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.

Storefront Theatre Collection Volume 1: All Night at the PO-NO

Storefront Theatre Collection Volume 1: All Night at the PO-NO. Various directors, 1970-1973.
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Edition screened: Vinegar Syndrome 3-DVD box set #116, released 2016. English language. Collective runtime approximately 742 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals in any of the films.

This collection includes 12 ‘one-day wonder’ features plus two shorts, all shot around Los Angeles in the early 70s. Complete viewing simulates a night (12 hours) at one of LA’s storefront theaters, the PO-NO:

“Girl Acrobatics” (director unknown, approx. 5 minutes).
An embarrassingly poor novelty film of homemade quality and no interest other than to document its own existence. 0/5❤

Homer, the Late Comer (Ian De Praved, approx. 57 minutes).
A vaguely entertaining comedy about the fantasies of a 50-year-old film editor who still lives with his mother. 1/5❤

Erotic Point of View (Peter Small, approx. 60 minutes).
The beginning of the film introduces our main female character who is so — atypical seems an accurate word — that I needed to stop and review to make sure I was understanding correctly. Diverse scenes are presented in unusual contexts, including an uncomfortable scene that successfully conveys abuse through non-consent. A unique and somewhat fascinating film. 3/5❤

Porno Mondo (Federico Schwartz, approx. 60 minutes).
A pseudo-documentary about the adult film industry, much better than expected. Good acting, well written, sexy, and re-watchable. 4/5❤

Sex Before Marriage (director unknown, approx. 61 minutes). 
The detours and delays of a young man trying to get to his wedding. Each scene contains two sentences of plot dialogue repeated 40 times. The male lead tries his best to make the film work, considering the script written on a gum wrapper and a very unattractive cast. 1/5❤

“Orgy in the Woods” (director unknown, approx. 18 minutes)
A poor amateur work. 0/5❤

The Playboys (Swinging Playboys) (Jimmy DeKnight, approx. 54 minutes)
Entertaining in an old-fashioned way, with a silly sit-com plot of one man trying to keep three girls occupied in three different rooms. This slightly naughty version of a story you’ve seen many times before begs the question, What would Greg Brady Do? 2/5❤

Suckula (Anthony Spinelli [as Jack Armstrong], approx. 58 minutes)
I enjoyed this very much despite the so-so comedic newscaster who anchors the sequences. The acting is well above average, informed comedy by the Dracula character is entertaining rather than annoying, and some sequences are very sexy. The vignettes have stylistic variety and are accompanied by well-selected enjoyable music of the period rather than library sludge. Spinelli knows something about fine film. The presentation is smart and some scenes show influences of Robert Downey Sr. and Kenneth Anger. 5/5❤

The Big Snatch (Mark Hunter, approx. 60 minutes)
The beginning is surprisingly violent and includes a tutorial on shooting heroin. [They don’t make ’em like that anymore . . .] The middle is plodding and uninteresting, but the last two scenes are excellent and compensate for a lot. The hurried wrap-up returns to atypical violence, stupid and over quickly. 4/5❤

The Erotic Adventures of Hercules (Rik Tazíner, approx. 58 minutes)
Really ugly visual quality throughout. The endless first scene after the titles is truly repulsive, with long facial close-ups of a grotesque man eating like a pig, over-dubbed with loud grunts. Barbaric over-grunting, milquetoast narration, and dumb music compete in a jumbled mess throughout, making the audio as ugly as the video. 1/5❤

Shot on Location (Donn Greer [John Donne], approx. 61 minutes)
The intro and first scene are promising, but the script becomes overly devoted to an uninteresting plot. Too many cast members are distractingly unattractive. 2/5❤

The Touch (director unknown, approx. 62 minutes)
Same as Shot on Location: Excessive talk about a barely comprehensible plot and indiscriminate use of the Ugly Stick. These two films blur into a jumble of disinterest. 2/5❤

Carnal Go-Round (director unknown, approx. 63 minutes)
Valuable as a document of ambitious homemade film. The female lead is rehearsed and understands the story. The other characters seem to have been offered $20 each in the bread aisle of the A&P two minutes before shooting began at the director’s house a block away. A truly unique moment in film history decides upon a Coyote & Road Runner bedspread that happens to be on set as the film’s symbolic and artistic nucleus. 2/5❤

All-American Hustler (Huck Walker, approx. 65 minutes)
This is the other truly well-made film in the set. While Suckula might play best to an audience that knows a little about subcultural film, All-American Hustler passes as a main stream early 70s drama that just happens to have explicit content. Attention was paid to wardrobe and costuming, and characters have realistic relationships and motivations. The audio, muffled and difficult to understand a few places, is the only technical attribute that falls significantly short of 2nd-tier production from a real studio. 5/5❤
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