Sightlines · a viewing thread

Long Live the New Flesh

These rhyme on the body as the place where desire, technology, grief and marriage turn into something monstrous, with Cronenberg at the centre and Lynch, Żuławski, Barker and del Toro in orbit; watch them together and the mutations start talking to each other.

Cult and film-school canon that rewards a strong stomach. The Fly and An American Werewolf are the easy way in, and Crash, Possession and Eraserhead are demanding, divisive and meant for when you're ready to be unsettled.

• The Fly (1986)
• An American Werewolf in London (1981)
• Death Becomes Her (1992)
• Hellraiser (1987)
• Videodrome (1983)
• Scanners (1981)
• The Brood (1979)
• eXistenZ (1999)
• Cronos (1993)
• Crash (1996)
• Possession (1981)
• Eraserhead (1977)