Horror is an incredibly chummy genre. With every horror movie released, there’s a good chance – whether intentional or not – that it pays homage in some way to the films that came before it. It could be as obvious and generically broad as the color red, or it could be more intentional – something playful and cheeky like a J&B bottle on a liquor cart in the background.
These nods and flourishes are part of what make horror movies so fun and endearing for us, the rabid fans. They’re also probably part of the reason the movies themselves endure so long – at least partly so – even after multiple viewings. And spotting these homages doesn’t just make for an entertaining watch, it also makes for good internet: look at any horror blog today and I guarantee a majority of their film reviews, articles, and dissertations will make mention of just how referential horror movies are.
Some of these trends, though, however fun to spot, defy explanation. Whereas a blood-red color scheme or perhaps that ever popular hockey-mask-and-chainsaw trope need only the slightest understanding of the genre to make sense, the “hungry coroner” device (something not entirely restricted to ‘horror’) confounds interpretation, and seems to have been memetically passed along, inherited by successive movies and TV shows, with no real clarification or reasoning for its beginnings.
It’s such a recognizable conceit that other entertainment sites have made note of it, though they too seem befuddled as to its origins. It even pops up in Roger Ebert’s collection of clichés and conventions, Ebert’s Bigger Little Movie Glossary. As far as I was able to find, it first popped up in The Monster That Challenged the World, and it plays humorously – as it does in almost all of its other instances. Now why this character and trait are paired, I don’t know, but a few things are certain: it’s lasted several decades, been interpreted many ways by all sorts of genres, and isn’t confined to just American productions.
Below is a short collection of the few times “hungry coroner” has popped up in horror film and on TV. This is a far from comprehensive list. If you can think of any others, leave a note in the comments below!
(Lastly, Honorable Mentions go out to the following films, for which I was unable to get screen-grabs: The Howling, The New York Ripper, Night of the Creeps, Bride of Re-Animator, Jason Goes to Hell, Wolf Cop).
Camera Viscera 
My hubby used to be a grave digger, or cemetery caretaker, or groundskeeper, or whatever one might like to call it. Bottom line, he opened holes in the ground & filled them w/the dearly departed. It was unsettling when he began, but as they say, it was his job. I sit at a desk all day. No one thinks twice about eating lunch at your desk. He had to eat his lunch around dead people more than he liked. I can’t speak for all establishments, but he had some stories about the embalmers he worked with too. They work long hours & ya gotta eat or you end up on the slab too!
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How bizarre. I was just watching Street Trash after I put the kids to bed.
I guess it’s to show how nonchalant the characters are about being around dead bodies. Then again, maybe the food is tastier this way. I’ll pack a hoagie next time I go to a funeral and get back to you.
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Please, keep me posted!
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Sure will. I can’t wait until someone close to me dies. 🙂
I’m a terrible person.
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My personal favorite: The undertaker from The Blood Beast Terror. I believe he’s eating in each of his scenes.
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That’s awesome, I’ll have to track down some clips. And thanks for the suggestion – I was trying to find more from the ’60s and ’70s; I knew the trend didn’t pop up in the ’50s and then suddenly skip two decades!
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The Sphinx from “Gone in 60 seconds”
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