentioning is Joseph Pilato, playing Captain Henry Rhodes at the other end of the scientist-military spectrum.
2Get Out
In 2017, Jordan Peele took the horror genre by the throat withGet Out, blending subtle humor with subverted horror tropes to create a truly unique movie.
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The third act is a nod to ultraviolent endings as seen in movies likeDeliverance,Straw Dogs, and28 Days Later, and is an immensely satisfying finale for Kaluuya’s character. It’s a movie better watched than explained - no spoilers!
1Aliens
If Ash shoving a magazine down Ripley’s throat inAlienwasn’t disturbing enough, then the actions of one Weyland-Yutani corporate goon in its sequel,Aliens, should suffice. Carter Burke, who introduces himself as “an okay guy,” locks Ripley and her surrogate daughter, Newt, into a room with a Facehugger in the hopes that one or both of them will get impregnated with a xenomorph.
One could argue that the real perpetrators of human experimentation in that situation is Weyland-Yutani itself, but Paul Reiser’s performance in the movie makes it all too easy to just blame it all on Burke.
