Sci-fi body horror is a familiar cinematic recipe, but the Oscar-nominated District 9 put a fresh spin on it when it hit theaters on August 14, 2009. Sandwiched between a slick Star Trek reboot in May and the nearly three-billion-dollar 3D phenomenon of Avatar in December, District 9 managed to distinguish itself as a scrappier piece of science fiction: part pseudo-documentary, part social commentary, part splatter film. The catch, amid the exploding heads, is that the main character’s own grotesque bodily transformation renders him more empathetic — arguably, more human.
