10 Deliciously Disturbing Horror Movies About Food

The Menu is one of the more recent and upmarket food horror films. Set on a remote luxury island, The Menu has a select guest list invited to attend an exclusive dining experience created by masterchef Chef Julian Slowik. However, the elegant evening quickly unravels after it becomes clear that the patrons will not survive the feast.

Featuring some beautifully orchestrated dishes that look lifted directly from a Michelin-starred restaurant, The Menu is sure to get your mouth watering. I define anyone to watch it and to not leave craving the cheeseburger that Anya Taylor-Joy’s character is given.

Originally envisioned as a sequel to Blood Feast, Blood Diner was eventually reworked into the ‘80s cult movie that it has become. Directed by Jackie Kong, Blood Diner follows two brothers who use their rundown diner to lure in victims in order to sacrifice them, and hopefully awaken an Egyptian goddess.

Featuring over the top gore, a reanimated talking head of the brother’s dead uncle who is pushing them to get new victims, and a death which turns one victim’s head into a deep fried donut, Blood Diner is one of the wackier food-based horrors. 

Speaking of wacky horror, no one does over-the-top movie insanity better than Troma. The low-budget production company is renowned for making splatter-filled remakes and reimaginings of classic texts such as Tromeo and Juliet (which was an early credit for James Gunn). Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead is an obvious homage to both Poltergeist and Night of the Living Dead, but only Troma could have thought up something as bizarre as this.

The story finds fast food workers battling zombified chickens after their new restaurant is built atop an ancient burial ground. You’ll never think of KFC the same way again after Poultrygeist. 

You can be forgiven for having not heard of Honeydew, but if you like movies where food gives you the ick, then it needs to be added to your watchlist pronto. Directed by Devereux Milburn and starring Sawyer (son of Steven) Spielberg, Honeydew follows a couple who look for help in the wrong place after their car breaks down.

The reserved family have a very extreme cannibalistic diet, but unlike Leatherface and his family, they believe in keeping their ‘livestock’ alive for as long as possible. Even without the cannibal slant, the food in Honeydew has been shot in such a way that it turns your stomach so just make sure that you skip the snacks for this one.

Ice Cream Man got a remake this year, but after critics and cinemagoers alike savaged it, the only version of this story to seek out is the original. Starring genre hero Clint Howard, Ice Cream Man follows one man’s experimentations with the dessert food as he blends insects and body parts into his creations.

The children on his round are soon onto him, but they struggle to get the authorities to listen, leading to a massive amount of bloodshed. 

Nick Stahl stars as a chef who gets in over his head in What You Wish For. His character is invited to spend time with his old culinary school friend who appears to have hit the job jackpot. He’s working out of a lavish apartment in paradise and Stahl’s character can’t help but be jealous.

However, he regrets these thoughts when, in light of a tragedy, he finds himself assuming his friends identity and becoming the chef for a very exclusive dinner party where the produce is as taboo as you can get.

When it comes to making twisted horror stories, no market does it better than Asian Cinema. It makes sense, then, that one of the most stomach-churning food-based horrors is Hong Kong’s Dumplings. Directed by the aptly-named Fruit Chan, Dumplings began life as a segment in anthology horror Three…Extremes, before being expanded to feature length.

The plot sees a scorned wife take radical measures to look young and beautiful for her husband. She gets word of a dumpling recipe with rejuvenative properties and, although initially disgusted by their key ingredient, she is soon happily tucking into the depraved delicacy. 

The Stuff is a rather unsubtle commentary on consumerism and junk food, but it is also a lot of fun. After a group of construction workers find a mysterious sweet, marshmallowy-white substance oozing out of the ground, it is packaged up and marked as ‘The Stuff’. Marketed as a calorie free alternative to yoghurt and ice-cream, The Stuff comes with the unwanted side effect of turning those that eat it into mindless zombies.

More satire than straight horror, The Stuff still has plenty going for it to make a tasty accompaniment to dessert.

In Lee Haven Jones’ The Feast, a Welsh dinner party hosted by a wealthy family comes unstuck after they hire a local girl called Cadi to cater. Although the food that Cadi prepares is fine, there is more to the near-silent girl than it first seems. She appears to have a kinship with nature, leading to some rather unfortunate accidents for the party guests.

A film that explores man’s destructive qualities and the overriding message that Mother Nature should be respected at all costs, The Feast is a moreish food-adjacent horror perfect for the folk horror enthusiast.

Attack of the Killer Tomatoes is a B-Movie parody of films like Jaws and The Birds that sought to show that anything can be turned into a horror story, if the willingness is there. The film opens with a woman being murdered by a tomato that escapes the garbage disposal unit, and also features a man dying by drinking tomato juice, as well as a small boy being devoured by a killer tomato.

Super camp and silly, Attack of the Killer Tomatoes is the perfect palate cleanser after a hard week in the office. For those after more tomato-based carnage, the film spawned several sequels, including 2026’s Attack of the Killer Tomatoes: Organic Intelligence.