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The origins of the cannibal film might be Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. Although the story of a maniac who kills and then has an accomplice bake the dead into pies, is from the 19th century, the 1936 film directed by George King. It may seem tame to today's standards, but Tod Slaughter's fine horror acting makes the film a worthwhile example of the genre.

Of course, the very nature of the genre has led to numerous low-budget films but there are some notable films that not only explore the very rich sociological and psychological territory of cannibalism, but also the irony and humor of the act of eating another person.
Perhaps the finest example of a cannibal film that explores the nature of cannibalism and its psychological underpinnings is Silence of the Lambs. Hannibal Lecter is urbane and intelligent, but he also craves human flesh. His pathology isn't so much explored as it is nuanced by the Academy Award winning actor. The prequel, Manhunter, is a lesser film, but it does a superior job in granting the viewer a peek inside the workings of Lecter's psychosis. Godard's Le Weekend is disturbingly realistic and artfully made. It examines a more political reasoning for cannibalism, but its social importance is excellent fodder for a minor film in a great director's canon.

Eating Raoul and The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover are more concerned with the irony and humor of cannibalism. Even the film Parents, which is a minor film at best, uses the act of cannibalism as a commentary on trendy and materialistic society. Cannibalism works well as a metaphor of a society devouring its own. Even a film like Soylent Green is really about cannibalism of the lower classes. It's a short step from Jonathan Swift's "Modest Proposal," of using Irish children for food stocks to the French comedy Delicatessen in which the post-apocalyptic residents of a delicatessen see everyone outside their social circle as good eating.

Of course, one should not ignore the lowest common denominator of horror films. Some films exploit the taboo and gruesome nature of cannibalism to capitalize on our baser natures. George Romero's Living Dead series of films, or the bloody Texas Chainsaw Massacre, or the incredibly gore-filled Cannibal Apocalypse are worthy members of the exploitation family. They are devoted to zombies and psychos gnawing at uncooked gobbets of human flesh. But this type of film has its humble origins in the sixties with such horror misses as Blood Feast and The Undertaker and His Pal. Foreign films, especially from Italy have nearly cornered this kind of trashy horror movie with films like White Cannibal Queen, The Ghoul and Grim Reaper.
Cannibalism works well in film because it strikes at the core of the viewer's sensibilities, ethos and morality. We can be horrified, but between our fingers, we watch because we see the humor, the tragedy, or the justice.

Learn more about this author, John Devera.
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