The Scariest Food Moments in Film History, According to Our Editors

Eating is something that can bring us joy, but it also can trigger disgust — and even horror. We all have those foods from our childhood that make our stomach churn. We all have found a piece of fruit left in the back of our fridge that has turned rotten, found a bug in our food, seen someone chewing with their mouth open, or gotten a terrible case of food poisoning. Some of the freakiest moments in film history aren’t from jump scares or gore — they’re the moments that bring our most disgusting food memories to life. Our editors shared their most horrifying, nauseating, skin-crawling movie scenes featuring food.

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

“The psychedelic boat trip in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory might be a scary scene, but to me, Violet Beauregarde’s demise is scarier. It’s a whiplash change from excitement to terror as the gum-chewing brat turns purple and blows up into a blueberry, then is rolled away, never to be seen again.” — Jason Horn, Senior Commerce Writer

Eraserhead (1977): Carving the chicken

“These days, I consider myself a seasoned veteran of all things David Lynch, desensitized to even his most intense moments of violence, humor, and surrealism. But as a college student watching Eraserhead for the first time, I found it to be quite a distressing experience. (My friend even told me later that I spent most of the screening just mumbling, “No. No. No.”) There are many wild moments in this fairly abstract work of art, but the abrasive dining scene where Henry, the protagonist, goes to dinner with his girlfriend’s parents is one of the most memorable. He sets out to carve a chicken at the table, which appears to still be, uh, moving. I don’t even want to type out what happens next, but let’s just say it’s a pretty ‘rare’ moment of horror.” — Adam Rothbarth, Commerce Writer

The Lost Boys (1987): The rice are maggots

“Ever had that nightmare where you’re eating some food but then it turns out to be some horrible, wriggling insects? You might have The Lost Boys to thank. Under the psychic powers of vampire David (a young Kiefer Sutherland), our main character Michael takes a bit of some rice, only to find out it’s actually maggots. Then he reaches for the noodles, but inside the Chinese takeout container — they’re worms! It’s a jump-scare that hits on a deep visceral level.” — 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 weird folklore of the British Isles. Reveling in British eccentricity and squirmy symbolism, the film quickly establishes that it does not take itself too seriously. At a dinner party, a hungry young archaeology student digs into the ‘local speciality.’ Hugh Grant, who plays the lord of the manor, cannot contain his smirk of delight as he reveals that the recipe — pickled earthworms in aspic — is ‘not to everyone’s taste.’” — Dan Bailey, Senior Photo Editor

Beetlejuice (1988): Shrimpy hands

“I love a dance party, but not when it ends with a shrimp monster’s hand in my face. Beetlejuice is full of wacky, weird, and spooky moments, but for some reason, the only one that gets to me is the dinner party scene. When the group sits down for dinner, they break out into song and dance as ‘Banana Boat’ by Harry Belafonte possesses them. The sequence is so hilarious that what happens next is a jump scare like no other. When they sit down and finish their song, the shrimp cocktails in front of them transform into hands that pop out of their glasses, grab their faces and push them down. I always think about what it would be like to have smelly, shrimpy fingers wrapped around my face. No dance party is worth that.” — AS

Seven (1995): Gluttony

“The most horrifying food moment I’ve ever seen in a movie takes place in Seven, which I saw as a teenager when it was first released in theaters. In the film, Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman play detectives trying to capture a serial killer whose murders are themed to the ‘seven deadly sins.’ The first victim in the film will stick with me forever: gluttony personified as a man who’s been tied to a chair in front of a set table in the creepiest dining room in the universe, and forced to eat spaghetti until his stomach bursts.” — Karen Shimizu, Executive Editor

Matilda (1996): Bruce! Bruce! Bruce!

