The Vampire Doll

The Vampire Doll (Legacy of Dracula / Yûrei yashiki no kyôfu: Chi wo sû ningyô). Michio Yamamoto, 1970.

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Edition screened: Included in Arrow Blu-ray set The Bloodthirsty Trilogy, released 2018. Japanese language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 71 minutes.

Summary: Real killing of a crow.

Details:

1) Two dead bloody crows are found in a cemetery, 21:11-21:16.

2) Flashback to one of the crows killed by having its throat slit, 59:59-1:00:03.

Vampire Ecstasy

Vampire Ecstasy (Der Fluch der schwarzen Schwestern/The Devil's Plaything). Joseph W. Sarno, 1973.

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Edition screened: Included with Sin You Sinners on Film Movement’s Sarno Retrospect Series Volume 1 Blu-ray, released 2016. English language. Runtime approximately 103 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

A slow-moving, moderately fun to watch, lesbian vampire movie with sexy content but nothing especially explicit. The German cast discusses wempeers throughout.

Vampire Hookers

Vampire Hookers. Cirio H. Santiago, 1978.

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Edition screened: Included in Vinegar Syndrome Blu-ray set #235, 5 Films • 5 Years Vol 4: Horror and Exploitation, released 2018. Previously released as VS#015. English language. Runtime approximately 79 minutes.

Summary: Ancient vampire patriarch John Carradine shoots a red-eyed rat with a cross bow, 1:00:47-1:01:06.

Vampire Hookers could have been merely boring and terrible in a sympathetically watchable way, had director Santiago not devoted so much film time to popular Filipino actor Vic Diaz’s portrayal of an aspiring vampire with a flatulence problem. This recurring gag complete with Diaz flapping his hands and making screwy faces pushes the film into the realm of atrocious and holds its head under until it stops struggling. 

Vampyros Lesbos

Vampyros Lesbos. Jesús “Jess” Franco, 1971.

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Edition screened: Severin Blu-ray, released 2015. German language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 89 minutes.

Summary: Dead scorpion.

Details: Several times throughout the film we see a scorpion (who represents the vampire chic) walking across pavement. At 1:23:14 we see the scorpion floating dead in a pool of water, and again 1:27:24-26.

Roberto Sebastian Matta!  The second drowned scorpion image coincides with the killing of the vampire chic, who is slain on a black and red ‘Malitte’ seating unit.

Vapors

Vapors. Andy Milligan, 1965.

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Edition screened: Included on Vinegar Syndrome Seeds/Vapors Blu-ray #196, released 2017. English language. Runtime approximately 33 minutes.

Summary: No animals or references to animals in the film.

Velvet High/Summertime Blue

Velvet High/Summertime Blue. John Christopher, 1979-1980.

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Edition screened: Vinegar Syndrome DVD #207 Peekarama: Velvet High/Summertime Blue, released 2018. English language. Cumulative runtime approximately 140 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals in either feature.

• Velvet High, 1980, approximately 70 minutes. 2/5❤

• Summertime Blue, 1979, approximately 70 minutes. 3/5❤

Vernon, Florida

Vernon, Florida. Errol Morris, 1981.

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Edition screened: Criterion Blu-ray #752, released 2015 and packaged with Gates of Heaven, #751. English language. Runtime approximately 56 minutes.

Summary: Sadistic entrapment of harmless animals, intercut with moronic descriptions of murdering turkeys.

Details: Beginning at 15:40 and continuing through 27:30, we see alternating interviews with two men who relate or demonstrate their lifelong commitment to animal torture. The first is an old fool who opens with a knee slapper about water contaminated by a dead mule causing the deaths of hundreds of stranded fish, hee-hee you shoulda seen ’em all a-flappin’ and a-dyin’. He then shows-off several poor animals imprisoned in tiny dark dungeons on his property. The second rustic is an especially idiotic turkey hunter who captivates with tales of the hunt, each concluding with a morbid trophy of the killed turkey.

These two men are seen other times in the film as well, but in those instances their abject stupidity is conveyed in ways other than direct spectacles of animal abuse.

To be clear, there is no blood, physical injury, or killing portrayed. It all is just very sad that these animals suffered at the hands of such complete imbeciles. To the director’s credit, his point clearly is to showcase the unbelievable stupidity of these men and other Vernon, Florida, townsfolk. Only their exact duplicates could watch the interviews and interpret the portrayals as genuine salt of the earth folks, real Americans. But they do. And they vote(d). 

The Wicker Man (Hardy)

The Wicker Man. Robin Hardy, 1973.

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Edition screened: “The Final Cut” in StudioCanal 3-version Blu-ray set released 2013. English language. Runtime approximately 94 minutes.

Summary: Depiction of many animals burned alive.

Details:

1) A dead hare is shown in a human coffin 46:40-46:50, and seen periodically during subsequent conversation through 48:30. The hare is not bloody or decomposing, just dead.

2) Climactic final scene in which a a gigantic wicker structure containing calves, goats, fowl, and other animals in small cages is burned, 1:28:33-1:31:30. We do not see any animals actually burned to death, but hear them scream in horror as the huge fire rages beneath them.

Director Hardy said that the fire was extinguished before any animals died. Actress Britt Ekland says some animals died. As always, I do not regard that distinction as pivotal, and mourn eternally for every animal that suffered or perished during this extravagance.

This excellent Steelbook package from StudioCanal includes three of the many cuts, edits, and reassemblies of The Wicker Man: The UK theatrical release (1973, 87 minutes), the Director’s Cut (2001, 102 minutes), and The Final Cut (94 minutes), which director Hardy considers the best available version of the film. It differs from the longer Director’s Cut almost entirely in the elimination of introductory scenes at police headquarters.

