In the second-to-last episode of The Last of Us, protagonist Ellie finds herself at the mercy of the leader of a religious community on the brink of starving to death. As the leader’s monstrosity reveals itself, we learn that the meat they’re all (barely) surviving on isn’t venison but the flesh of their dead. And season two of Yellowjackets has confirmed season one’s promise—that cannibalism is the way the titular girls’ soccer team endure the brutal conditions of the Canadian winter wilderness. In Bones and All (2022), two teenage cannibals fall in love. Fresh (2022), Dahmer (2022), and, going back a few years, Raw (2016), The Neon Demon (2016), and, of course, Hannibal (2013–2015)—Hollywood can’t get enough of this gruesome horror trope.
