Images of Non-Generic Nudity in Horror

A very Not Safe For Work (NSFW) post, by yours truly...

From a meme doing the rounds in some blogs, thematic images in horror films, my choice: Non-Generic Nudity.

We know that sex is a big chunk of the horror's formula, and with sex involved, you'll need some degree of nudity. But beyond of the common images of virginal nannies changing clothes or coming out of the shower, here is a brief display of the nudity that goes out of the box in some horror films, in various degrees...



click the above Read More! link for the fleshy and bloody images...




1. Deep fried bimbos in the tanning salon:
Ashley & Ashlyn in Final Destination 3



OK, at first, the scene looks very generic, cute girls get rid of some or all of their clothes to go into the tanning beds. But by the time the death starts to play its game, you really forget about the nudity and a creepy feeling grows on you: the fear of being burned alive in such a vanity and glamorous way! By the way, the deep fried bimbo may apply more to that scene in Blood Diner... nevermind



But wait, even if it was a fun concept, it was used before, as an urban legend in Urban Legends 3: Bloody Mary. This proves that a good idea, when executed lousily, looks horrible on film, even if Mary Lambert dared to use a boy, but got shy with the nudity and gore overall...

2. The stomping body double:
Willow in The Wicker Man



Another that may look generic, but once you digest the lyrics of Willow's song, and do the math for the Sergeant fate, you wish that no naked girl or boy start to chant and stomp at your door, naked, not in a hostel or any other place, you may end as the main attraction of some pagan ritual. As a side note, you may already know that the frames with the full body shots are from a body double and not from Britt Ekland.

3. The 'Runners' took your clothes:
Jim in 28 Days Later



So a group of stupid activists go ape in a animal testing lab, they let out this cute little monkey that happens to be the carrier of 'the rage', a virus that turns people into zombie like creatures (not totally zombie since they can run an have a patient zero). Cut to Cillian Murphy totally naked in a panoramic shot of an hospital (a few years earlier and I bet Ewan McGregor would be playing Jim, just for the nudity and having Danny Boyle as the director). Alas, it sets the tone of a post-apocalyptic world, were clothes are optional.

4. Soft-Core Zombie:
Nude Zombie in Night Of The Living Dead



The other, other side of the coin. While Barbara and Ben are waiting for something in that rural house, all the noises start to attract the recently resurrected, and one of the most memorable zombies is the nude zombie crawling, I guess you really lose all your inhibitions when you die... and the fact that is one of the less elaborated zombies ever, makes it even creepier!

5. & 666. Showers aren't safe:
Marion in Psycho & Doug in Friday The 13th: The Final Chapter




Again, when the nudity involves a situation that can be related to the common things in everyday life, it doesn't matter how much flesh, and how much you dig the person in screen, it gets ugly. Sorry Mr. Van Sant, but Joseph Zito made a perfect, almost shot by shot homage to Hitchcock's work, sorry I didn't include the matching frame of Janet Leigh washing her hair, but the part when you almost see the knife hitting her body is terrifying...

7. The S&M Shower:
Coach Schneider in A Nightmare On Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge



After the original, the least you expected for a sequel, and one stating that Freddy will get his revenge, was one of the most progressive exercises in gay horror. Since Schneider was in his leather S&M attire, you may get to the conclusion that he enjoyed his last minutes on earth... this was definitely a different kind of shower

8. Dude! where are my classmates?
Todd, his classmates and some concentration camp victims in Apt Pupil



Yet another shower, and also in the school showers... by the time you got the Steel Magnolias flashback, Todd's classmates disappear and he has a vision of the Holocaust that may or may not change his perspective about life and the people around him. So sad that we lost such a talented actor.

9. Run Patrick, Run!
Patrick Bateman in American Psycho



Now, this is what I call bold movie making, and the perfect mix between the director's vision, the studio boundaries and respect to the original material (by the great Bret Easton Ellis). And you don't even need to see it all, but if you want to, the new DVD has the scenes with Bale's uncensored parts, but even if is the poster child of perfection, a killer with a chainsaw is a killer with a chainsaw...

10. The corpse with the rose tattoo:
Darry in JEEpERs CrEEpers



The big finale in Victor Salva's moder classic, doesn't hesitate to show you that the final boy wasn't one (in this case there was a final girl all along). And even beyond the fake naked body of Justin Long, the last frames with the Creeper showing his new eyes, morbid!

11. We are nude too... almost:
The vampire aliens in Lifeforce



Even when Mathilda May's character managed to spend almost all 116 minutes of the film in the nude, her vampire alien 'brothers' just had a split second of almost nudity when they scape the lab. Of course we also get some nude victims in all their raisin-like glory, but you surely missed the boys while trying to catch as much of the girl... I don't know how our TV station managed to program this film like four times a year back in the day if they needed to edit almost every other scene, and even the plot made as much sense as the unedited version...

12. He's coming to flash you!
Zombie flasher in the remake of Night of The Living Dead



Simple, effective, and out of the blue... detour number three of one of the best remakes ever. One: Barbara with short hair, Two: The old man is not a zombie, and Three: The man who doesn't look like a zombie will try to kill you, oh! and he has some wardrobe malfunction, How Janet of him!

13. No pain, no gain:
Julie in Return of The Living Dead 3



You can really see Yuzna's touch in this sequel, and even with the beautiful Mindy/Melinda Clarke (as Julie but pre-The O.C.) all the wires, spikes and broken glass makes you go: ouch! Like a Zombie Venus raising from the sewer.

14. She is a he!!!
Angela in Sleepaway Camp


Before The Crying Game, this was the original shock scene, if you aren't spoiled enough, you need to watch this film!

15. The nudity that is not:
Buffalo Bill in Silence of The Lambs



Pubic hair but no privates (the mangina pose), so no nudity in the common sense... This may be the anti-Crying Game... but the shocking part is the whole psychological baggage that Clarisse is trying to get from Hannibal, is masterfully explained in this brief but memorable scene: the real deal with Jame is that he wants to be a she, but only by wearing a suit made with the leather of the women he hunted. My guess is that this was kind of the direction that Kim Henkel wanted to take in The Return of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre

"Goodbye horses, I'm lying, lying, lying over you..."