History Main / SplatterHorror

* ''VideoGame/UntilDawn'' is a homage to classic splatter horror, featuring all of the classic tropes and cliches and a variety of very bloody and sometimes quite creative ways in which its main characters can [[FinalDeath meet their end]]. Interestingly, most deaths can be averted (only one death is hard-coded after the prologue), though doing so is [[GuideDangIt very unlikely in the first playthrough]].

* [[CannibalFilm Cannibal films]], both classic and contemporary, tend to liberally dole out blood and guts to emphasize the savagery of the cannibalistic antagonists and the vulnerability of the protagonists (who are frequently not action hero types), as well as to draw uncomfortable parallels between human flesh and animal meat. The gritty grindhouse aesthetic of older films in this subgenre was ultimately replaced with nauseatingly realistic special effects in newer media.

** ''Film/TheGreenInferno'', coming from the unholy union of Creator/EliRoth and the cannibal film, starts off relatively tame, but takes a hard left when the protagonists are captured by the cannibal tribe they were trying to same from deforestation, starting with the gruesome dismemberment of a still-living Jonah (starting with the village elder extracting and eating his eyes and tongue) and continuing from there with increasing physical and psychological brutality. Some of it is played for BlackComedy (as with the death of Lars, when he is swarmed by a tribe of stoned cannibals with the munchies), but most of it is just gleeful gore and violence, as befitting Roth's love letter to the subgenre.

* ''Film/{{Braindead}}'' is one of the more infamous "splatstick" films, with grotesque special effects mainly surrounding the slow decomposition of Lionel's mother Vera and her victims, culminating in a climax that involves a chest-mounted lawnmower, a basement full of zombies, and the most stage blood that had ever been used in any film at that time.[[note]]It wasn't surpassed until ''Film/EvilDead2013'', over ''20 years'' later.[[/note]]

* ''Film/{{Zombi 2}}'' features some of the most viscerally disgusting zombies within the subgenre, showing off Fulci's love of gore through rotting, worm-eaten effects makeup that can make the unprepared viewer's stomach churn even before they get to the [[EyeScream impaled eyeball scene]].

* ''Franchise/EvilDead'':
** ''Film/TheEvilDead'' starts the series with a splash, with its shoestring budget and grocery-store gore effects combining into a bloody mess that earned it the title of most violent film in 1979 and a comfortable spot on the VideoNasties list. From a simple pencil jabbed into the ankle, to the dismemberment of the demonically-possessed Deadites, to a finale featuring claymation demons melting like really gory candle wax, it's no wonder the crew struggled with the MPAA to not get an X rating, even with the multicolored Deadite blood.
** ''Film/EvilDead2'', in line with the increasingly comedic tone of the series, featured gallons of stage blood of various colors and visual gags involving zombie parts as it essentially parodied its own (more straightfaced) prequel.
** ''Film/EvilDead2013'', which is bloodier by far than the original series and features graphic dismemberments and mutilations (some self-inflicted), including a more brutal version of the original's tree-rape scene.

* ''Film/BloodFeast'', directed by Creator/HerschellGordonLewis, is considered the first splatter film, notable for its depictions of onscreen gore. As such, it is the oldest film to be included on the {{Video Nast|ies}}y list.
* The first splatter film to popularize the genre was ''Film/NightOfTheLivingDead1968'', as Creator/GeorgeARomero attempted to replicate the gore and atmosphere of ''Creator/ECComics'' on the big screen. Romero would later coin the term "splatter cinema" to describe his later film, ''Film/DawnOfTheDead1978''.

* ''Film/CannibalHolocaust'' is one of the more infamous examples of this trope in cannibal films, featuring on-screen violence and deaths so realistic at the time that the director was accused of making a snuff film. In addition, the film has drawn fire for featuring six genuine animal deaths on-screen, and even though the snuff accusations were disproven, the film has been heavily censored or banned outright in several countries.

* ''Film/ReAnimator'' and its sequels are billed as some of the goriest films of all time, packing their run-times with so much blood, guts, transgressive sexuality, and pitch-black humor that Creator/StuartGordon elected to start his own studio rather than subject his vision to censors and risk it getting edited into oblivion. When an opening scene featuring exploding eyeballs is considered one of the tamer gags, you know you're in for a wild ride, as proven when the climax redefines "giving head".

* The ''Film/DeadSnow'' films feature Norwegian hikers versus Nazi zombies, both of which seem to be MadeOfPlasticine. Naturally this results in members of both groups getting torn apart in showers of blood and limbs. In the second film, the undead Nazis even use a length of intestine from one of their victims to siphon fuel from a crippled vehicle to a more viable one.

