disfigurement and obsession

His films like Eraserhead and The Elephant Man obsessively explore physical disfigurement and psychological distortion as central metaphors for human suffering and social alienation.

His body horror cinema viscerally examines obsession with physical transformation and disfigurement in films like The Fly and Videodrome, merging flesh with technology and desire.

His work, particularly Black Swan and The Wrestler, probes obsessive self-destruction and the grotesque disfigurement of the body through psychological torment and physical deterioration.