They are Green and They are Here to Stay. Why We Love Ecohorror Movies
- Irina B
Picture this: you’re alone in your room, rewatching The Birds, one of your favourite classic movies. You could have gone to shoot pool with your buddies, but you opted for your shabby-yet-comfy sofa, a glass of red wine, and the company of Sir Alfred. The clock has just struck midnight, when suddenly you hear a rustling, whooshing noise from your balcony. Reflexively your eyes dart across the room, you spring off your favorite cushion, and you rush to the source of these uncanny sounds; you were supposed to be alone. As you peek out from behind the blinds, you hear the sound again, only this time it’s coming from behind your favorite house plants – your humongous Monstera Deliciosa and your sturdy Dieffenbachia. Your jaw drops when you notice leggy, toxic tendrils have spread all over the walls behind them. A strange, violet liquid drips from the poison ivy’s leaves. You attempt to withdraw your hand, but it’s already too late – the plants have lured you into their trap! As aerial roots coil around your arms and legs, a rancid odor assaults your lungs. Your consciousness begins to fade. This is the end. Your last thought is “I knew I shouldn’t have bought that plant from the shady flower shop on Elm Street.”
Fin.
If you like the sound of my improvised screenplay, then you too are a fan of the eco-horror genre. Welcome, friend, it’s soil nice to meet you 😏 Eco-horror movies abound with invasive, zombie-like organisms: animals gone berserk, seedy aliens, and all sorts of other thorny, horny, brindle, and bristly baddies. And that’s exactly my cup of herbal tea.
How did I develop such a taste, you wonder? Well, it all started two years ago with Don Siegel‘s Invasion of the Body Snatchers, wherein plants supplant traditional monsters for a twist on the popular man-eating zombie trope. I had already been working on an essay about mythological plants (like the mandrake from the Harry Potter series), as part of my Ph.D dissertation about the representation of climate change issues in visual arts, so I guess you could say it was a natural progression to grow to love movies about spooky spores! I was so intrigued by the environmental twist that I immediately dove into an eco-horror rabbit hole. I’d already been a fan of Jan Švankmajer‘s stop-motion animations since high school, so I chose one of his surrealist movies on this topic, Little Otik. In a nutshell, it tells the story of a piece of wood adopted by a loving and caring family. It’s a little bit like Pinocchio, but the atmosphere starts out chilly and slowly morphs into sheer terror.

Photo from Little Otik (2001)
Nowadays, the underlying messages of eco-horror movies are more relevant than ever. They warn us of the consequences of environmental degradation, pollution, and overconsumption. And sure, a lot of people are keenly aware of these issues already, but there’s something both satisfying and horrifying about seeing nature strike back. So even if you don’t really believe your monstera will come alive to seek revenge, check out an eco-horror film every now and then, and be really really nice to your house plants just in case!
Just like plants, there are endless species of eco-horror films. If you’re like me and you enjoy laughing about the apocalypse, Don't Look Up should be on your watchlist. If you’re more the flesh-eating zombie type, World War Z was made just for you. Or if you are a plant parent and you’re in the mood for some vegetal vengeance, you absolutely must check out the deeply unsettling Little Joe. And, of course, no list would be complete without King Kong, who rang nature’s alarm bells way back in 1933 from atop the Empire State Building.

Photo from Little Joe (2019)
Eco-horror movies remind us that the laws of nature don’t apply anymore, or at least have been fundamentally changed by humans. We may be doomed and we may not be, but while we inch closer to figuring out our world’s biggest challenges, eco-horror can also remind us to enjoy ourselves while we’re here. It’s going to take a lot of time and a lot of hard work to achieve balance with our environment, which means it’s totally okay to relax every now and then, give nature credit for its resilience, and look to movies to help us churn up our emotions or dig up new ideas. Who knows, maybe the silver screen will be what causes some new earth-saving strategies to sprout up out of nowhere 🌱
