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.

The Slayer

The Slayer. J.S. Cardone, 1982.
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Edition screened: Arrow Blu-ray, released 2017. English language. Runtime approximately 90 minutes.

Summary: Mild fishing gore.

Details:
1) Two quick scenes of fish gutting, 17:47-17:49 and 18:40-18:42.
2) Narrative of a kitten’s murder, 53:02-53:09, told in a quick matter-0f-fact way.

The Slayer is another one of those movies: a group of friends go away for a vacation and are gruesomely murdered one-by-one despite warnings by the least desirable female that something seems wrong. The Slayer is not a particularly good film, but it is far more watchable than most of its kin simply because the Dead Vacationers Walking are young adults rather than obnoxious teenagers. Gone is the endless unfunny joking, gone is the torrent of self-described “practical jokes” by the resident wit who does outrageous things like talking in a spooky voice to scare the girls, gone is the torrid suspense over whether Kristie will sleep with Matt. The Slayer is basically the same movie as The Mutilator, but becomes tolerable rather than intolerable due to a cast of dopey young professionals rather than idiotic high schoolers.

Kafka lovers! There is an interesting reverse-fishing scene around the one-hour mark. The soon-to-be-slaughtered guy is out alone at night searching for the recently-slaughtered guy. He pauses at the fishing dock, confounded that someone has tangled up his line and hooks and what have you, dag nab it. We hear the waves lapping, then see a line with a man-sized hook fly in  from nowhere and wrap around his neck, circling a few times so that both hook and line cut into his face reel good. Reel good, I say. He then is yanked off the dock, onto the beach, and slowly dragged into the water headfirst. Pet fish in your home will love it.
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