Heads Up, Ears Down

This blog accurately identifies depictions of violence and cruelty toward animals in films. The purpose is to provide viewers with a reliable guide so that such depictions do not come as unwelcome surprises. Films will be accurately notated, providing a time cue for each incident along with a concise description of the scene and perhaps relevant context surrounding the incident. In order to serve as a useful reference tool, films having no depictions of violence to animals will be included, with an indication that there are no such scenes. This is confirmation that the films have been watched with the stated purpose in mind.


Note that the word depictions figures prominently in the objective. It is a travesty that discussions about cruelty in film usually are derailed by the largely unrelated assertion that no animals really were hurt (true only in some films, dependent upon many factors), and that all this concern is just over a simulation. Not the point, whether true or false. We do not smugly dismiss depictions of five-year-olds being raped because those scenes are only simulations. No, we are appalled that such images are even staged, and we are appropriately horrified that the notion now has been planted into the minds of the weak and cruel.


Depictions of violence or harm to animals are assessed in keeping with our dominant culture, with physical abuse, harmful neglect, and similar mistreatment serving as a base line. This blog does not address extended issues of animal welfare, and as such does not identify scenes of people eating meat or mules pulling plows. The goal is to itemize images that might cause a disturbance in a compassionate household.


These notes provide a heads-up but do not necessarily discourage watching a film because of depicted cruelty. Consuming a piece of art does not make you a supporter of the ideas presented. Your ethical self is created by your public rhetoric and your private actions, not by your willingness to sit through a filmed act of violence.

Zombie Flesh Eaters

Zombie Flesh Eaters (Zombie / Zombie 2 / Woodoo). Lucio Fulci, 1979.
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Edition screened: Arrow Blu-ray, released 2014. Original English or Italian language tracks. Runtime approximately 91 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

Details: A zombie appears to take a bite out of a shark during their underwater battle, but the shark swims off happily after chomping on the zombie.

Bonus Points! …
In the tiny makeshift hospital on Zombie Island we see cages of hamsters and rabbits, apparently for experimental use by the doctor as he tries to solve the mystery. Considering the famous violence and gore of the film, it seems inevitable that we will see these poor animals tortured to death. But No! Maybe Fulci just never got around to it, but the lab animals are never touched.

Bonus Points Multiplier! …
The dirt streets of the village are full of wandering dogs, chickens, and goats. If this were a coming-of-age story set in Ohio about a couple of fun-loving guys who have a stupid band, the mere presence of meandering animals means you can count on at least one being pointlessly murdered. So take a setting of extreme poverty in a tropical environment, add Voodoo culture and you get … No Animal Killing? Almost unbelievable.

Zombie Flesh Eaters is know by many other titles, partially because Romero’s Dawn of the Dead was released in Italy as Zombi, leading to the re-titling of ZFE as Zombie 2 to eliminate and expand confusion. Call them what you like, just don’t call them late for dinner.

Zombie Flesh Eaters is considered to be one of the best Zombie films ever, one of the best Italian horror films, and often one of the best horror movies of the 70s.

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Zodiac

Zodiac. David Fincher, 2007.
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Edition screened: Warner Blu-ray, released 2009. English language. Runtime approximately 162 minutes.

Summary: No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals.


The home of a suspect contains squirrels, caged, loose, and presumably in the freezer, but there are no depictions of harm to the animals.


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The Zero Boys

The Zero Boys. Nico Mastorakis, 1986.
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Edition screened: Arrow Blu-ray, released 2016. English language. Runtime approximately 89 minutes.

Summary: Killing of a rattlesnake.

Details: A rattlesnake that might become a threat but really is minding his own business is pinned at the neck and stabbed with a knife, 1:23:40-1:23:45, as though Mastorakis (Island of Death) realized that his film was almost over and no animal had been pointlessly killed.


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Zelig

Zelig. Woody Allen, 1983.
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Edition screened: MGM DVD, released 2001. English language. Runtime approximately 79 minutes.


Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.


