Thanatomorphose - User Reviews

Of course, I can't help but compare Thanatomorphose with Contracted, even though there is a year apart from these movies. The core concept of both films is almost identical — a slow, grotesque physical decay — but the execution is vastly different. Thanatomorphose is clearly the more artistic of the two — the “art house” version, if you will. It focuses more on atmosphere and loneliness, with surreal interludes and very little dialogue. In general, not a lot happens in terms of plot. The beginning drags a bit, and the supporting characters are mostly annoying; I found myself wishing for a different direction there. But the second half is much stronger. The film shifts into a deeply isolated and introspective space, where the protagonist is left completely alone with her fate. The body horror elements develop slowly but effectively. What stood out to me the most is how the protagonist simply accepts her destiny. Either she doesn’t fully comprehend what’s happening and just goes along with it — like in a dream — or she consciously embraces reality and surrenders to it. Interestingly, there’s surprisingly little depiction of suffering. It’s not that she seems happy, but she also doesn’t fight back or react with the expected level of pain or fear. That emotional detachment gives the film a strange, haunting tone. The ending, however, didn’t entirely work for me. Unlike Contracted, there’s no real payoff or climax. That might be intentional, reflecting the film’s meditative take on decay and inevitability — but narratively, it falls a bit flat. Thanatomorphose for sure is a disturbing, slow, and highly atmospheric film that leans into the art-house corner of body horror. It’s more about mood and metaphor than story. If you’re looking for emotional payoff or plot twists, you might be disappointed — but if you’re drawn to bleak, surreal cinema that explores physical and existential decay, this film has a strange power.

_Thanatomorphose_ is like a really gross, fearless version of _Contracted_, which came out just over a year later, and must have been inspired by this. The movie has a very simple, almost nonexistent, plot: girl begins to rot, rots more, the end. Every part of the film is sparse: small cast, almost no dialog, low light. About all it has in abundance is nudity and gore. Almost no violence here, instead we're given loads of bodily fluids: piss, shit, vomit, jizz, puss. The music is an interesting mix of sad violins, and harsh noise during dream sequences. The beginning could be called boring with its long shots of nothing happening, but once our lead character - played by the beautiful Kayden Rose - begins to decompose, there is a steady momentum. I get it, minimalistic, graphic, indie body horror is not going to appeal to many people. For me, I thought it was great. To make a feature film that really commits to the premise, and doesn't care about explaining itself, well, it's pretty impressive to make that work. Furthermore, I have seen many movies, there are some that have a large budget, but are totally forgettable. This movie, I will never forget; I was deeply affected by it, and that's hard to accomplish. This leads me to suspect there is more to the simple story than just gore. As to what it is, I don't know. Though, maybe it's just what it appears to be: a girl rotting to the point of death.