In search of horrifyingly gore movies that would give you nightmares?
You should try out movies on cannibalism – a sub-genre of horror that would make you wonder if human meat tastes so good that people do twist things to taste it.
Whether it’s for the sole reason of survival or some crazy appetizing satisfaction, the films on cannibalistic humans are twisted, and you will undoubtedly enjoy every minute of them.
Here are some movies to check if you have a thing for human meat!
Ravenous
Set during the Mexican – American war in the 1840s, Ravenous revolves around Second Lieutenant John Boyd, who is forced to eat the flesh of his crew mate to survive a deadly attack.
The story is based on the Wendigo myth, which states that whoever eats their enemy’s flesh gains their powers but becomes a demon whose hunger for human meat is insatiable.
Despite receiving mixed reception at its release, Ravenous now has a reputation as a cult classic.
Director: Antonia Bird
Casting: Guy Pearce, Robert Carlyle, Jeremy Davis, Jeffery Jones
Soylent Green
Released in 1973, Soylent Green is an American science fiction film that narrates a futuristic tale of 2022, where people lead a life of chaos – living in the streets and waiting in long queues for rations like water and a particular “soylent green” which is claimed to be very nutritious.
Chaos ensues when an NYPD detective discovers that soylent green is processed human meat.
Director: Richard Fleischer
Casting: Charlton Heston, Edward G. Robinson
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, the first film in the franchise, is a very influential movie in the horror genre of all time.
The story follows five friends on a road trip when they run out of fuel. They find an old abandoned house and decide to stay there. Two of them, Kirk and Pam, wander off, find another place nearby, and decide to ask for fuel.
However, they are met by a man wearing a mask made of skin. He – named Leatherface, later in the movie, attacks and kills Kirk and Pam.
He then proceeds to kill the other two friends. The only remaining, Sally, closely escapes while Leatherface and his brother try to catch her. The brother is killed by an oncoming truck, and Sally successfully runs away.
Director: Tobe Hooper
Casting: Marylin Burns, Paul A. Partain, Edwin Neal
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2
A shocking film that combines extreme humor and rage is Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2.
Along with the rest of his deranged clan, including the equally disturbed Chop-Top (Bill Moseley), the chainsaw-wielding maniac Leatherface again engages in cannibalism.
Disc jockey Vanita Stretch Brock and Texas lawman Lefty Enright team up to fight the psychopath and his family deep inside their lair, a macabre abandoned amusement park, this time that the masked killer has targeted.
Director: Tobe Hooper
Casting: Dennis Hopper, Caroline Williams, Bill Johnson
Tenderness Of The Wolves
Tenderness of The Wolves is based on the life of a German cannibal, Fritz Haarman, a gay man with a history of petty crimes.
The movie revolves around some of Fritz’s horrifying cases where he decapitates his victims after killing them and then sells the flesh to a local restaurant, dumping the remainder in the Ruhr River.
He is helped by his partner and love interest, Han. However, when Han realizes Fritz’s obsession with human meat is getting too much to handle, he tells about his crimes to the police – with the help of Fritz’s neighbor, who was spying on him because of suspicion.
Outed by his teammate, Fritz faces a police investigation and, ultimately, execution.
Director: Ulli Lommel
Casting: Kurt Raab, Jeff Roden
The Silence of The Lambs
Based on Thomas Harris’ novel of the same name, The Silence of The Lambs follows an FBI agent, Clarice Starling, hunting down a serial killer, “Buffalo Bill”.
She takes help from Dr. Hannibal Lecter, a psychiatrist and serial killer who is now imprisoned. Initially irritated by Starling’s questions, Lecter refuses to help her; however, he later decides otherwise.
After agreeing on a quid pro quo deal with Starling, Lecter provides information on Buffalo Bill. However, after catching the culprit, Starling refuses to keep her end of the agreement.
The movie ends with Lecter following Starling’s friend to the airport – possibly to “have dinner” with him.
Director: Jonathan Demme
Casting: Jodie Foster, Anthony Hopkins, Ted Levine
Hannibal
Released ten years after The Silence of The Lambs, Hannibal delves closely into the life of Dr Hannibal Lecter. Seven years have elapsed since Dr. Hannibal Lecter escaped custody and is now roaming freely in Europe.
Mason Verger remembers Lecter and wants revenge. Verger, who was Dr. Lecter’s victim, has somehow lived, though disfigured. Verger realizes that to lure the doctor into police custody, he has to use Clarice Starling as bait.
The movie was massively popular and broke box-office records in the United States, Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom.
Director: Ridley Scott
Casting: Anthony Hopkins, Julianne Moore
Eating Raoul
Eating Raoul centers on a religiously conservative married couple, Paul and Mary, who rob and kill rich perverted part swingers to fund their dream restaurant.
What initially happened as an accident becomes a daily routine for the couple?
When Raoul, a thief, discovers their acts when he tries to break into their house, he breaks a deal with Paul – they would keep each others secrets.
