The reasons for cannibalism include the following:

• As sanctioned by a cultural norm
• By necessity in extreme situations of famine
• Caused by insanity or social deviancy
  • Note that cannibalism is not mentioned in the formal index of insanity, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, presumably due to its rarity. The medical literature on the topic is likewise sparse. Cecil Adams discussed this in a 2004 edition in his popular newspaper column The Straight Dope headed "Eat or be eaten: Is cannibalism a pathology as listed in the DSM-IV?."

There are fundamentally two kinds of cannibalistic social behavior; endocannibalism (eating humans from the same community) and exocannibalism (eating humans from other communities).

The social stigma against cannibalism has been used as an aspect of propaganda against an enemy by accusing them of acts of cannibalism to separate them from their humanity. The Carib tribe in the Lesser Antilles, from whom the word cannibalism derives, for example, acquired a longstanding reputation as cannibals following the recording of their legends by Fr. Breton in the 17th century. Some controversy exists over the accuracy of these legends and the prevalence of actual cannibalism in the culture.

During their period of expansion in the 15th through 17th centuries, Europeans equated cannibalism with evil and savagery. In the 16th century, Pope Innocent IV declared cannibalism a sin deserving to be punished by Christians through force of arms and Queen Isabella of Spain decreed that Spanish colonists could only legally enslave natives who were cannibals, giving the colonists an economic interest in making such allegations. This was used as a justification for employing violent means to subjugate native people. This theme dates back to Columbus' accounts of a supposedly ferocious group of man-eaters who lived in the Caribbean islands and parts of South America called the Caniba, which gave us the word cannibal.

The Korowai tribe of southeastern Papua could be one of the last surviving tribes in the world engaging in cannibalism, although there have been media reports of soldiers/rebels in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Liberia eating body parts to intimidate child soldiers or captives. Marvin Harris has analyzed cannibalism and other food taboos. He argued that it was common when humans lived in small bands, but disappeared in the transition to states, the Aztecs being an exception.

A well known case of mortuary cannibalism is that of the Fore tribe in New Guinea which resulted in the spread of the prion disease Kuru. It is often believed to be well-documented, although no eyewitnesses have ever been at hand. Some scholars argue that although postmortem dismemberment was the practice during funeral rites, cannibalism was not. Marvin Harris theorizes that it happened during a famine period coincident with the arrival of Europeans and was rationalized as a religious rite.

Cannibals

Three Finger

Three Finger is the main antagonist of the Wrong Turn film series. He is a cannibal with great physical deformity caused by toxic chemicals he was exposed to at birth, alongside his two brothers. He is a skilled trap maker, crafting his traps so well that they often kill his victims before he can enact horrific acts of violence upon them.

• In Wrong Turn He made his first appearance as the primary antagonist alongside his two brothers, attacking the medical student, Chris Flynn and the group of friends including Jessie Burlingame, Carly Marquez, Scott, Evan, and Francine, However, in the end of the film, Three Finger manages to survive as he was last seen killing the deputy sheriff as he investigates the destroyed cabin. However, his brothers were presumably dead.
• In Wrong Turn 2: Dead End He become in the secondary antagonist alongside Ma and Pa, he is seen killing Kimberly by cutting her into half with the help of Brother, a member of the cannibal family. Then, he and the mutant family begin their brutal assault on the rest of the contestants as he successfully killed Neil, a television crew member and captured Colonel Dale Murphy with the help of Pa. Later, he was seen torturing Dale in his cabin but Dale somehow manages to escape before engaging Three Finger in the knife fight. During the fight, Dale manages to shoot Three Finger on his chest with a shotgun and as the result, he was presumed dead, but he survives.
• In Wrong Turn 3: Left For Dead He serves as the primary antagonist again in the third film, he is trying to kill a group of hikers and prisoners, and he is killed at the end of the film, stabbed in the head with his hook and blown up on top of a car.
• In Wrong Turn 4: Bloody Beginnings and Wrong Turn 5: Bloodlines He is also the primary antagonist again in the prequel films alongside his two original brothers. During the series, he has been blown up, stabbed, impaled, and shot various times, and yet survived; he is also very skillful at creating traps that will instantly kill the victims before he finishes his cruel job on them. In addition, he also has the unnatural ability of regenerating.
• In Wrong Turn 6: Last Resort He returns as the main antagonist again alongside his two original brothers.

Saw Tooth

Saw Tooth, like his two brothers, first appears in Wrong Turn. He is the biggest and strongest of the family. He is killed at the end of the first film and does not appear again until the first prequel, Wrong Turn 4: Bloody Beginnings, Wrong Turn 5: Bloodlines and then Wrong Turn 6: Last Resort.

One Eye

First appears in Wrong Turn. Just like Saw Tooth, he dies in the first film, and does not make another appearance until the fourth, fifth film and sixth film.

Other Cannibals

Wrong Turn 2: Dead End introduces a family of four cannibals called Ma, Pa, Brother and Sister. The two young siblings are shown to have an incestuous relationship; Sister even gets extremely jealous and angry when she catches Brother spying on a human girl. Ma gives birth to a mutant baby (Three Finger's son) before she (and the rest of her family) is killed. The movie ends with Three Finger caring for the baby. The baby becomes known as Three-Toe in Wrong Turn 3: Left for Dead. Three-Toe is killed by a group of convicts, and his head left as a warning. Three Finger finds Three-Toe's severed head, which makes him furious. He creates a shrine and leaves the head on display in his cabin.

Maynard Odets/Old Man

He appeared in the first two films, Wrong Turn and Wrong Turn 2: Dead End and later returned in Wrong Turn 5: Bloodlines, is a recurring character in the Wrong Turn series, and is revealed and considers himself to be guardian of the mutants. He is the father of the main three, One-Eye, Saw-Tooth, and Three-Finger, as well as Ma and Pa. He took on the role of misleading victims into the family's direction to get killed. A few years later, he now patched things up with his family, possibly due to Saw Tooth and One Eye being killed. He had his own cabin in the woods and was still taking on the role of misleading victims, until his death at the hands of Dale Murphy.