Warning: This list contains spoilers, as well as many, MANY graphic and horrible scenes of people eating disgusting things. You have been warned.
I’ve watched a lot of horror movies, and as a result it takes a lot to shock me when I’m watching a film. But one thing that always gets to me is a disturbing eating scene. I couldn’t tell you why, exactly, but whenever I see someone consuming something disgusting – especially if that something is a piece of a human being – it makes me cringe like nothing else. What follows is a list of my top 5 (or bottom 5) most disturbing eating scenes from movies. In case the warning at the top of this post wasn’t indication enough, this is one revolting list, and many of the clips are NSFW.
5. eXisteNz – Chinese Restaurant
David Cronenberg is a master of the fleshy and disturbing, and this scene from his (highly underrated) eXistenZ is a perfect example. Tod Pikul (Jude Law) and Allegra Gellar (Jennifer Jason Leigh) are playing the virtual reality game of eXisteNz when they find themselves inside a Chinese restaurant. They order the special only to have a platter of disgusting mutant fish served to them. As disgusted as he is, Pikul can’t help but start eating – a reaction from his in-game character. The more he eats, the more it becomes clear that he’s actually assembling a gun out of fish bones. A gun that fires teeth! Gross and awesome, all at once.
4. Pink Flamingos – Divine eats dog doo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0g09RQfWEY4
John Waters’ cult movie Pink Flamingos features many acts of depravity, but none is more infamous than the scene of drag queen Divine eating dog feces. It may not be as disturbingly shot as the scenes from the other films on this list, but it’s definitely a disgusting watch, if only because Divine really is eating dog poo in this scene. Yes, that’s real dog doo. No special effects. Yuck, man.
3. Hannibal – Brain for dinner
In one of the final scenes of Ridley Scott’s unnecessary but at least entertaining sequel to Silence of the Lambs, Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins) has drugged Agent Paul Krendler (Ray Liotta) and performed some surgery on his head. Lecter removes the top of Krendler’s skull, cuts off a piece of his brain, fries it, and then feeds it back to him. It’s a pretty twisted scene, and the idea of someone unwittingly eating his own brain stuck with me for a while after I saw this movie. Call it food for thought. Eh? Eh? Also, I’ve gotta say, the special effects in this scene are pretty terrific, considering it was made almost a decade ago now.
2. Oldboy – Munching a live octopus
I featured this clip in my review of Oldboy previously, but it definitely deserves a spot on this list. That’s a real, live octopus that Oh Dae-su (Min-sik Choi) is devouring there. Once again, no special effects were used. Min-sik Choi apparently ate four live octopi (octopuses? Octopedes? Octopodes?) for this scene and, being a Buddhist, said a prayer for each one before the cameras rolled. It should be noted that eating live octopus is commonplace in Korea, but usually the octopus is sliced up first. Eew.
1. Naked Blood – Autocannibalism
The number one spot on my list goes to a movie that I’ve never even seen. But c’mon, just look at this clip! How can I not give the number one spot to this movie? Naked Blood is about a scientist who develops a chemical that creates an inversion between the pain and pleasure centers of the brain, causing the person who has imbibed the chemical to percieve pain as pleasure. This causes the three women who take the chemical to begin mutilating themselves in gruesome ways, but none is more gruesome than the woman who begins to eat herself, frying her fingers and biting them off, skewering her eyeball and eating it, and even cutting off her nipple and…well…part of her nether-regions and munching on them too. It’s horrible, and I can honestly say that after watching this clip, I have no interest in seeing the rest of the film.
Dishonorable Mentions:
In the Realm of the Senses – A man eats a hard-boiled egg that has been in a woman’s vagina.
Salo – A woman is forced to eat human feces.
The Tin Drum – After catching a bunch of eels using a dead horse’s head, the young boy at the center of the film is served them for dinner.
Audition – A mutilated man is served a bowl of vomit.
The Fly – Brundlefly eats a doughnut by puking acid on it.
The Human Centipede – If you’ve seen this, you know the scene I’m talking about. FEED HER! FEED HER!