Cannibalism can be kind of sexy and romantic, honestly. These five movies prove that eating flesh is the ultimate act of devotion.
There has always been something kind of romantic about cannibalism. The act of eating flesh itself is so rich for interpretation: Harm, often fatal, is life-giving in that circumstance. This idea can be traced back as far as the Bible. When Eve is created from Adam’s rib, he proclaims, “This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh.” While it’s not the first cannibal romance, the Book of Genesis showcases how gritty and visceral love can be.
Moreover, anyone who grew up Catholic or Episcopalian is intimately familiar with the literal or symbolic cannibalism that happens every Sunday at mass. “Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed,” the Book of John reads. “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him.”
If we’re all made in God’s image, then maybe our first cannibal romance happened in the pews of our church. Looking at the following five horror couples, you’ll find evidence beyond the Bible that love everlasting can look like pints of blood and pounds of flesh.
5. Jennifer’s Body, dir. Karyn Kusama
Courtesy of 20th Century Fox
Jennifer Check and Needy Lesnicki have such an iconic dynamic, fueled by equal parts love and hate. Was their co-dependent relationship based on jealousy? On twisted admiration? On the feminine urge to compete with your peers socially and academically throughout your adolescence? Maybe it was a little bit of everything, as is the case with most homoerotic friendships.
The sheer carnage brought about by Jennifer and Needy’s cannibal romance in Jennifer’s Body only enhances their dynamic. Needy is reluctant to call law enforcement or the authorities, which is what any sane, objective person would do when they find out that someone they know is slaughtering people. But Jennifer isn’t killing people: She’s killing boys.
“Boys are just placeholders; they come, and they go,” Jennifer explains dismissively in the film’s famous deleted scene. Well, that solves it for Needy. She tries to do the right thing, but she’s ultimately bought into the cannibal romance. And if the object of your desire looks like Megan Fox, wouldn’t you buy in, too? Kill count be damned?
In Mimi Cave’s cannibal romance, Noa and Steve are a doomed pair from the start. Unlike Jennifer and Needy, there is no relationship that occurs before the bloodlust. Steve has terrible intentions for Noa on Day 1. But the brilliant thing about Fresh is that it lulls you into a false sense of security at first, letting the viewer indulge in its soft, sultry, romantic-drama vibes.
Then those warm lights and lush surroundings are perverted when Noa realizes she is locked in Steve’s soundproof basement and is being farmed for edible flesh. There’s a question of consent here. Does Noa begin to give her muscle meat to Steve willingly, or is it coercion? Or is it a secret third thing?
The consensus I’ve seen from fellow horror girlies is that casting Sebastian Stan as the slick, debonair cannibal complicates the viewer’s moral compass. Why? Well, a lot of us would give up our flesh to Stan ever-so-willingly, no matter the scenario.
3. Sweeney Todd: Demon Barber of Fleet Street, dir. Tim Burton
Courtesy of DreamWorks Pictures / Paramount Distribution
Sweeney Todd and Mrs. Lovett have actually been icons of cannibal romance long before Tim Burton brought the couple to the big screen. Previously, Stephen Sondheim brought the couple to life in 1979 inSweeney Todd: Demon Barber of Fleet Street, which was a musical based on Christopher Bond’s play of the same name in 1970. The Sweeney Todd and Mrs. Lovett characters can be traced all the way back to the 1840s, appearing in a penny dreadful series called The String of Pearls.
But the key reason this cannibal romance is somehow compelling in the 2007 film is that Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter match each other’s freak, bar for bar. Not only had they been Burton’s longtime muses and collaborators– so they were the obvious choice for a part of cannibal lovers directed by Tim Burton– but they also knew how to embody whimsy and danger at the same time.
A cannibal romance between a murderous barber suffering delusions of grandeur and a sweet little pastry chef eager to be a ride-or-die wouldn’t have worked with anyone else, honestly.
2. Hannibal, dev. Bryan Fuller
Courtesy of NBC Universal Pictures
The Silence of the Lambs was seminal, but if you’re anything like me, NBC’s Hannibal TV series changed your entire horror paradigm. One of the best parts of Bryan Fuller’s show was that it was an example of just how artful horror could be — even when it was really bloody and visceral and nasty. And underneath the panache and multi-layered plot was a cannibal romance.
Sure, the game of cat-and-mouse between Clarice Starling and Hannibal Lecter seen in the 1991 film probably had a psychosexual element. (Fans say the romantic part of Starling and Lecter’s cannibal romance aspect was teased out more in the Thomas Harris book.) But there is something so delicious about the palpable chemistry between Mads Mikkelsen and Hugh Dancy as Fuller’s version of Hannibal Lecter and Will Graham.
It was the kind of sticky connection that oozed through our TV screens. And all the bloodshed aside, Hannibal was the kind of sexy cannibal romance that kept us all coming back for a second plate.
1. Bones and All, dir. Luca Guadagnino
Courtesy of Yannis Drakoulidis / Metro Goldwyn Mayer Pictures
If there were a Hall of Fame for cannibal movies, especially cannibal romances, then Luca Guadagnino’sBones and Allshould be the first ever inductee.
One of Guadagnino’s talents is infusing tenderness into the most controversial stories, from the forbidden-age-gap romance of Call Me By Your Name to the borderline emotionally abusive love triangle of Challengers. Bones and All is no exception.
Taylor Russell plays Maren, an off-putting girl with a taste for human flesh; Timothée Chalamet plays Lee, who is equally strange and also a cannibal. But somehow, you can’t help but root for these two weirdos to find their place in life. Even though they sustain themselves by killing people and eating them, you, as a viewer, feel like these two must be protected at all costs.
And therein lies the most special aspect of Bones and All. Even if you typically shy away from splatter horror and would never think a cannibal romance to be up your alley, you’re still touched by this coming-of-age love story, whose ultimate message is that eating someone’s flesh can be the ultimate act of love.