However, when Raoul falls for Mary, Paul kills him, and Mary cooks his meat and feeds it to their real estate advisor, helping them buy the restaurant.
Director: Paul Bartel
Casting: Paul Bartel, Mary Woronov, Robert Beltran
Raw
The movie is about a young straight-A overachiever, Justine, a vegetarian. She discovers new desires and pleasures of the flesh when she is made to eat rabbit meat at a college party.
Alexia, her sister, is a cannibal who tries to teach Justine her ways. Justine falls for Adrien, but Alexia bites and kills him because of her fight with Justine.
Bereft, Justine goes back home, where her father tells her that her mother was a cannibal too and that she will find a solution soon.
Director: Julia Ducournau
Casting: Garance Marillier, Ella Rumpf
Parents
The film revolves around Michael, a ten-year-old boy who suspects that his parents are cannibals after he finds a mutilated corpse hanged on a meat hook in his basement.
Active imagination adds fuel to his fears, and he confronts his parents about this, only for his father to tell him to try human meat.
When Michael refuses and tries to escape, his father attacks him. However, he is killed in the chase, and Michael is sent to live with his grandparents.
With a chain of horrifying visuals and an unexpected ending, Parents has become what might be called a cult classic.
Director: Bob Balaban
Casting: Randy Quaid, Mary Beth Hurts, Sandy Dennis
Fresh
Fresh, released in early 2022, is the perfect blend of humor and horror. Noa meets Steve at a grocery store, and they instantly hit off.
Steve asks her out on a weekend date, and Noa agrees. However, on the date, Steve drugs her and tells her he is a butcher who consumes human meat and sells it to his clients, who prefer the flesh of young women.
Noa meets Penny in the basement where she’s kept and plans to escape. When Noa’s friend Mollie finds her missing, she confronts Steve. Enraged, Steve captures her, cuts out the flesh, and feeds it to Noa.
Will Noa be able to save Mollie and Penny and escape Steve?
Director: Mimi Cave
Casting: Daisy Edgar- Jones, Sebastian Stan
Eaten Alive!
In the movie, Janet Agren plays a young woman, Shiela, looking for her sister, Diana, after a cult takes her hostage in the New Guinean jungle, where she discovers that a deranged religious cult leader has set up his commune.
Shiela successfully escaped with her sister and two other people, Mowara and Mark. The cannibals catch and kill Diana and Mowara and eat their flesh while Shiela and Mark watch helplessly.
Them being the only survivors, escape to New York. The authorities send teams to search for the cult. However, the cult members commit suicide before the authorities find them.
Director: Umberto Lenzi
Casting: Janet Agren, Robert Kerman.
Motel Hell
Motel Hell, a movie that blends horror and comedy, follows farmer, butcher, motel manager, & meat entrepreneur Vincent Smith; supposedly, he and his sister kidnap unsuspecting tourists and, bury people alive, and use them to create the “special meat” for which they are famous.
When they lure Terry into their trap by telling her that her boyfriend, Bo, has died in an accident, she decides to stay with them.
She falls for Vincent and proposes marriage the next day, much to the dismay of Vincent’s younger brother, Bruce, who is unaware of Vincent’s crimes.
However, Bo escapes, and Vincent reveals his true intentions. Bruce kills Vincent and saves Terry.
Director: Kevin Connor
Casting: Rory Calhoun, Paul Linke
Wrong Turn
The first film in the series, Wrong Turn! Revolves around a group of friends who get stranded in a forest because of a car crash.
They meet Chris Flynn, a medical student who was driving through the same route. However, they realize that it is all a plan by three cannibals looking for prey.
Will they all be able to escape safely? Or will they have to make sacrifices to survive?
Director: Rob Schmidt
Casting: Eliza Dushku, Jeremy Sisto
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street
Based on a musical of the same name, Tim Burton’s movie remake is a dramatic narrative of a Victorian-era barber and serial killer who was falsely accused and exiled by a corrupt Judge who lusted for Todd’s wife.
When Todd returns after fifteen years, his neighbor, Ms. Lovett, tells him his wife is dead. Todd sets on to take revenge on the Judge.
On Ms. Lovett’s suggestion, Todd processes his victim’s meat into pies which Ms. Lovett then sells.
Director: Tim Burton
Casting: Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Alan Rickman
Cannibals on the Streets
The movie, well known as Invasion of the Meat Hunting, combines the cannibal film genre with an ancestor of Margheriti’s Vietnam War movies.
Vietnam war veterans kept hostage by the Vietnam Congress were rescued and brought back to the United States. However, they carried a virus that turned people into cannibals once bitten.
Captain Norman Hopper is bitten by one of these hostages and turns into a cannibal, much against his will. He joins his old friend, a cannibal, to search for a solution.
Director: Antonio Margheriti
Casting: John Saxon, Elizabeth Turner
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