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.

Amityville 1992: It’s About Time

Amityville 1992: It’s About Time. Tony Randel, 1992.
😿 😿
Edition screened: Vinegar Syndrome Blu-ray #298B, included in Amityville: The Cursed Collection box set released 2019. English language. Runtime approximately 95 minutes.

Summary: Mutilated dog.

Details:
1) A possessed German Shepard attacks a man who repeatedly strikes the dog in the head with a glass bottle, breaking the bottle and bloodying the dog’s head, 18:11-18:15.
2) The dog’s mangled head is seen in a swimming pool skimmer, 34:19-34:26.

Only Satan could have a late 19th-century mantel clock that was over 300 years old. 

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Amityville: A New Generation

Amityville: A New Generation. John Murlowski, 1993.
😸
Edition screened: Vinegar Syndrome Blu-ray #298c, included in Amityville: The Cursed Collection box set released 2019. English language. Runtime approximately 92 minutes.


Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

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Amityville: Dollhouse

Amityville: Dollhouse. Steve White, 1996.
😿 
Edition screened: Vinegar Syndrome Blu-ray #298D, included in Amityville: The Cursed Collection box set released 2019. English language. Runtime approximately 96 minutes.

Summary: Small animals killed.

Details:
1) A man stomps on a tarantula, 24:07
2) A pet mouse is found dead after being accidentally killed, 31:20.
3) A wasp, seemingly dead in a specimen box for a long time, really is a zombie wasp. It attacks, is smashed with a wooden block at 44:12, but is uninjured because it is a zombie wasp after all.

Survival tip learned by watching Amityville: Dollhouse: A zombie wasp that has crawled into your ear can be killed by pouring tequila into your ear. Use a lot. The wasp will expand to about eight times normal size and can be extracted with needle-nose pliers. 

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Amityville: The Cursed Collection

Amityville: The Cursed Collection. Various directors, 1989-1996.
😿😿
Edition screened: Vinegar Syndrome box set including four Blu-rays 298A-298D, released 2019. English language. Cumulative runtime approximately 378 minutes.

Summary: Amityville: A New Generation includes no depictions of violence or harm to animals. The other three films in the set depict various brutalities to animals, see individual titles for details.

The Vinegar Syndrome box set includes:


Each of these films shows what happens when you buy something at Satan’s yard sale. The first two films were more enjoyable than I expected, really not so bad, ridiculous premises notwithstanding. The last two films are boring and don’t hold together particularly well. 







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Amityville: The Evil Escapes

Amityville: The Evil Escapes (Amityville Horror 4). Sandor Stern, 1989.
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Edition screened: Vinegar Syndrome Blu-ray #298A, included in Amityville: The Cursed Collection box set released 2019. English language. Runtime approximately 95 minutes.

Summary: A pet bird is found dead.

Details: A small exotic pet bird is found dead in the toaster oven, 26:50-26:52. Not broiled or toasted, just lying there dead.

The frequently seen house cat is not mutilated, hanged, or hurt in any way, an unexpected twist for a horror movie of this type. 

Amityville Horror 4: The Legend of the Satan’s Floor Lamp. No kidding. 

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Berserker

Berserker. Jefferson Richard, 1987.
😸
Edition screened: Vinegar Syndrome Blu-ray #296, released 2019. English language. Runtime approximately 85 minutes.

Summary: No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals. There is a prolonged grapple between a bear and a man wearing a strap-on bear mask (the berserker), resulting in the bloodied man running off and the bear unconcerned. 

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Beyond Evil

Beyond Evil. Herb Freed, 1980.
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Edition screened: Vinegar Syndrome Blu-ray #293, released date. English language. Runtime approximately 95 minutes.

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


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Beyond the Door III

Beyond the Door III (Amok Train). Jeff Kwitny, 1989.
😿
Edition screened: Vinegar Syndrome Blu-ray #297, released 2019. English language. Runtime approximately 94 minutes.

Summary: Murdered chicken.

Details: We see men carrying a pot of blood with a chicken head hanging over the rim, 18:10-18:20. They use the blood to mark houses.


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The Changeling

The Changeling. Peter Medak, 1980.
😸
Edition screened: HBO DVD released 2000. English language. Runtime approximately 107 minutes.

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

An excellent Haunted House movie. Well acted, good story, cinematography reminiscent of The Exorcist and plot elements that might be secret source material for The Ring. 

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Decoder

Decoder. Muscha (Jürgen Muschalek), 1984.
😿😿😿
Edition screened: Vinegar Syndrome Blu-ray #288, released 2019. German language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 88 minutes.

Summary: A frog is killed cruelly.

Details: A frog is squeezed to death and the body flung away, 59:03-59:59.


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Unmasked Part 25

Unmasked Part 25 (Hand of Death, Part 25: Jackson's Back). Anders Palm, 1988.
😸
Edition screened: Vinegar Syndrome Blu-ray #295, released 2019. English language. Runtime approximately 85 minutes.


Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

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La Vérité

La Vérité. Henri-Georges Clouzot, 1960.
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Edition screened: Criterion Blu-ray #960, released 2019. French language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 128 minutes.

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

1949 Williams De-Icer pinball machine in the run-down bar.


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The Vineyard

The Vineyard. William Rice and James Hong, 1989.
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Edition screened: Vinegar Syndrome #292, released 2019. English language. Runtime approximately 94 minutes.

Summary: No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals. A shot is fired near or at a wild dog early in the film and mice and spiders are enlisted for horror effect, but there are no scenes of animals being endangered.


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Woman Chasing the Butterfly of Death

Woman Chasing the Butterfly of Death (Salinnabileul ggotneun yeoja). Kim Ki-Young, 1978.
😿
Edition screened: Mondo Macabro Blu-ray, released 2019. Korean language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 117 minutes.

