As a species, we’re pretty omnivorous. At least my peer group is. I have many vegetarian friends and I myself have done stints eating a raw food diet; however, abdicating our place on the food chain is not something the majority wish to do. In our quest for dietary diversity…it’s a safe bet to say we eat some crazy sh*t.
Thanks Scott and Laura for the pic!
This post was inspired by the picture above posted by my new friends Scott and Laura on their trip to Busan, South Korea. I could list the crazy things different cultures eat in the name of tradition, novelty, or just plain Cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs craziness-whether it’s as delicious as escargot or stinky tofu or as exotic as balut or San Nakshi (live squid) or as disgusting as jellied moose nose (a real thing!) or sheep head – we can all PROBABLY agree on one thing – eating people is pretty disgusting. That’s why this post is all about CANNIBAL films.
Cannibal movies freak us out because eating human flesh is one of the universal taboos, right up there with incest. Just saying that some genius put those two together in the awesomely titled The Misled Romance of Cannibal Girl and Incest Boy (2007), a great charade title! You may not think that cannibalism would be that marketable seeing as how it’s so distasteful (pardon the pun), but you’d be wrong. You can probably think of a few cannibal movies, but believe me, there’s hundreds of them out there ranging from sophisticated black comedies or disgusting gorefests! So here’s my top five recommendations of, if not the BEST, at least the most entertaining Cannibal Films.
| Number 1  (1982) Boring couple wants to open a restaurant, but they have no money. Enter sex-crazed swinger in the wrong apartment who gets conked on the head and killed. The couple dispose of his body and keep his money and a new idea is hatched. They place an ad in the paper for fulfilling sexual fantasies, no matter how extreme, the kill the men who answer the ad and keep their money. It’s the perfect plan until Raoul shows up and wants a piece of the pie…so to speak. He says he will manage the “disposal” of the bodies. Due to its placement on this list, you can probably imagine how he manages it. In 1982 I had just graduated from high school and this was my first foray into black comedy and it was life-changing for me. I had never seen something so dark and disgusting and sexual and gut wrenchingly funny up till then. It’s at the top of this list not because it’s the best cannibal movie ever made, but for me it’s the most original and entertaining. Watch it NOW! | 
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Number 2
Silence of the Lambs (1988)
What more need be said? Academy Award for Best Picture, Oscars all around for just about everyone involved. I’m a big fan of the books by Thomas Harris. Red Dragon, the first in the series, introduced me to forensic science. It was the first thriller/mystery/crime novel I had ever read where the reader knew who the killer was right up front. The book was about HOW he gets caught and HOW he became a killer in the first place. Our introduction to a guy named Hannibal Lecter is brief, but memorable. It’s funny that the first film version of Red Dragon was filmed near my home in Atlanta, and the High Museum of Art was used as his insane asylum.
I stopped reading the series, however, after Hannibal, due to its over the top graphic gratuitous violence. It was as if Harris was deliberately trying to provoke readers with every taboo imaginable, as if cannibalism weren’t enough. The whole film series is great stuff, but Lambs rises above the rest as a masterpiece of horror cinema and resonates even today with its creepiness.
Silence of the Lambs (1988)
What more need be said? Academy Award for Best Picture, Oscars all around for just about everyone involved. I’m a big fan of the books by Thomas Harris. Red Dragon, the first in the series, introduced me to forensic science. It was the first thriller/mystery/crime novel I had ever read where the reader knew who the killer was right up front. The book was about HOW he gets caught and HOW he became a killer in the first place. Our introduction to a guy named Hannibal Lecter is brief, but memorable. It’s funny that the first film version of Red Dragon was filmed near my home in Atlanta, and the High Museum of Art was used as his insane asylum.
I stopped reading the series, however, after Hannibal, due to its over the top graphic gratuitous violence. It was as if Harris was deliberately trying to provoke readers with every taboo imaginable, as if cannibalism weren’t enough. The whole film series is great stuff, but Lambs rises above the rest as a masterpiece of horror cinema and resonates even today with its creepiness.
| Number 3 Sweeny Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007) Everything about this movie from Sondheim to Sacha Baron Cohen I enjoy. I’ve been a big fan of the musical for years having seen it performed live by such professionals as Angela Landsbury and George Hern, and while casting the two leads younger and sexier takes away from the maturity of the roles…it still adds creepiness. The plot is simple…man wants revenge…woman needs economic boost to her pie shop…man kills people….woman bakes them into meat pies…a new cottage industry is born. | 
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Number 4
Dumplings (2004)
This creepy film is from Hong Kong and deals with what a woman will do for eternal rejuvenation. Mrs. Li is a retired actress, but still very vain about her looks. She winds up at Aunt Mai’s place and gets her special dumplings with “secret” ingredients and the effect is exactly what Mrs. Li is looking for. It’s not until later we find out that Aunt Mei was a gynecologist in China and has performed over 30,000 abortions. Hmmm…30,000 abortions, “Special” ingredients…placement on THIS list…can you guess what she’s putting in the dumplings?
