Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Brisk
- Intensity
- Extreme
- Complexity
- Layered
- Violence
- Graphic
- disturbing
- grotesque
- darkly comic
- late night horror viewing
- cult movie night
What critics said
Critics broadly praised the film’s technically polished blend of adolescent drama and visceral body horror, while acknowledging that its aggressive gore and shock tactics are not for all tastes.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
Pauline imagines herself as a gifted surgeon while interpreting horrific dreams and escalating behavior as stimulating or purposeful.
Surgical fantasies, splatter, illness, and Pauline’s fixation on bodily violation connect puberty and medical imagery.
Pauline is shaped by her overbearing mother Phyllis and by the family’s anxious focus on Grace’s cystic fibrosis.
Pauline’s classmates find her annoying, while her eccentricity and hostility deepen her isolation at school and home.
Films like Excision, and why
Ginger Snaps
Shared body horror, adolescent alienation, taboo-shattering provocation, and psychologically disturbing teenage protagonists.
The Loved Ones
Shared coming-of-age horror, social outsider perspective, grotesque transformation imagery, and darkly comic tone.
Welcome to the Dollhouse
Shared adolescent misfit themes, transgressive sexuality, bleak comedy, and uncomfortable psychological intensity.
May
Shared body horror, maternal pressure, deviance, and disturbing female-centered psychological drama.
Movie Details
- Director
- Richard Bates Jr.
- Release Date
- 2012-09-12
- Runtime
- 81 min
- Rating
- 6.2 / 10 (627)
Cast
- AnnaLynne McCord
- Traci Lords
- Ariel Winter
- Roger Bart
- Jeremy Sumpter
- John Waters
- Malcolm McDowell
- Marlee Matlin
- Matthew Gray Gubler
- Ray Wise
Where to watch in United States
- Streaming
- Philo, MovieSphere+ Amazon Channel
- Rent
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home
- Buy
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is Excision about?
- A socially isolated teenager’s surgeon fantasies mutate into a grotesque collision of puberty, family pressure, illness, and delusion.
- What is Excision like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of Excision as brisk, its intensity as extreme and its storytelling as layered.
- Is Excision violent?
- Yes. Ember rates the violence in Excision as graphic.
- What did critics think of Excision?
- Critics broadly praised the film’s technically polished blend of adolescent drama and visceral body horror, while acknowledging that its aggressive gore and shock tactics are not for all tastes.
- Which films are like Excision?
- Films with a similar feel include Ginger Snaps, The Loved Ones, Welcome to the Dollhouse, and May.
- How long is Excision?
- Excision runs 81 minutes.
- Where can I watch Excision?
- In United States, Excision streams on Philo, MovieSphere+ Amazon Channel.
