Top 10 Movies That Make You Go Meatless

‘Cuz why not? Here they are – the top 10 films that’ll inspire you to go vegetarian. Let us know which ones you like best, or feel free to add to the list in the comments.

• Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead (2008). See the KFC-esque “American Chicken Bunker” get skewered in this film about chickens who return from the grave to seek revenge against their killers. Throw in a few lesbian protesters, musical numbers about Native American burial grounds, and fry-o-lators, and you’ve got yourself a vegetarian-manifesto masterpiece.
• Soylent Green (1973). Overpopulation and environmental devastation have led to a world where food is scarce and prices have sky-rocketed (sound familiar?), and the only way to survive is by eating a mysterious food called “Soylent Green.” But the real food for thought is when Chuck Heston discovers that “Soylent Green is people!” (Please, pass the veggies!)
• Babe (1995). This film has turned legions of people into vegetarians—including its star, James Cromwell—because who could “pig out” again after watching that cute little piglet charm Farmer Hogett?
• Delicatessen (1991). As if foie gras weren’t disgusting enough, this post-apocalyptic comedy gives new meaning to “French cuisine” when a landlord serves cannibalistic meals to his tenants.
• Fast Food Nation (2006). This film takes a compelling look at the destructive impact that eating meat has on animals, people’s health, and the environment. Bruce Willis’ “tough talk” scene about the suspect ingredients found in meat—while chomping on a huge burger—is priceless.
• The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974). Leatherface and his family members really know how to throw a dinner party: blood, gore, and all the human flesh that you can eat. Hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons calls The Texas Chainsaw Massacre a “vegetarian” movie. “The way that woman was screaming, ‘Aaaahhh,’ and she’s running away—that’s how every animal you eat is running for his or her life,” he says.
• Super Size Me (2004). Morgan Spurlock documents the ill effects that his 30-day, McDonald’s-only diet has on his body, giving new meaning to the phrase “Big Mac attack.”
• Chicken Run (2000). That’s right: Laying hens don’t “retire”—they get turned into “Mrs. Tweedy’s Homemade Chicken Pies.” This movie is the best that celluloid (and clay) has to offer in making the case for scrambled tofu.
• Sweeney Todd (2007). This tells the story of a demon barber who conspires with a woman who uses human flesh in her meat pies. The only thing yummy in this blood-splattered spectacle is Johnny Depp.
• I Am an Animal (2007). Showing everything from undercover video footage shot inside a turkey slaughterhouse to a rescued turkey singing along to classical music, this documentary about PETA founder Ingrid E. Newkirk is one of the best cases for a Tofurky Thanksgiving.

As Ingrid Newkirk puts it, “Picking up the remote can become a life-changing act when you watch one of these movies. If animals wrote movie reviews, they’d give these films two paws up.”

Also check out Veganflix, a website that curates animal justice and vegan videos.