Bryan Fuller’s Hannibal (2013-2015) is a psychological horror-thriller that employs cannibalism to explore human displacement and (re)orientation. Hannibal transforms human bodies into culinary art, natural habitats, paintings, and other artistic installations. Drawing upon Sarah Ahmed’s theoretical framework, particularly the concept of “migrant orientation”, this paper analyzes how Hannibal employs horror to reveal body displacement and victim-murderer dynamics. The exotic pain of encounter eroticizes violence and displacement: the victims meet the cannibal serial killers; the bodies greet their murdering weapons/ culinary instruments; the consumed merge with the consumer. Furthermore, Hannibal presents various forms of displacement, including the human-animal hybrids and the ecological transformation of bodies into ecosystems, such as human corpses becoming beehives, flower baskets, mushroom beds, or fertilizer. The “zones of unmeeting” create the primary horror effects. These zones explore the spatiotemporal dynamics between victims and victimizers, exemplified by Dr. Abel Gideon, a serial killer who ironically becomes Hannibal’s prey and is served his own flesh. Like Gideon, Will Graham, the FBI criminal profiler, also grapples with “migrant orientation,” oscillating between reality and dream through the recurring image of the black stag who takes human shape too. It is concluded that despite the psychological and phenomenological potential of these spatiotemporal displacements, the series ultimately instrumentalized them for horror effect. The cinematography and script control the viewers’ perspective, denying them the opportunity to engage with the subjective experiences of displacement and the diverse motivations of the killers.

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