The Scariest Meals Moments in Movie Historical past, In accordance with Our Editors

Consuming is one thing that may carry us pleasure, nevertheless it can also set off disgust — and even horror. All of us have these meals from our childhood that make our abdomen churn. All of us have discovered a bit of fruit left at the back of our fridge that has turned rotten, discovered a bug in our meals, seen somebody chewing with their mouth open, or gotten a horrible case of meals poisoning. Among the freakiest moments in movie historical past aren’t from soar scares or gore — they’re the moments that carry our most disgusting meals recollections to life. Our editors shared their most horrifying, nauseating, skin-crawling film scenes that includes meals.

Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Manufacturing facility (1971): “Violet, you’re turning Violet, Violet!”

“The psychedelic boat journey in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Manufacturing facility is likely to be a scary scene, however to me, Violet Beauregarde’s demise is scarier. It’s a whiplash change from pleasure to terror because the gum-chewing brat turns purple and blows up right into a blueberry, then is rolled away, by no means to be seen once more.” — Jason Horn, Senior Commerce Author

Eraserhead (1977): Carving the hen

“As of late, I think about myself a seasoned veteran of all issues David Lynch, desensitized to even his most intense moments of violence, humor, and surrealism. However as a school scholar watching Eraserhead for the primary time, I discovered it to be fairly a distressing expertise. (My buddy even advised me later that I spent a lot of the screening simply mumbling, “No. No. No.”) There are lots of wild moments on this pretty summary murals, however the abrasive eating scene the place Henry, the protagonist, goes to dinner along with his girlfriend’s mother and father is without doubt one of the most memorable. He units out to carve a hen on the desk, which seems to nonetheless be, uh, shifting. I don’t even wish to kind out what occurs subsequent, however let’s simply say it’s a reasonably ‘uncommon’ second of horror.” — Adam Rothbarth, Commerce Author

The Misplaced Boys (1987): The rice are maggots

“Ever had that nightmare the place you’re consuming some meals however then it seems to be some horrible, wriggling bugs? You may need The Misplaced Boys to thank. Below the psychic powers of vampire David (a younger Kiefer Sutherland), our foremost character Michael takes a little bit of some rice, solely to seek out out it’s truly maggots. Then he reaches for the noodles, however contained in the Chinese language takeout container — they’re worms! It’s a jump-scare that hits on a deep visceral degree.” — JH

Lair Of The White Worm (1988): Pickled earthworms in aspic 

“Ken Russell’s adaptation of a lesser-known Bram Stoker novel pays homage to the bizarre folklore of the British Isles. Reveling in British eccentricity and squirmy symbolism, the movie shortly establishes that it doesn’t take itself too critically. At a cocktail party, a hungry younger archaeology scholar digs into the ‘native speciality.’ Hugh Grant, who performs the lord of the manor, can’t include his smirk of pleasure as he reveals that the recipe — pickled earthworms in aspic — is ‘to not everybody’s style.’” — Dan Bailey, Senior Picture Editor

Beetlejuice (1988): Shrimpy arms

“I really like a dance occasion, however not when it ends with a shrimp monster’s hand in my face. Beetlejuice is filled with wacky, bizarre, and spooky moments, however for some motive, the one one which will get to me is the feast scene. When the group sits down for dinner, they get away into music and dance as ‘Banana Boat’ by Harry Belafonte possesses them. The sequence is so hilarious that what occurs subsequent is a soar scare like no different. Once they sit down and end their music, the shrimp cocktails in entrance of them rework into arms that come out of their glasses, seize their faces and push them down. I at all times take into consideration what it might be wish to have smelly, shrimpy fingers wrapped round my face. No dance occasion is value that.” — AS

Seven (1995): Gluttony

“Probably the most horrifying meals second I’ve ever seen in a film takes place in Seven, which I noticed as a young person when it was first launched in theaters. Within the movie, Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman play detectives making an attempt to seize a serial killer whose murders are themed to the ‘seven lethal sins.’ The primary sufferer within the movie will stick to me endlessly: gluttony personified as a person who’s been tied to a chair in entrance of a set desk within the creepiest eating room within the universe, and compelled to eat spaghetti till his abdomen bursts.” — Karen Shimizu, Govt Editor

Matilda (1996): Bruce! Bruce! Bruce!

