Marrowthon: Oh! The (Body) Horror!

For October, Added To Watchlist is being supplanted by daily posts about films to check out but also this feature—Marrowthon. Different contributors are tasked with organizing horror movie marathon made up of five titles, screening from dusk ‘til dawn. This week, Khayla McGowan presents her 5-film “Oh! The (Body) Horror!” Marrowthon.

Starting Strong With BASKET CASE (1982)

A run-of-the-mill definition of body horror is anything that shows disturbing violations of the human body. That can range from psychological, physical manipulations, body trauma, etc. Most of the latest body horror films can thank several greater-known earlier films, i.e. ALIEN, THE FLY, ERASERHEAD, etc, but I'd argue that a lesser-known '80s gem, BASKET CASE, is the perfect start to one of the most FUN body horror marathons!

BASKET CASE has the low-budget B-movie feeling set with an incredibly raw '80s Manhattan backdrop, mostly thanks to director Frank Henenlotter’s great direction. As unrealistic as the plot is with one of the wonkiest "human" character designs you could imagine, there's a sense of realism that's almost comforting and adds to the fun of this body horror slasher.

The movie starts with us following the main character, Duane, strutting down a busy sidewalk with a large wicker basket. He settles into a hotel where we quickly discover that in that basket sits arguably one of the most messed-up horror movie characters you can't help but love, Belial.

His character design alone makes this movie a standout. Everything about Belial from his tantrums to his absolute disregard for privacy and unhinged killing methods is something to behold. It's super important to note that Duane and are formerly conjoined twins and share a mission to hunt down the surgeons who separated them.

On a serious note, the movie's low budget, the cast that didn't have much on-screen experience, and the realistic scenery make this a fun one to lose yourself in.

If you like those cheesy B-films that feel like they were directors' passion projects and never meant to make it big, this will fill your fancy. If not, you'll still find a level of earnestness in the way the plot unfolds. While it's not necessarily one of the biggest '80s films, it holds up today, as you'll find while you continue your marathon.

You can watch BASKET CASE free on Tubi or rent from any streaming service.

Quick Side Step with THE THING (1982)

While BASKET CASE sets us up with an almost down-to-earth, low-budget body horror slasher, THE THING shifts us slightly as a nice second film that's the oddball fit in early into this Marrowthon. There's a sacrifice of laugh-out-loud humor, but this slight shift pays off with extreme gore with practical effects that put us more firmly into a sci-fi space. It's important to note that if you haven't watched this movie yet, I can confirm that this movie feels like an inspiration for the video game, Among Us. The slow burn of the film, the offscreen kills, the suspicion among the characters, its influence can be found in a large number of films today.

THE THING follows a group of scientists at a base in Antarctica, where they are exposed to an alien that can assimilate and kill host bodies, which allows it to blend in until it chooses not to. This discovery makes the scientists suspicious of each other and their loyalties nonexistent. One of the great things about this film is the characters and the cast playing them.

Kurt Russell plays the main character R.J. MacReady, Keith David plays Childs, Wilfred Brimley plays Dr. Blair, etc. There's genuinely a consistent feel of stress and suspicion and although they're able to use methods like testing blood to figure out who is secretly a "thing" alien, there are even instances where they kill innocent people within their group just based on how they interact in their moments of fear.

It's messed up and is a great sidestep in a Marrowthon that's the main tether is body horror, because while the first was only unintentionally funny, this one boosts our list in production value while delivering a serious plot that legendary director John Carpenter should consider near the very top of his list on his filmography.

You can watch THE THING with a Starz subscription or rent from any streaming service.

Getting Goofy with RE-ANIMATOR (1985)

RE-ANIMATOR benefits from a stellar cast that includes '80s scream queen Barbara Crampton, Bruce Abbott, and Jeffrey Combs. In following up the sci-fi shift in watching THE THING, this film leans heavily into sci-fi, being an adaptation of an H.P. Lovecraft work, while delivering the audience some of the most grisly gore I've seen stuffed into a film. Where THE THING gave most of its body horror during the transformations of people into "thing" aliens, this movie is jam-packed with gore throughout.

Herbert West and Dan Cain are our two main characters, with Herbert being the one who sets the plot in motion with his obsession with bringing the dead back to life. Through his work, he's come up with a formula that reanimates people, but mainly in an aggressive, zombie-like state. His only exception being the evil Dr. Hill, his professor at the medical school-slash-hospital he attends. Dan gets dragged into the shenanigans due to him being Herbert's roommate and later accomplice in experimentation.