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A Zed & Two Noughts

A Zed & Two Noughts. Peter Greenaway, 1999.
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Edition screened: BFI Blu-ray, released 2010. English language. Runtime approximately 117 minutes.

Summary: Pervasive scenes of dead and decaying animals.

Much of this film is set at a zoo’s medical examination facility and involves research into the nature of evolution and physical decay. There are no depictions of animals being injured or killed, but the film is filled with images of dead animals and many time-elapse sequences showing their bodies decaying.

Like most of Greenaway’s films, A Zed & Two Noughts is an intelligent and artistic accomplishment. However, it simply is not possible to watch it without also sitting through the many (at least thirteen) time-elapse scenes of decaying bodies, complete with maggot infestations. Additionally, these scenes often come with no warning or are intercut with plot scenes. There is no point in trying to skip or fast-forward through these scenes while watching, and there is no point in providing a long useless enumeration of the scenes here.
The BFI release also includes Greenaway’s 1983 documentary The Sea in Their Blood.

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Zatoichi: The Blind Swordsman (box set)

Zatoichi: The Blind Swordsman. Various directors, 1962-1973.

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Edition screened: Criterion Blu-ray box set #679, released 2013. Japanese language with English subtitles. Cumulative runtime approximately 2,196 minutes.

The beautiful Criterion package includes the following feature films. Click individual titles as they become available on this website.

1   The Tale of Zatoichi (1962, Kenji Misumi)
2   The Tale of Zatoichi Continues (1962, Kazuo Mori)
3   New Tale of Zatoichi (1963, Tokuzo Tanaka)
4   Zatoichi the Fugitive (1963, Tokuzo Tanaka)
5   Zatoichi on the Road (1963, Kimiyoshi Yasuda)
6   Zatoichi and the Chest of Gold (1964, Kazuo Ikehiro)
7   Zatoichi’s Flashing Sword (1964, Kazuo Ikehiro)
8   Fight, Zatoichi, Fight (1964, Kenji Misumi)
9   Adventures of Zatoichi (1964, Kimiyoshi Yasuda)
10   Zatoichi’s Revenge (1965, Akira Inoue)
11   Zatoichi and the Doomed Man (1965, Kazuo Mori)
12   Zatoichi and the Chess Expert (1965, Kenji Misumi)
13   Zatoichi’s Vengeance (1966, Tokuzo Tanaka)
14   Zatoichi’s Pilgrimage (1966, Kazuo Ikehiro)
15   Zatoichi’s Cane Sword (1967, Kimiyoshi Yasuda)
16   Zatoichi the Outlaw (1967, Satsuo Yamamoto)
17   Zatoichi Challenged (1967, Kenji Misumi)
18   Zatoichi and the Fugitives (1968, Kimiyoshi Yasuda)
19   Samaritan Zatoichi (1968, Kenji Misumi)
20   Zatoichi Meets Yojimbo (1970, Kihachi Okamoto)
21   Zatoichi Goes to the Fire Festival (1970, Kenji Misumi)
22   Zatoichi Meets the One-Armed Swordsman (1971, Kimiyoshi Yasuda)
23   Zatoichi at Large (1972, Kazuo Mori)
24   Zatoichi in Desperation (1972, Shintaro Katsu)
25   Zatoichi’s Conspiracy (1973, Kimiyoshi Yasuda)

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Zabriskie Point

Zabriskie Point. Michelangelo Antonioni, 1970.
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Edition screened: Warner DVD, released 2009. English language. Runtime approximately 114 minutes.


Summary: No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals.


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Z Channel: A Magnificent Obsession

Z Channel: A Magnificent Obsession. Alexandra (Xan) Cassavetes, 2004.
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Edition screened: Virgil DVD, released 2005. English language. Runtime approximately 121 minutes.

Summary: Zebra butchering.

Details: A short black-and-white clip from Richard Brooks’ Something of Value (1957) shows Rock Hudson and Sidney Poitier dressed in safari costumes and hacking at a zebra, mostly off screen.

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