Cannibalism: probably NSFW

Another angle on consumption of flesh and blood is portrayed through cannibalism. It's portrayed in media as something only savages, or the very deranged, do. When compared to the vampire genre, cannibal films rely more heavily on shock value, gore, and the actual sight of blood.


Cannibal Holocaust (1980)

This film seems to be the gem of the genre, and incidentally has a similar trick to suggest realism by using shaky "camcorder" style footage. Prior to this in the film, the white "invaders" raped and killed a girl and burned down the natives' village, seemingly "earning" their fate here. The use of blood here is surprisingly subdued for the gory reaction of disgust I immediately experienced. It seems the flashing of flesh with shocks of red is enough to suggest the horrifying gore here. To top it off, horror of all horrors, Cannibal Holocaust here highlights genital mutilation and consumption, which is an entirely different topic. Compared to slasher films of the 90s or modern cg blood fests, this blood is neither splattering nor in your face, but its presence here is necessary.


Cannibal Girls (1973)

Ha! This film brings the sex appeal back to cannibalism, as "very sexy" women seduce men in order to consume them. I'm having a difficult time finding bloody scenes online, but the trailer suggests it's "especially gruesome." I bet.


Delicatessen (1991)

Delicatessen is a surreal film which I cannot recap in a few sentences here, but suffice it to say that cannibalism is a main thread here. In this alternate world, food is very scarce and this small town butcher feeds its people by ensnaring young men to do work for them... and then killing him and slicing up his meat for sale. Not gory by any means, but it's a highly complex film which uses cannibalism in an almost casual manner.



Cannibal films, like many other "blood" films I've written about here (or, one could say, most films in any genre) seem to attempt to portray sexuality and blood side by side. Nude natives consume a man's penis before the rest of his flesh and rape a woman before eating her. Lady cannibals use their sexual wiles to seduce men into becoming dinner. The role of blood effects here is secondary, but the role of blood symbolism and tradition is certainly present.