Dr. Hill's re-animation is a success, as he's able to hold conversations and isn't in a zombie-like state which could be because he's just a decapitated head at this point.

RE-ANIMATOR fits in this marathon perfectly, because, after the wackiness of BASKET CASE and the introduction of a bit more methodical, scientific body horror in THE THING, RE-ANIMATOR adds layers of dark comedy and gore that will carry us through the rest of our Marrowthon.

You can watch RE-ANIMATOR free on Tubi or rent from any streaming service.

Off the Rails with TAMMY AND THE T-REX (1993)

Piggybacking off the fun, gory RE-ANIMATOR, we take a step down in production value again to watch TAMMY AND THE T-REX. This is one of those fun films you watch that honestly feels like the story was written within a week. Oh wait, it was! This movie was scrapped together at the speed of light after director Stewart Raffill was told that he could have access to an animatronic t-rex for a short time.

The result gives us a wacky tale about a bullied high schooler named Michael who gets kidnapped from a hospital while in a coma by happenstance by a mad scientist named Dr. Wachenstein and his assistant, Helga. After they run out of the hospital with his unconscious body, they transplant his brain into an animatronic t-rex. Like, an animatronic t-rex you'd see at an amusement park or zoo. Tammy is interlaced throughout the film by being Michael's girlfriend that realizes this giant t-rex is her boyfriend and vowing to find a new body to put his brain in.

One of the best parts of watching this movie all these years later is the shock of the high-caliber cast. The late Paul Walker played Michael, Denise Richards played Tammy, Terry Kiser AKA Bernie from WEEKEND AT BERNIE'S plays the evil Dr. Wachenstein, and John Franklin AKA the big bad Isaac in CHILDREN OF THE CORN plays a bumbling lab assistant. It's honestly one of the biggest pulls of this movie, the fact that it features so many familiar faces before they were famous or right around the time their star was beginning to shine.

For this film to be such a quirky film, I love it being the penultimate film, because I've always loved the idea of ending a marathon on a somewhat harrowing note that sticks with you. Now that we've gotten (most of) the fun out of the way, it's time for a newer film that's best watched before reading about it in this article, but it's the most perfect end to this Marrowthon, guaranteed!

You can watch with a Showtime subscription or watch the gorier, uncut version on Shudder.

An Insane Ending: MALIGNANT (2021)

Bumping ourselves up in production value once again, we end this Marrowthon with MALIGNANT, which was directed by James Wan, with the screenplay by Akela Cooper. Wan doesn't need much introduction due to him creating SAW, INSIDIOUS, and THE CONJURING. For Akela Cooper, however, this is her first writing credit. I'd say after watching this one, I'm very excited to see her write the upcoming THE NUN sequel and Blumhouse's upcoming M3GAN.

There's a lot to unpack about this movie, but I can't stress enough how incredible it was going into this viewing without knowing anything about it. This movie starts with a throwback scene to '80s sci-fi but slowly becomes a murder mystery-slasher that goes off the rails into body horror-slasher delight two-thirds through. The genre-blending works perfectly while maintaining a level of almost meta-like humor in subtle ways.

The film focuses on Maddie, a woman who desperately yearns for a blood connection to someone, given that she was adopted as a little girl.

Throughout the film, we witness Maddie having sequences of sleep and waking paralysis that forces her to witness grisly murders of a range of people that are all connected in a way that makes the whole film feel like a callback to BASKET CASE. The kills in this movie are numerous, the methods are sadistic, the plot is well-written, and the direction is near-perfect as it leaves just enough to the imagination that most viewers won't know what's happening until Maddie's sister, Sydney, discovers the truth about the film's killer, Gabriel.

Rounding off this Marrowthon with this body horror instant classic brings things full circle in a way that maintains an air of sci-fi found throughout, along with the involvement of at least one worker in the medical/scientific field, and plenty of gore. Another perfect full-circle moment with ending your Marrowthon on MALIGNANT gives you what one could argue is a modern adaptation of BASKET CASE in the hands of a director and screenwriter who both knew the exact story they wanted to tell.

You can see MALIGNANT in theaters and it will return to HBO Max soon.