Thanksgiving: Why Eat Turkey When You Can Eat People?
We all know Thanksgiving is one of the nation’s most controversial holidays. Whether you’re simply giving thanks or educating everyone on the genocide of Native Americans, one thing is probably certain: it’s over an over-sized plate of food. What do you and your family make? A traditional turkey? A honey-glazed ham? Do you make a seafood-themed feast or traditional meals from your heritage? What about a big ol’ human rump roast? Or are you more of a leg and thigh kinda cannibal?
No matter what you prefer on your Thanksgiving plate, we’ve got five films filled with cannibals who prefer the human flesh during their holiday feast––and probably all the time! Why have a stuffed bird when you can have brains?
HANNIBAL (2001)
I don’t think you can have a list about cannibal movies without including Hannibal “The Cannibal” Lecter. Just like in Silence of the Lambs (1991), actor Anthony Hopkins gives you a feeling of evil and peculiar taste not all might understand. However, in Hannibal, we are shown the evil and cannibalistic behavior in this more gruesome film. The psychological horror is based some years after Lecter escapes custody, where we find him settled in Florence, Italy. Filled with violence and gore, this sequel leads us with suspense as Mason Verger (Gary Oldman) (Lecter’s only surviving victim) lures Lecter in the only way he knows how: Clarice Starling.
THE HILLS HAVE EYES (2006)
In deciding on what cannibal-stricken family movie to choose, I settled on Alexandre Aja’s The Hills Have Eyes, mostly because it provided more back story than, say, Wrong Turn or Butcher Boys, and left me much more afraid of the mountains and unknown territories. So, your all-American family is on vacation in their RVs when they break down in the middle of a New Mexico desert. Things only get worse when the family is terrorized by deformed and cannibalistic dwellers of the nearby mountains. From picking them off to making a fiery scene, this movie keeps you at the edge of your seat, praying that someone can make it out of the terror.
SWEENEY TODD: THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET (2007)
Throw shade about a horror musical being on here if you want, but for those with lighter hearts for cannibal movies, you could go as far to say is family-friendly. I’m not even joking. Director Tim Burton puts our family man (Johnny Depp) through the wringer when he imprisons him for over a decade while a treacherous judge harms his wife and steals his daughter for his own. Don’t worry, though, this barber-turned-cannibal might not always eat Miss Lovett’s meat pies, but he surely does a great job in supplying the filling product. Beats dead cats and road kill. Plus, the community seems to love the new recipe! Don’t miss this soft-dark thriller during your holiday feast.
THE GREEN INFERNO (2013)
Who said third-world cannibal movies were dead? In this Eli Roth-directed film, Justine (Lorenza Izzo) joins a social-activism group on a mission to save the Amazon rainforest. However, after some tension with police, things only get worse as the group’s plane crashes into the middle of the jungle. Imprisoned by painted indigenous people, the group’s survivors are kept in cages until being dismembered for tribe food, or worse. This gut-wrenching movie gives its viewers a real test of what they can watch, digest, and maybe what they shouldn’t.
RAW (2016)
Can there even be a better cannibal success story than hearing about someone being vegetarian going full blown cannibal? That’s exactly what happens in the last movie on our list. After being forced to eat meat at her veterinarian school’s hazing ritual, Justine (Garance Marillier) can’t suppress the need for flesh. In the time between realizing and accepting her hunger, Justine’s taste grows beyond raw chicken and turns into a deeper thirst for what you could call a higher quality meat: bloody, raw and red. If you think you can stomach the intense and oftentimes disturbing scenes from this coming-of-age film, you might want to follow the list and save it for last.
article written by Destiny Johnson
Destiny writes about true crime and thrillers. She likes movies that make you question the world around you, that keep you wondering, curious and even fearful.
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