10 Most Gruesome TV Shows Of All Time

NBC must have thought they had a sure thing with Hannibal - an adaptation of the series of Thomas Harris novels that led to a Best Picture Win, an infamous Anthony Hopkins performance and plenty of backstory to build upon. They also had Bryan Fuller in toe, already riding high on the success of Dead Like Me and his work on the Star Trek franchise.

But what NBC didn't expect was the level of heightened, almost surreal levels of gore that were once - a century earlier - reserved for Penny Dreadfuls. The levels of macabre Hannibal reaches - while still retaining much of the plots of some of the novels - have yet to be surpassed on network television. People born out of cows, men eating their own faces, flesh peeled off in the shape of angel wings, eels shoved down throats, and arms and legs served like appetizers are just a handful of the sickening violence Hannibal threw at its audience week after week.

Even more disturbing than the violence is how Fuller demands its audience approach it; with a morbid curiosity. A human leg, glazed and displayed elegantly on a silver platter, does look perversely appetizing.

Despite a seemingly clear climax after being cancelled for its cult-only following, fans have been clamoring for another season or at least a film. Fuller and cast have hinted at it, but it seems unlikely.