This film was originally a short in the anthology film 3 Extremes. The short works very well on its own, but many prefer the longer version as it gives time for the horror of exactly what’s going on and the reactions of the people involved more time to seep into us. What would YOU do for eternal youth and beauty?
Dumplings (2004)
This creepy film is from Hong Kong and deals with what a woman will do for eternal rejuvenation. Mrs. Li is a retired actress, but still very vain about her looks. She winds up at Aunt Mai’s place and gets her special dumplings with “secret” ingredients and the effect is exactly what Mrs. Li is looking for. It’s not until later we find out that Aunt Mei was a gynecologist in China and has performed over 30,000 abortions. Hmmm…30,000 abortions, “Special” ingredients…placement on THIS list…can you guess what she’s putting in the dumplings?
This film was originally a short in the anthology film 3 Extremes. The short works very well on its own, but many prefer the longer version as it gives time for the horror of exactly what’s going on and the reactions of the people involved more time to seep into us. What would YOU do for eternal youth and beauty?
| Number 5 (SPOILE ALERT) Soylent Green (1973) Charlton Heston has made some classics as well as some clunkers…this one is a classic. I hesitate to put it on this list because, well, for those who have seen it, appearing on this list kind of gives away the “shocking” ending. I won’t go into detail, but suffice it to say this whole movie is a futuristic slow burn to the horrible revelation of how far our government in cooperation with big business will go for profit. | 
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Honorable Mentions
If I were motivated enough to extend this list to a top ten (which I’m not as it’s getting late and I want some pizza), here’s what I’d include:
If I were motivated enough to extend this list to a top ten (which I’m not as it’s getting late and I want some pizza), here’s what I’d include:
| Delicatessen (1991) This is the Eating Raoul for the next generation. Loads of dark fun! | 
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| Cannibal Holocaust (1980) One of the most influential yet forgotten films of the horror genre. It gave birth to the “Found Footage” style of storytelling. It’s also very metacinematic as we, the audience, at one point watch another audience’s reaction to watching the footage in the film. |
| Motel Hell (1980) I remember the first time I saw this one in the movie theater with my brother. We couldn’t stop laughing, but all around us people were actually more horrified at US than the movie. I thought, “Come one, people. This is comedy gold!” I guess Douglasville in the 80s wasn’t the place for parody to find its audience. But a guy kidnapping tourists, planting them in the ground, feeding, and then turning them into fritters???? Come on! That’s genius! | |
|  Alive! (1993) This may be the only situation where cannibalism might, maybe, possibly be acceptable: a plane crash in the mountains. It’s not like killing people and eating them…they’re already dead, right? Once our survival instincts kick in…it’s amazing how a menu change doesn’t seem all that bad. |
The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and her Lover (1989)
Cannibalism is the least bizarre aspect of this film. That should tell you everything you need to know. Peter Greenaway both fascinates me and repulses me with his films, which is ne easy trick. I much prefer Prospero’s Books, but nobody gets eaten in that film, that I recall. Greenaway’s use of split screen and special effects was groundbreaking. His way of unfolding a narrative-equally so. His subject matter-disturbing…always! His movies are fodder from loads of interpretation. If you’re a film student…go for it! If you just want to see Helen Mirren hot as usual…go for it!
Cannibalism is the least bizarre aspect of this film. That should tell you everything you need to know. Peter Greenaway both fascinates me and repulses me with his films, which is ne easy trick. I much prefer Prospero’s Books, but nobody gets eaten in that film, that I recall. Greenaway’s use of split screen and special effects was groundbreaking. His way of unfolding a narrative-equally so. His subject matter-disturbing…always! His movies are fodder from loads of interpretation. If you’re a film student…go for it! If you just want to see Helen Mirren hot as usual…go for it!
The last two Honorable Mentions are cannibal franchises:
Wrong Turn and The Hills Have Eyes.
I love both of these franchises for obvious gruesome reasons!
You should enjoy them as well…
Bon apatite!
Wrong Turn and The Hills Have Eyes.
I love both of these franchises for obvious gruesome reasons!
You should enjoy them as well…
Bon apatite!
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