History Main / TransformationHorror

* Rick Jones' description of [[ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk Bruce Banner's]] very first transformation in ''ComicBook/ImmortalHulk'' #16, set against the image of a horrified Rick, the shadow of the Hulk on the wall behind him, and Bruce's hand in mid-transformation, part his, part the Hulk's:
-->He asked what was happening. Then he made a kind of strangling sound, like his throat was compressed.\\

* ''Film/ShinKamenRiderPrologue'' is mostly known for the BodyHorror involved the titular character's transformation sequence being the most horrifying thing to come out of the franchise; it is painful, slow, and Shin's body goes through motion that the human body shouldn't. It's quite impressive that these effects have held up 30 years after the movie's release.

* In ''Series/BeingHumanUK'', When Werewolves transform, it is horrifically painful, and for good reason, his roommate Mitchell describes it in detail and it sounds like the most agonizing thing ever:

* Myth/CelticMythology's Cú Chullain had an ability called "Warp Spasm", which basically made him ''The Incredible Hulk'', but with a NightmareFace. Standard "go from a regular guy to a beefy mass of UnstoppableRage," with a side order of EyeScream-[[MadEye one eye would swell until it popped out on the nerve, the other would shrink and recede into his skull]]. His mouth split (the text doesn't state whether this would be like mandibles a or GlasgowGrin), his temples swelled up, his knees reversed orientation, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking and]] [[AnimeHair his hair got spiky]].

* In ''WesternAnimation/PinocchioAndTheEmperorOfTheNight'' has an infamously scary setpiece in which the BigBad's [[TheDragon Dragon]] Puppetino subjects Pinocchio to a [[ForcedTransformation forced]] PuppetPermutation through the use of an organ grinder that blares a demented CreepyCircusMusic and makes Pinocchio dance against his will. The kid begging to stop and Puppetino replying that [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything he'll stop when he wants]] takes it to a whole other level.

* ''Manga/ChainsawMan'': Denji's Chainsawman form has chainsaws growing from his head and his forearms, vertically splitting them in two, with plenty of gushing blood from the self-inflicted injuries he receives whilst 'reving' them. Denji's able to survive such a state because becoming a fiend gives him an inbuilt HealingFactor, but using his chainsaws is implied to still be quite painful for him.

* ''Literature/TheVoyageOfTheDawnTreader'': Eustace's KarmicTransformation into a dragon is painless since it happens in his sleep, but just being stuck in a dragon's body is horrifying enough for him due to his fantasy-hating personality keeping him from enjoying it. He also is in constant pain due to his increased size causing a bracelet he was wearing during the transformation to become stuck and constrict his arm with no way to remove it. The transformation back into a human is much more disturbing. [[CrystalDragonJesus Aslan]] appears before him and tells Eustace that he must "get undressed" before he can bathe in a pool, even though Eustace is obviously not wearing any clothes, so he starts scratching his own scales off and then peels off his own skin, only to find more and more layers of skin underneath. Aslan then decides to help out by using his teeth and claws to rip off all of Eustace's layers skin. Eustace doesn't actually feel any pain during this process, but it is very uncomfortable. When he finally no skin remaining, he is finally allowed to bathe in the pool and emerges with his human form restored.

* ''Literature/TheVoyageOfTheDawnTreader'': Eustace's KarmicTransformation into a dragon is painless since it happens in his sleep, but just being stuck in a dragon's body is horrifying enough for him due to his fantasy-hating personality keeping him from enjoying it. He also is in constant pain from a bracelet that he was wearing before the transformation getting stuck and constricting his arm due to his increased size. The transformation back into a human is much more disturbing. [[CrystalDragonJesus Aslan]] appear before him and tells Eustace that he must "get undressed" before he can bathe in a pool, even though Eustace is obviously not wearing any clothes, so he starts scratching his own scales off and then peels off his own skin, only to find more and more layers of skin underneath. Aslan then decides to help out by using his teeth and claws to rip off all of Eustace's layers skin. Eustace doesn't actually feel any pain during this process, but it is very uncomfortable. When he finally no skin remaining, he is finally allowed to bathe in the pool and emerges with his human form restored.