“No matter how much I’m enjoying a slice of chocolate cake, I still get vivid flashbacks of that one gut-churning scene in Matilda. Evil principal Miss Trunchbull accuses a young student, Bruce, of stealing her favorite cake. As a punishment, he’s forced onstage to eat an entire, massive chocolate cake that the school cook’s sweat and blood went into, all in one sitting. Watching that as a kid was very disturbing, and it’s honestly impressive how that movie turned a delicious dessert into something so sickening. That scene will forever be ingrained in my mind, but will I ever turn down a slice of chocolate cake? Never.” — Bianca Trinidad, Associate Social Media Editor

Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me (1992): Creamed corn garmonbozia

“A casual Twin Peaks fan might associate David Lynch and Mark Frost’s groundbreaking TV show/film/books/audio recordings/waking hallucination with kitschy cherry pie and coffee iconography, and that’s definitely part of the ethos. But the true dark, edible heart of this multivalent art project comes in the form of garmonbozia — a physical manifestation of human pain and sorrow that looks uncannily like creamed corn. It first appears in the second season of the TV show, first on the plate of an elderly woman receiving a Meals on Wheels delivery, then mysteriously in the cupped hands of her grandson across the room. In the Twin Peaks prequel and feature film, Fire Walk With Me, those same two characters and various demonic denizens of the purgatorial Black Lodge are depicted slurping and occasionally howling for this nightmare fuel as they go about the business of basically desecrating everything that is pure and good about mortals. It’s my favorite show and movie of all time. I avoid sections of the canned food aisle.”  – Kat Kinsman, Executive Features Editor

Spirited Away (2001): Pig parents

“Someone made the mistake of showing me Spirited Away when I was eight. Although it’s been 19 years since then, there’s one scene that’s burned into my mind in photographic detail. The parents of Chihiro, the central character, gorge themselves on food at an abandoned amusement park until they transform into pigs. It’s a visceral and graphic reflection on excess, and it’s one of the few pieces of art I’ve witnessed that makes food seem repulsive. I was likely too young to grasp the meaning of the scene, so maybe I should rewatch Spirited Away now that I’m at an age where I can really appreciate it.” — Merlyn Miller, Editor, News & Trending

Oldboy (2003): A feast of octopus

“Oldboy is more action movie than horror movie, but it has a dark premise: After 15 years in captivity, a deranged man takes bloody revenge on his mysterious kidnappers. But nothing in this classic is as memorable as the scene when a newly freed Oh Dae-su walks into a sushi restaurant and devours a live octopus, whole and squirming. It’s an uncomfortable watch, and one made even more uncomfortable when you learn (as I did when I looked up the scene just now to write this) that actor Choi Min-sik wound up eating four live octopuses shooting the scene — and that he’s a vegetarian.” — JH

Only Lovers Left Alive (2013): Blood popsicles

“Long term relationships can be challenging, and even more so when you’re an immortal couple who’ve already been married for centuries. In Jim Jarmusch’s contribution to the canon of vampire lore, Tilda Swinton’s Eve does most of the emotional labor to keep the marriage fresh. In this little moment of the film, she attempts to cheer up her morose husband Adam (Tom Hiddleston), with a surprise recipe she’s been experimenting with: type O negative blood popsicles. Her thoughtful gesture does little to lift the gloom of his existential crisis.” — DB

Triangle of Sadness (2022): A bad case of seasickness

“Personally, I’m not sure the Palme d’Or-winning Triangle of Sadness succeeds as a social satire, a comedy, or even a vague political statement. But as a movie about rich people eating bad food on a cruise during a storm and becoming violently ill, you can’t really deny its potency. Imagine the worst food poisoning you’ve ever had, and then picture experiencing it at a dinner table where everyone else is having the same issue. It continues to make me second guess my desire to go on a cruise, that’s for sure.” — AR

The Substance (2024): Shrimply the worst

“The Substance was, by far, the grossest movie I’ve ever seen. Sure, there was a spine torn apart, projectile vomiting, and even a chicken leg pulled out of a belly button, but to me, what took the cake was Dennis Quaid eating shrimp. Portraying a slimy television producer aptly named ‘Harvey,’ the prolonged scene showed Quaid peeling and eating dozens of head-on prawns. Everything about it is disgusting; he chews with his mouth open, has shrimp guts smeared on his hands and face, and spits shells all over the table. In a film that is so surreal, the realistic depiction of a despicable, disrespectful man makes me squirm from the inside out.”  — AS