Skincrawlers (A Creepshow short on SHUDDER)

Genre: Horror
Rating: TV-MA (M)
Warnings: Gore, Body Horror

With strong criticism for the diet industry and inspiration from The Thing, this short sews seeds of suspicion from the start. The presentation is just too good to be true. The everyman protaganist wants to believe, but he just can't.

There are too many red flags, not enough answers, and we as the audience are intrigued. Such fast weight loss? Such dramatic weight loss? This unheard of creature? Where does the fat go? Is it for real? But we have to wait and see, as we skip forward in time.

Everything seems to have gone perfectly for everyone, and the protagonist gets a second chance to have a magic leech. Tension at max, just as he's seconds away from the treatment and the apparent perfection is at an eleven out of ten... the body horror comes in. On live TV.

If suspicious miracle cures and unexplained science aren't enough to give you the creeps, the idea of creatures growing inside you like the Alien chestburster is sickening. Well-executed, the horrifying chaos that ensues is full of obvious influences; The Thing, Alien, Scanners, to name a few. A little exposition and a little moralising later, and the everyman lands a triumphant end to the story. Overall, a much better short than some of the previous ones.