* ''Literature/TheVoyageOfTheDawnTreader'': Eustace's KarmicTransformation into a dragon is painless since it happens in his sleep, but just being stuck in a dragon's body is horrifying enough for him due to his fantasy-hating personality keeping him from enjoying it. The transformation back into a human is much more disturbing. [[CrystalDragonJesus Aslan]] appear before him and tells Eustace that he must "get undressed" before he can bathe in a pool, even though Eustace is obviously not wearing any clothes, so he starts scratching his own scales off and then peels off his own skin, only to find more and more layers of skin underneath. Aslan then decides to help out by using his teeth and claws to rip off all of Eustace's layers skin. Eustace doesn't actually feel any pain during this process, but it is very uncomfortable. When he finally no skin remaining, he is finally allowed to bathe in the pool and emerges with his human form restored.

* In ''Film/TheBrothersGrimm'', a girl named Sasha gets her face taken away by some mud cursed by one of the Mirror Queen's crows, then the mud turns into a monster pursuing the now faceless Sasha; at the end of the scene the mud absorbs her turning her into the Gingerbread Man, then tastes a bit of [[GenderBender 'his']] body thinking he [[ITasteDelicious tastes good]].

* In ''Film/TheBrothersGrimm'', a girl named Sasha gets her face taken away by some mud cursed by one of the Mirror Queen's crows, then the mud turns into a monster pursuing the now faceless Sasha; at the end of the scene the mud absorbs her turning her into the Gingerbread Man, then tastes a bit of [[GenderBender "his"]] body thinking he [[ITasteDelicious tastes good]].

* In ''Film/TheBrothersGrimm'', a girl named Sasha gets her face taken away by some mud cursed by one of the Mirror Queen's crows, then the mud turns into a monster pursuing the now faceless Sasha; at the end of the scene the mud absorbs her turning her into the Gingerbread Man, then tastes a bit of its body thinking it/she [[ITasteDelicious tastes good]].

!!Examples

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

* In ''Manga/MadeInAbyss'', ascending from the titular cavern causes progressively more extreme ill effects as a person reaches lower levels. By the Sixth Layer, the Curse of the Abyss causes its victim to undergo a horrific, violent transformation into something not even close to human. Often, this outright kills the person, falling under Terminal Mutation. [[spoiler:The viewer is shown what this looks like in a later episode of the anime (with Mitty, a character who technically survives, but has to be [[MercyKill put out of her misery by Reg in an earlier episode]]), and it's not pretty]].
* ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'': When Jinchūriki enter a Version 2 form their skin peels off and their blood mixes with their chakra, turning them into a red humanoid with multiple tails, glowing eyes and animalistic features. When they do this, their [[EldritchAbomination Tailed Beast/Bīju]] is usually the one in control.
* In ''Anime/PrincessTutu'', Rue's TransformationSequence into Princess Kraehe involves lots of thorns and pain...

* Traumatic Transformation happens when you put on the Deku, Goron, Zora, or Fierce Deity masks in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask''. Thank goodness it's possible to skip them after you see it for the first time.

* [[spoiler: Erazor Djinn]] while he transforms into [[spoiler: Alf Layla wa-Layla]] in ''VideoGame/SonicAndTheSecretRings''.
** [[spoiler: Dark Gaia]]'s transformation into [[spoiler: Perfect Dark Gaia]] in ''VideoGame/SonicUnleashed'' also counts as this. The amount of blood (or even sheer presence of it) involved[[note]]Excluding when the Dark Moray's abscesses are hit during its boss battle in the Wii or [=PlayStation=] 2 versions[[/note]] is what got the game an E10+ rating by the ESRB. The very first Werehog transformation also falls under this trope, as you witness every single change Sonic has to go through, with the very last thing being his fangs growing in. All in agonizing detail.