It is entirely possible to view this film and extract every bit of meaning and  artfulness without watching the final sequence of the animal sacrifice. In any version, the sacrifice by burning is the very last scene preceded by a long passage of everyone standing around the large Wicker Man-shaped cage full of animals. Just turn it off. The film ends with the giant structure engulfed in flames and toppling. 

Victory Thru Film Power

Victory Thru Film Power. Jeff Keen, 1980s.

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Edition screened: Included in BFI Gazwrx: The Films of Jeff Keen Blu-ray/DVD set, released 2009. Scored and/or with sound effects track; no dialogue track. Runtime approximately 3 minutes.

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

Véronique and Her Dunce

Véronique and Her Dunce (Véronique et son cancre). Éric Rohmer, 1958.

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Edition screened: Included on Criterion DVD #348 Love in the Afternoon, in Criterion DVD box set #342 Éric Rohmer’s Six Moral Tales, released 2006. French language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 18 minutes.

Summary: No animals or references to animals in the film.

Vibrations

Vibrations. Joseph Sarno, 1968.

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Edition screened: Included with All the Sins of Sodom on Film Movement’s Joseph W. Sarno Retrospect Series Vol. 2 Blu-ray, released 2017. English language. Runtime approximately 75 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals. 3/5❤

A Siamese cat has a nice walk-on. Good location shooting around Madison Square Park and the Broadway & 47th area, including the Edison Hotel, Florsheim Shoes, and Playland.

Videohome

Videohome. Emiliano Rocha Minter, 2014.

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Edition screened: Included on Arrow Blu-ray We Are the Flesh, released 2017. Domestic sound effects, no dialogue track. Runtime approximately 11 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

An very good short comedy about misunderstood domestic tasks, recalling some moments of Ruben Östlund films.

View from the Top

View from the Top. Bruno Barreto, 2003.

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Edition screened: Miramax DVD, released 2003. English language. Runtime approximately 87 minutes.

Summary: No animals or references to animals in the film.

Visions in Meditation

Visions in Meditation. Stan Brakhage, 1989-1990.

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Edition screened: Included in Criterion Blu-ray box set #518 By Brakhage: An Anthology, Volumes One and Two, released 2010. Silent. Cumulative runtime approximately 67 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

Included sequentially:

Visions in Meditation #1  - 1989, 16 minutes 19 seconds

Visions in Meditation #2 (Mesa Verde)  - 1989, 16 minutes 9 seconds

Visions in Meditation #3 (Plato’s Cave) -  1990, 16 minutes 36 seconds

Visions in Meditation #4 (D.H. Lawrence) -  1990, 17 minutes 41 seconds

The Visitants

The Visitants. Rick Sloane, 1986.

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Edition screened: Included on Vinegar Syndrome Blu-ray Blood Theatre #231, released 2018. English language. Runtime approximately 92 minutes.

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

Viva l’Italia!

Viva l’Italia! (Garibaldi). Roberto Rossellini, 1961.

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Edition screened: Arrow Blu-ray, released 2018. Italian language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 129 minutes.

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

Viva Maria!

Viva Maria! Agnieszka Smoczyńska, 2010.

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Edition screened: Included on Criterion Blu-ray #896 The Lure, released 2017. Polish language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 17 minutes.

Summary: No animals or references to animals in the film.

This documentary about an aging opera singer has more to offer than most documentaries, most operas, and most aging people.

The Vixens of Kung-Fu

The Vixens of Kung-Fu. Bill Milling (as Lin Cho Chiang), 1975.

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Edition screened: Included in Vinegar Syndrome Blu-ray set #234, 5 Films • 5 Years Vol 3: Golden Age Erotica, released 2018 Previously released as VS 011. English language. Runtime approximately 60 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals. 4/5❤

The Voice of the Moon

The Voice of the Moon (La voce della luna). Federico Fellini, 1990.

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Edition screened: Arrow Blu-ray, released 2017. Italian language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 121 minutes.

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

The Vomit Gore Trilogy

The Vomit Gore Trilogy. Lucifer Valentine, 2006-2012.

Edition screened: MVD/Unearthed Films 4-DVD set, released 2012. English language. Approximate compiled runtime of features, 234 minutes.

Summary: Some films in the set show disrespectful abuse of animals. See individual films for details.

The set includes A Perfect Child of Satan (2012) and several other short films, along with the original Trilogy:

Slaughtered Vomit Dolls (2006)

ReGOREgitated Sacrifice (2008)

Slow Torture Puke Chamber (2010)

Wonder Women

Wonder Women (The Deadly and the Beautiful). Robert Vincent O’Neill, 1973.

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Edition screened: Vinegar Syndrome Blu-ray #241, released 2018. English language. Runtime approximately 82 minutes.

Summary: Killing birds for cheap laughs.

Details:

1) A bird on an overhead wire is shot with a slingshot. We see the explosion of feathers at 24:53.

2) Scene from a cockfight, 30:27-30:58.

3) Cockfight to the death, 32:25-33:44.

4) A man carries live birds hanging by their feet over a pole. The pole and birds are smashed by a speeding taxi, 45:12-45:15.

5) An ox pulls a heavily laden cart. The cart is struck by the same speeding taxi, so hard that it breaks the poles and harness while the poor cow still is attached, 48:20.

The opening scene of beautiful women in and around an exotic swimming pool is the best part of the movie.