The late ’90s was perhaps the most unstable time for satire in the history of film; right as the Scream franchise first began capturing slasher-savvy hearts all over the world with its unique subversion of slasher tropes and inch-perfect usage of meta commentary, their more sci-fi inclined brethren were watching the point soar right over their heads, so to speak.
Indeed, early life wasn’t kind to Starship Troopers, Paul Verhoeven’s 1997 sci-fi action film that wound up being shunned by audiences after its attempts to satirize fascism were instead interpreted as propaganda.
It’s well-known as one of the more dashing works of cinematic satire these days, but it must have been a scary position for Starship Troopers to be in back then; accidentally associating yourself with the most heinous side of the political sphere would do no favors for one’s nerves.
But even before that communication breakdown, Starship Troopers was no stranger to heart-pounding fear, as the masses of r/horror seem to have discovered.
One glance at that Brain Bug scene, in all of its Cronenbergian glory, was more than enough for the horror-dedicated subreddit to welcome Starship Troopers among their content of interest; apparently, all it takes is on-screen brain digesting from a face that not even a mother could love.
Of course, as one responder pointed out, this is a Verhoeven film, after all.
Another user argued that the insectoid alien body horror scenes are no match for the sheer terror that comes with watching humanity devolve into an unfeeling military machine.
Nevertheless, there’s still plenty of gore-happy moments for the horror buffs to sink their teeth into.
In any case, the adoption of Starship Troopers into the world’s already-colorful horror library seems to have been blessed by Reddit’s foremost authority on the matter, so if you’re looking for a little more chrome in the more gruesome section of your watchlist, Verhoeven has you covered.