“Irrespective of how a lot I’m having fun with a slice of chocolate cake, I nonetheless get vivid flashbacks of that one gut-churning scene in Matilda. Evil principal Miss Trunchbull accuses a younger scholar, Bruce, of stealing her favourite cake. As a punishment, he’s pressured onstage to eat a complete, large chocolate cake that the varsity cook dinner’s sweat and blood went into, multi function sitting. Watching that as a child was very disturbing, and it’s truthfully spectacular how that film turned a scrumptious dessert into one thing so sickening. That scene will endlessly be ingrained in my thoughts, however will I ever flip down a slice of chocolate cake? By no means.” — Bianca Trinidad, Affiliate Social Media Editor

Twin Peaks: Fireplace Stroll With Me (1992): Creamed corn garmonbozia

“An off-the-cuff Twin Peaks fan may affiliate David Lynch and Mark Frost’s groundbreaking TV present/movie/books/audio recordings/waking hallucination with kitschy cherry pie and low iconography, and that is undoubtedly a part of the ethos. However the true darkish, edible coronary heart of this multivalent artwork undertaking comes within the type of garmonbozia — a bodily manifestation of human ache and sorrow that appears uncannily like creamed corn. It first seems within the second season of the TV present, first on the plate of an aged lady receiving a Meals on Wheels supply, then mysteriously within the cupped arms of her grandson throughout the room. Within the Twin Peaks prequel and have movie, Fireplace Stroll With Me, those self same two characters and numerous demonic denizens of the purgatorial Black Lodge are depicted slurping and infrequently howling for this nightmare gas as they go in regards to the enterprise of mainly desecrating every little thing that’s pure and good about mortals. It is my favourite present and film of all time. I keep away from sections of the canned meals aisle.”  – Kat Kinsman, Govt Options Editor

Spirited Away (2001): Pig mother and father

“Somebody made the error of displaying me Spirited Away after I was eight. Though it’s been 19 years since then, there’s one scene that’s burned into my thoughts in photographic element. The mother and father of Chihiro, the central character, gorge themselves on meals at an deserted amusement park till they rework into pigs. It’s a visceral and graphic reflection on extra, and it’s one of many few items of artwork I’ve witnessed that makes meals appear repulsive. I used to be doubtless too younger to understand the that means of the scene, so possibly I ought to rewatch Spirited Away now that I’m at an age the place I can actually recognize it.” — Merlyn Miller, Editor, Information & Trending

Oldboy (2003): A feast of octopus

“Oldboy is extra motion film than horror film, nevertheless it has a darkish premise: After 15 years in captivity, a deranged man takes bloody revenge on his mysterious kidnappers. However nothing on this traditional is as memorable because the scene when a newly freed Oh Dae-su walks right into a sushi restaurant and devours a dwell octopus, entire and squirming. It’s an uncomfortable watch, and one made much more uncomfortable while you study (as I did after I regarded up the scene simply now to jot down this) that actor Choi Min-sik wound up consuming 4 dwell octopuses capturing the scene — and that he’s a vegetarian.” — JH

Solely Lovers Left Alive (2013): Blood popsicles

“Long run relationships may be difficult, and much more so while you’re an immortal couple who’ve already been married for hundreds of years. In Jim Jarmusch’s contribution to the canon of vampire lore, Tilda Swinton’s Eve does a lot of the emotional labor to maintain the wedding recent. On this little second of the movie, she makes an attempt to cheer up her morose husband Adam (Tom Hiddleston), with a shock recipe she’s been experimenting with: kind O damaging blood popsicles. Her considerate gesture does little to carry the gloom of his existential disaster.” — DB

Triangle of Unhappiness (2022): A nasty case of seasickness

“Personally, I’m unsure the Palme d’Or-winning Triangle of Unhappiness succeeds as a social satire, a comedy, or perhaps a obscure political assertion. However as a film about wealthy folks consuming unhealthy meals on a cruise throughout a storm and changing into violently sick, you possibly can’t actually deny its efficiency. Think about the worst meals poisoning you’ve ever had, after which image experiencing it at a dinner desk the place everybody else is having the identical problem. It continues to make me second guess my need to go on a cruise, that’s for positive.” — AR

The Substance (2024): Shrimply the worst

“The Substance was, by far, the grossest film I’ve ever seen. Positive, there was a backbone torn aside, projectile vomiting, and even a hen leg pulled out of a stomach button, however to me, what took the cake was Dennis Quaid consuming shrimp. Portraying a slimy tv producer aptly named ‘Harvey,’ the extended scene confirmed Quaid peeling and consuming dozens of head-on prawns. Every little thing about it’s disgusting; he chews along with his mouth open, has shrimp guts smeared on his arms and face, and spits shells all around the desk. In a movie that’s so surreal, the reasonable depiction of a despicable, disrespectful man makes me squirm from the within out.”  — AS