The following post may contain brief spoilers on plot points of the following films and television series: Yellowjackets (2021-), Fresh (2022), Bones and All (2022), Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story (2022), The Menu (2022), The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover (1989), as well as the themes and story of the concept album Preacher’s Daughter from Ethel Cain.

In 2022, the world was fascinated by the “eater”. A term used in Luca Guadagnino’s 2022 film based on the novel of the same title Bones and All to describe cannibals, it is clear this was not the only piece of media surrounding this group. The year began with premiere of the final few episodes of season 1 of a new series, Yellowjackets, which follows a group of girls whose plane crashes, as they try to survive in the wilderness. Often compared with the 1954 novel Lord of the Flies, the season teases cannibalism throughout, introduced as early as the first episode. This was followed with Mimi Cave’s directorial debut Fresh, which follows a young woman trying to survive after she begins dating a cannibal, unbeknownst to her. A few months later, the world later came to be obsessed with Netflix’s new series in September 2022, with the release of Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, telling the story of the infamous serial killer and cannibal. Breaking records as one of Netflix’s most watched shows, although I chose not to watch this series, it became one of Netflix’s most watched English-language TV series. In November, following its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in September, The Menu was released. While the film itself did not feature cannibalism, the trailers and marketing seemed to lead viewers heavily towards ideas of cannibalism, with many advertisements pushing the idea of “a lavish tasting menu, along with some shocking surprises”. I, too, thought these surprises and film would end up following a route towards cannibalism, predicting the plot to follow more closely to that of the 1989 cult classic The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover. Similarly, this film makes commentary on consumption and greed, with a story based around food, but in contrast, ends with a cannibalistic act. The year concluded with the November release of Bones and All, Guadagnino’s newest film based on the novel of the same title, following Maren and Lee, two “eaters” as they travel through the country to learn about Maren’s past. Apart from films, May 2022 brought the release of Ethel Cain’s concept album Preacher’s Daughter, which tells the story of a girl who has lost her religion, and runs away from home with a man, who in the end violently murders and cannibalizes her. Gaining popularity near the end of the year on both TikTok, and as a result of the inclusion of Cain’s “American Teenager” on former president Barack Obama’s list of favourite songs of 2022, it was not only films that fed our apparent craving for this type of story.

So what was with our collective interest in cannibal films last year? It’s not like there have not been a number of films with these themes and plot points before, some notable ones including Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974), Silence of the Lambs (1991), and Raw (2016). Have we reached a point of overconsumption of horror films that has led us to want to view stories of horrors that truly make our skin crawl? Why does Maren’s love and coming-of-age story in Bones and All feel so relatable despite her cravings? Are we now too desensitized to what we see on screen, becoming obsessed with spectacle, and thus seeking out the exhibition of the stories of real life serial killers in retellings on TV?

Over the year, we have seen our need for this spectacle grow and be used throughout so many aspects of media, interweaving traditional stories with our latest obsession. A nightmare often imagined by those dating in the modern world come to life in Fresh. Religious trauma, guilt, and female rage explored, with a disturbing finale song featuring cannibalism in Preacher’s Daughter. A personal exploration of romance and the body betraying its owner while coming-of-age in Bones and All. Playing into our new collective interest in their advertisements to intrigue us enough to see The Menu, and to tease audiences about future episodes of Yellowjackets. With this common thread of the “eater” between so much art released last year, I am curious to see as we move forward, if our interests in what we want watch on screen become even more grotesque. Will we become used to these stories and need something new to keep them interesting? Will we return to a simpler story of themes and subject matter more digestible to all viewers? In the end, no matter what one’s thoughts are on the subject matter, I can safely say that at the beginning of 2022, I was not expecting for a film about two young drifters with appetites for human flesh to be one of the most romantic films of the year.