[Film Review] Thanatomorphose (2012)

Extreme Horror is an incredibly varied subgenre. Some films focus on sexual extremity, others extremity through violence – vomit, feces, necrophilia, dermatophagia, cannibalism, dental trauma, eye trauma – the world is a wide-open exploration of depravity in the Extreme Horror genre. Most of these films focus on one or two of these subjects, very few include them all. 

Thanatomorphose, the Hellenic word meaning the visible signs of decomposition caused by death, is a terrifying, gruesome, viscerally aggressive body horror in which Laura (Kayden Rose) begins to rot from the inside after a sexual encounter. The film is incredibly sparse in dialogue and character development but is oozing with allegorical symbolism and nauseatingly impressive practical effects. 

Opening on a highly stylized sex scene, the film introduces Laura as a quiet woman who appears disconnected from her life. The man she is with is dismissive and barely addresses her until he steps on a loose nail, at which time he hollers at her, the first real acknowledgement of her existence since being inside of her. These early scenes are notable for their excessive nudity – when Laura and her partner are finished having sex, they wander around the house naked, as opposed to immediately covering up, a more realistic occurrence but one that any film seeking an MPAA rating knows better than to include. The nudity is almost exhibition-like, but somehow doesn’t feel exploitative. Both bodies are often framed from the neck down, and while the nudity is stark, it doesn’t feel sexualized instead it feels normalized. 

Almost immediately a dark bruise forms on Laura’s arm, it seems to grow with each passing minute, spreading to other parts of her body – subtle yet noticeable. Laura also does a lot of cracking of her neck, jaw, fingers, she seems to the viewer to be a woman very tightly bound, one who holds her emotions in. She forces herself to normalize and accept her partner’s neglect, her inability to create – in her case by means of sculpting – and her overall sense of apathy within the small bit of her life that is seen. 

Laura appears to ignore her body as more worrisome signs emerge. She is almost insensate as chunks of her hair fall out, as she scratches at an ugly rash on her inner thigh, at the ease in which a couple of fingernails peel off in the shower. This is the beginning of truly horrific decay. 

While there are other female characters in the film, Laura doesn’t directly interact with them. The story is keenly focused on Laura’s relationship with men and with herself. Laura is a body for the men in her life to touch and penetrate when they want and ignore when they don’t. They don’t listen to her when she says no and later, they refuse her when she asks them to fuck her, even before they see her skin blackened and dripping off the bones. 

As Laura’s body transforms, she almost seems to be finding a greater appreciation in herself. She writhes in pain but also pleasure. Time feels frozen in her apartment yet pushes on as the bruising covers her skin, soon turning into something rotten, doughy. She begins to lose control of her bodily functions, at times screaming in agony and others laughing with a sort of animalistic fervor. There is a strong juxtaposition of beauty and grotesque in a moment when Laura masturbates to visions of her committing horrific violence against her sexual partner, the one who, one must assume, started Laura’s body off on this hellish journey. As he calls her a whore, she musters strength from hatred to bludgeon him into an unrecognizable state of pure gore. As she descends further into her body’s decomposition, she faces the realization of what she is to the men in her life. At one point she screams “I thought you loved me, nobody loves me, I’m just a cheap fuck!” as she expels her rage like a projectile weapon. 

I can’t emphasize enough the impact of Thanatomorphose. Writer and Director Éric Falardeau has created an extreme horror film that thrashes boundaries. It plays out as flagellation, a sexual punishment in which no one is spared. There are moments of strange clarity amongst the degloving, the feces, the bloody piss, the maggot-riddled skin, the putrefaction of a living body. The beautiful string score is interrupted suddenly by piercing, painful electronic pandemonium, and the camera works to show just enough of Laura’s body while shadowing the degree of decay, only to shock the viewer with a close-up scene of her tweezing maggots out of her flesh. 

To say that Thanatomorphose isn’t for everyone is an understatement. In fact, it may not be for most. But for those extreme gorehounds who want to challenge themselves, there is no more appropriate film to do so. The discerning viewer will see Thanatomorphose as more than a display of impressive practical effects, they will see the film as the journey of a young woman who becomes self-realized within her destruction, as Laura’s slow death leads her away from the sexual prison she has relegated herself to, and leads her toward a freedom that is actually quite beautiful. 

Thanatomorphose has been released for the first time on Blu-ray by TetroVideo in March, 2021.

Rating based on extremity:

Fan of the extreme? Check out our Films To Ruin Your Day Series

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