Honey, why haven’t you touched your spaghetti? Did you watch The Killing of a Sacred Deer again?
Close-Up Culture name 10 films that the mere thought of leave you pushing your favourite meal around the plate.
American Pie (1999) – Apple Pie
A warm, classic American comfort food is forever ruined after Jason Biggs’ character decides to test out a piece of locker-room advice.
Spirited Away (2001) – Roast Duck
A gorgeous, glistening platter turns into a terrifying cautionary tale of greed as Chihiro’s parents relentlessly gorge themselves until they turn into pigs.
The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017) – Spaghetti
Yorgos Lanthimos makes the act of aggressively twirling noodles onto a fork feel like a tense, silent countdown to an inevitable and horrific curse.
Midsommar (2019) – Meat Pie
It looks like a wholesome, homemade pastry until you realise the deeply unsettling, intimate, and bodily secret ingredient baked inside.
Killer Joe (2011) – Fried Chicken
One single drumstick is used in an aggressively depraved scene that will make you permanently reconsider ordering a family bucket.
The Exorcist (1973) – Pea Soup
Cinema’s most famous case of turning a mundane, comforting can of soup into an object of pure, stomach-turning dread.
Hereditary (2018) – Walnuts
A seemingly innocent party dessert becomes a harbinger of pure dread due to a hidden allergen, setting off one of modern horror’s most sudden, tragic sequences.
The Shining (1980) – Ice Cream
An innocent conversation over bowls of chocolate ice cream turns deeply chilling as the true, telepathic weight of Danny’s trauma sinks in.
The Substance (2024) – Prawns
A wet, extreme close-up of a cocktail platter becomes completely grotesque as the film uses eating to highlight a toxic relationship with the body.
Matilda (1996) – Chocolate Cake
Bruce Bogtrotter being forced to consume a massive cake made with the cook’s actual “sweat and blood” turns a delicious dessert into a grueling, stomach-churning punishment.
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