* ''Film/TheGreenInferno'', coming from the unholy union of Creator/EliRoth and the cannibal film, starts off relatively tame, but takes a hard left when the protagonists are captured by the cannibal tribe they were trying to same from deforestation, starting with the gruesome dismemberment of a still-living Jonah (starting with the village elder extracting and eating his eyes and tongue) and continuing from there with increasing physical and psychological brutality. Some of it is played for BlackComedy (as with the death of Lars, when he is swarmed by a tribe of stoned cannibals with the munchies), but most of it is just gleeful gore and violence, as befitting Roth's love letter to the subgenre.
* ''Film/{{Ravenous|1999}}'', being a borderline BlackComedy historical thriller about cannibalism, was not only so bloody that the production ''ran out of fake blood'' during the climactic battle, but also presents meat dishes with the same loving attention most films would give an eviscerated murder victim. In fact, one of the main themes is comparing human meat to animal meat, and considering the lead actor, the writer, and the director are all vegetarians, the honest disgust shown towards meat in general [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools enhances horror of the cannibalism scenes nicely]].

* The ''VideoGame/MortalKombat'' series first made its mark on video game history by adding blood and gore to the versus fighting genre, to the point where MoralGuardians immediately decried its potential harm to any children that might stumble across it. From showers of blood knocked off combatants with every punch or kick to over-the-top fatalities frequently send blood, limbs, organs and several skeletons' worth of bones in all directions. It really says something when guest fighters like [[Franchise/FridayThe13th Jason Voorhees]] and [[Franchise/ANightmareOnElmStreet Freddy Krueger]] look restrained by comparison.

* The most infamous of the MLP gore fics is ''Fanfiction/{{Cupcakes}}'', featuring Pinkie Pie vivisecting Rainbow Dash alive to collect a "special ingredient" for her cupcakes (namely, pony flesh). RecursiveFanfiction continues exploring Pinkie Pie's apparent derangement in various directions; for example, the ''Muffins Saga'' adds additional accomplices for Pinkie Pie's harvesting and baking process, while exploring novel methods for torture and dismemberment.
* ''Fanfiction/PagesOfHarmony'' combines splatter with psychological torture as Twilight Sparkle attempts to harvest the various Elements of Harmony from the rest of the Mane Six without killing them too quickly. In particular, the segments covering Rainbow Dash (which ends with AutoCannibalism) and Fluttershy (which takes four solid chapters and ''an entire alphabet's worth'' of torture methods) are especially bloody.

* ''Film/{{Braindead}}'' is one of the more infamous "splatstick" films, with grotesque special effects mainly surrounding the slow decomposition of Lionel's mother Vera and her victims, culminating in a climax that involves a chest-mounted lawnmower, a basement full of zombies, and the most stage blood that had ever been used in any film at that time.[[note]]It wasn't surpassed until ''Film/EvilDead2013'', over ''20 years'' later[[/note]]

* ''Film/{{Braindead}}'' is one of the more infamous "splatstick" films, with grotesque special effects mainly surrounding the slow decomposition of Lionel's mother Vera and her victims, culminating in a climax that involves a chest-mounted lawnmower, a basement full of zombies, and the most stage blood that had ever been used in any film at that time.[[note]]As of this writing, it has yet to be surpassed.[[/note]]

* Grand Guignol theater is the UrExample of splatter horror, offering gory special effects in the portrayal of bleak storylines like ''Theatre/TitusAndronicus''. It eventually closed in the UsefulNotes/TheSixties from not only competition from the movies and TV, but also with the discovery of UsefulNotes/NaziGermany's perpetration UsefulNotes/TheHolocaust; after a horror like that happening for real, the theatre's shows felt terminally upstaged.

** Most kills in ''Literature/InTheRealmOfCarnalHorror'' are [[CruelAndUnusualDeathvery bloody]].

* They way in which the soul eating demon in ''Literature/TheManInTheCornerRoom'' by Creator/AsiHart removes the soul from its victims and turns their bodies into raw materials is described in [[CruelAndUnusualDeath anatomical detail]].

* Grand Guignol theater is the UrExample of splatter horror, offering gory special effects in the portrayal of bleak storylines like ''Theatre/TitusAndronicus''. It eventually closed in the UsefulNotes/TheSixties from not only competition from the movies and TV, but also with the discovery of UsefulNotes/NaziGermany's perpetration the UsefulNotes/TheHolocaust; after a horror like that happening for real, the theatre's shows felt terminally upstaged.

* Grand Guignol theater is the UrExample of splatter horror, offering gory special effects in the portrayal of bleak storylines like ''Theatre/TitusAndronicus''.

* They way in which the soul eating demon in ''The Man in the Corner Room'' by Creator/AsiHart removes the soul from its victims and turns their bodies into raw materials is described in anatomical detail.

* They way in which the soul eating demon in ''The Man in the Corner Room'' by Asi Hart removes the soul from its victims and turns their bodies into raw materials is described in anatomical detail.

* The ''Film/{{Hatchet}}'' films are modern throwbacks to the gleefully gory, cheesy slasher films of the 1980s, featuring the monstrously strong and deformed antagonist Victor Crowley (played by slasher veteran Creator/KaneHodder) ripping apart the MadeOfPlasticine main cast with his hands as much as with hunting tools both powered and unpowered. While a few kills get {{Gory Discretion Shot}}s, plenty of brutality is shown onscreen, such as a woman getting her skull pulled open like a Pez dispenser, a girl getting vertically bisected with an [[AbsurdlySharpBlade stupidly sharp ax]], and a fisherman getting a hole punched into his stomach and his guts pulled out.