In the game Little Nightmares, guests enter a terrifying world where they gorge on the remains of children and other fellow guests. The protagonist, Six, isn’t faring so well either, considering the fact that her appetite becomes darker and more monstrous as the story continues. In his famous painting, Francesco Netti shows the results of a gladiator match that features drunk Romans feasting on food and alcohol. The painting is a morbid illustration of pleasuring yourself in vices, as gluttony caresses bloodshed in complete decadence. In Jonathan Maberry’s Dead of Night, the zombies infected by parasites can only think of eating more, feasting upon their fellow humans, all the while dragging along their corpses. The kindest of characters aren’t exempt from gluttony either; in the TV show Supernatural, Sam Winchester is consumed by his need for demonic blood, crossing numerous moral boundaries if only for his obsession. 

Gluttony is yet another sin horror writers have utilized. From the grotesque depictions of fat men and women gorging on a feast meant for demons, to monsters devouring whatever is nearby, if only for the desperate attempt to satiate their never-ending hunger, gluttony is the desire for more food, more sustenance, even when they don’t really need it. It’s that very kind of thing that has led horror writers to carve out terrifying scenes, tending the darkness to enshroud their characters' hearts completely. 

Then, of course, this isn’t surprising. Gluttony does, after all, have its home in human society. For instance, the United States perpetuates a culture of it, from simple stops at a fast food restaurant, to the full-blown Thanksgiving meal. We put things in our mouth that we consider food, and as long as it satisfies our appetites, we probably don’t care or want to hear where it comes from. Slaughterhouses? Human flesh? Doesn’t matter! It tastes good! 

As I’ve said with Maberry’s zombies, gluttony doesn’t just apply to humans; more often than not it pertains to supernatural creatures, many of which would give anything just to regain their humanity. The vampires in Sandy Benitez’s The Rosegiver feast on blood, endeavoring to feed their addiction while their own humanity slowly fades. In Michael Schultz Edging, the Boogeyman gorges on his victims’ fears like a starving man, all the while draping them in a cloak of death. Even in the anime Attack on Titan, the titans gorge themselves on human feasts just to reclaim a life that was once their own. 

Like the antagonists in a Gothic horror, gluttony has a tendency to slowly invade our thoughts, until we can only think about how wonderful it would be to finally satiate our hunger. But, unfortunately, our characters will never know this kind of satisfaction. They can only wander, searching for the thing that fills the emptiness inside; eat it, drink it, whatever they can do to make sure that they have their fill. Gluttony, like its predecessors, has a special place in horror, because it takes over the mind like an infection. It frightens the soul, and forces us to dwell on the thoughts we shouldn’t have in the first place.