Nothing says Thanksgiving like cannibalism. That's why we're going to spend today pondering some great moments in cannibalism captured on film. Let's begin with this fantastic writeup about Cannibal Holocaust (1979), which explores how the film fits more generally within the important subgenre of Italian cannibal horror. All I can say is that if you're a bunch of clueless white guys exploring South America, watch out for angry natives.
From the guys who brought you South Park and America: World Police, there's a cult classic called Alferd Packer: The Musical ([1996] AKA Cannibal! The Musical). It's Trey Parker's student film, a musical about a bunch of Gold Rush-era guys who got snowed in on the trail from Utah to Colorado. The cannibal bits are gloriously disgusting, and you can't miss the opening scene where Parker sings a love song to his horse.
A perfect Thanksgiving treat is the movie Parents
(1988), starring a freakishly great Randy Quaid as the father in thisblack comedy about a vegetarian kid whose diabolically cheerful parentskeep trying to feed him human flesh.
I'm partial to Ravenous
(1999), an extremely dark movie that takes place in the nineteenthcentury wilderness. This time we're in a fort, where our soldierantihero has been sent after trying to flee the Mexican-American war.
This magic realist tale of a mythical group of cannibals is anin-your-face excoriation of how the West was really won. And don't forget The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover
(1989), a Peter Greenaway flick that broke my brain when I first sawit. This is a seriously deranged, beautiful and melacholy film aboutthe goodness of books and food – and the petty human evil that triesto destroy them.
And if you just want some old-fashioned gore, try Motel Hell (1980),
where human roadkill play a starring role along with Wolfman Jack.
Slightly off-topic but still wondrous is Ted Mikel's bizarre, sprawlingThe Corpse Grinders
(1972), in which housecats begin eating people because a nefariouscat-food maker has given them a taste for it with kibble . . . MADE OF
PEOPLE!