[[folder:Visual Novels]]
* In ''VisualNovel/SpiritHunterNG'', the Urashima Woman kills a security guard and dumps him in the lake. Akira finds the body later while it's in the process of being transformed into a turtle - its skin is grey and leathery, the eyes are milky white, and its lips are grotesquely morphing into a beak, leaving the corpse to bare its teeth in a gruesome grimace.
* The transformation of [[spoiler:Chachamaru Ashikaga]] from ''VisualNovel/FullMetalDaemonMuramasa'' into armored mode is a far cry from the usually clean transformations of tsurugi. As a result of being a HalfHumanHybrid, the transformation tears both the skin and flesh as chunks of metal bursts forth and realign themselves, breaking bones as they do, into armored plates and weapons. In short, the transformation basically twists the body inside-out using the shortest possible route.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Webcomics]]

* Franchise/Ben10 has a lot of this in the StockFootage transformation used in the first 3 shows. Most notable is Ghostfreak's [[WesternAnimation/Ben10AlienForce AF]] transformation, where Ben's skull rotates 180 degrees. Another is the transformation into [[BlobMonster Goop]], which involves Ben's skeleton ''melting into sludge''.
* ''ComicBook/GarfieldHis9Lives'' has the "Lab Cat" of segment 7 becoming a dog. [[http://cdn26.us1.fansshare.com/photo/garfieldhis9lives/tumblr-xvga-tgd-qdhcuko-922205905.jpg In the original book it was scary but quick]] but in animation, it's a PainfulTransformation [[ShadowDiscretionShot that even resorts to only his shadow in the final takes.]]

* The franime ''WesternAnimation/TeamGalaxy'' uses this several times (though, being a kid show, it downplays the horror):

* Webcomic/TheInvitation: If you accept The Master's call of "MINE", you transform into [[spoiler: [[TentacledTerror a mass of writhing tentacles ]] all in a vaguely [[HumanoidAbomination feminine shape]], which is also [[TheAssimilator part of The Master Herself.]]]]

* The trailer for ''VideoGame/BaldursGateIII'' shows the process of ceremorphosis, the transformation that occurs once a Mind Flayer tadpole has reached maturity in the host. The victim vomits blood and teeth, the skin changes to purple, the bone structure starts cracking as it changes shape to that of a Mind Flayer's, hair falls out, and finally the jaw dislocates and breaks as four tentacles force their way out. [[PainfulTransformation All while the victim screams in agony.]]

* ''Literature/{{Goosebumps}}'' naturally has this in droves
** The most famous example is ''Literature/ChickenChicken'' (number 53 of the original series), about two farm kids, Crystal and Cole, who get cursed into turning into chickens after knocking over a strange woman in black. Almost every chapter of the book detailed how the feathers were growing on the kids' skins, how their mouths turned to beaks, how they clucked every time they spoke and no one seemed to care about their transformation.[[spoiler: By the end, they turn back to normal and all seems fine, [[HereWeGoAgain only for the strange woman stare at them and utter the words "Pig pig."]]]]

** A later example is ''Literature/TheLizardOfOz'' where a girly slowly transforms into a lizard, finding that her skin is becoming dry like a lizard.

-->--''Literature/RedDwarf: Better Than Life''

* ''Film/TheHowling''. Another particularly graphic example werewolf transformation, with the {{squick}} factor dialed up thanks to effects artist Rob Bottin. His next gig would be ''Film/TheThing1982'', widely considered a crowning achievement in body horror effects.

->''"I take it back, Gary! Something is wrong with meeeee--''ow''!"''

-->-- '''[=SpongeBob=]''', ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'', "[[Recap/SpongeBobSquarePantsS1E13ScaredyPantsIWasATeenageGary I Was a Teenage Gary]]"

* Those [[BodyHorror grisly]] transformation cutscenes from ''[[VideoGame/AlteredBeast Project: Altered Beast]]'' in all of their CG [[{{Gorn}} blood-spurting]], skin-tearing, [[YourHeadASplode head-exploding]], [[TheToothHurts teeth-flying]], [[EyeScream eye-bursting]], vein-popping, [[AgonyOfTheFeet toe-wiggling]], [[FacialHorror face-stretching]] and overall {{Squick}}tastic glory.