Summary: Butterflies killed.

Details:
1) Portrayal of butterfly killed by poison injection, 2:47-2:52.
2) Moth killed with spray paint, 1:20:04-1:20:12.
3) Butterfly collections pinned to specimen boards throughout. 


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Under the Tree

Under the Tree (Undir trénu). Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigurðsson, 2017.
😿😿
Edition screened: Eureka Montage Blu-ray, released 2019. Icelandic language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 89 minutes.

Summary: Prevailing sense of animal endangerment.

Details: This movie is about a feud between two neighboring suburban couples, one with a cat and the other with a dog. Impending harm to the animals is telegraphed from the beginning and I found myself distracted from other aspects of the film, just waiting to get the animal abuse over with. Both couples prove to be crazy and ruthless, and anything could have been possible. 

Bottom line for the dog: We eventually see him abducted and taken to a vet to be euthanized. He then is discovered in taxidermy form on the front porch of the house, to the horror of his family.

Bottom line for the cat: The cat is the first to disappear and is absent for most of the film with no indication of what happened. The last shot of the movie shows him strolling across the yard, home safe.

No actual torment or violence to either animal is shown. 


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Uninvited

Uninvited. Greydon Clark, 1987.
😿😿
Edition screened: Vinegar Syndrome Blu-ray #259, released 2019. English language. Runtime approximately 91 minutes.

Summary: A domestic house cat has escaped from an animal experimentation laboratory. He finally is cornered, and at 3:08-3:35 is shot with a tranquilizer dart before a mutant monster cat emerges from the mouth of an obviously fake dummy cat.

The orange house cat who is the star of this movie does a great job. A few times he obviously is annoyed from being chased around and passed back and forth, but we do not see him mishandled or particularly tormented after being shot with the tranquilizer dart mentioned above.

There are numerous closeup scenes of a rather ridiculous dummy cat head and the slimy cat monster that comes from its ridiculous-looking mouth.

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Unrelated

Unrelated. Joanna Hogg, 2007.
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Edition screened: Kino Lorber DVD, released 2014. English language. Runtime approximately 100 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.


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Venus on the Half-Shell

Venus on the Half-Shell (Escargot de Vénus). Walerian Borowczyk, 1975.
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Edition screened: Included on Arrow Blu-ray The Beast, released 2014. French language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 5 minutes.

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






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The Very Eye of Night

The Very Eye of Night. Maya Deren, 1959.
😸
Edition screened: Included on Mystic Fire DVD Maya Deren: Experimental Films, released 2002. No audio track other than a score by Teiji Ito. Runtime approximately 15 minutes.


Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

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The Violation of Claudia / Hot Honey

The Violation of Claudia / Hot Honey. William Lustig (as Billy Bagg), 1977-1978.
😸
Edition screened: Distribpix DVD Billy Bagg Double Feature, released 2014. English language. Cumulative runtime approximately 134 minutes.

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

• The Violation of Claudia, 1977.  0.5/5❤
• Hot Honey, 1978.  1.5/5❤

The opening sequence of Hot Honey includes a brief stop in Time’s Square game room ‘Playland’, the most interesting 90 seconds of either film by far.

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Vladimir et Rosa

Vladimir et Rosa. Jean-Luc Godard and Jean-Pierre Gorin, 1970.
😸
Edition screened: Included in Arrow Blu-ray box set Jean-Luc Godard + Jean-Pierre Gorin: Five Films, 1968-1971, released 2018. French language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 96 minutes.


Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.











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Wacko

Wacko. Greydon Clark, 1981.
😸
Edition screened: Vinegar Syndrome Blu-ray #263, released 2019. English language. Runtime approximately 87 minutes.


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

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Waiting Women

Waiting Women (Kvinnors väntan). Ingmar Bergman, 1952.
😸
Edition screened: Included in Criterion Blu-ray set Ingmar Bergman’s Cinema, released 2018. Swedish language with English subtitles. Approximately 108 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence toward animals.

Waiting Women and Brink of Life share disc #25 of 30 in Ingmar Bergman’s Cinema (parts of ‘Centerpiece 3’). 

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Warm Nights and Hot Pleasures

Warm Nights and Hot Pleasures. Joseph Sarno, 1964.
😸
Edition screened: Included in Film Movement’s Joseph W. Sarno Retrospect Series Vol. 4 Blu-ray, released 2018. English language. Runtime approximately 70 minutes.


Summary: No animals or references to animals in the film. 1.5/5❤















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The Wedding Party

The Wedding Party. Brian De Palma, 1969.
😸
Edition screened: Included in Arrow Blu-ray set De Niro & De Palma: The Early Years, released 2019. English language. Runtime approximately 92 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

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Wheel of Time

Wheel of Time. Werner Herzog, 2003.
😸
Edition screened: Fox Lorber DVD, released 2005. German, English, and Tibetan languages with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 80 minutes.


Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

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Whirlpool

Whirlpool. José Ramón Larraz (as J.R. Larrath), 1970.
😸
Edition screened: Included in Arrow Blu-ray set Blood Hunger: The Films of José Larraz, released 2019. English language. Runtime approximately 87 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.
















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The White Diamond

The White Diamond. Werner Herzog, 2004.
😸
Edition screened: Fox Lorber DVD, released 2005. English language. Runtime approximately 88 minutes.

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


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The White Reindeer

The White Reindeer (Valkoinen peura). Erik Blomberg, 1952.
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Edition screened: Eureka! Masters of Cinema Blu-ray #203, released 2019. Finnish language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 74 minutes.

Summary: Some rough handling of the reindeer typical of livestock herding culture, but nothing intentionally cruel or violent.

The Masters of Cinema release also includes the 1947 short film With the Reindeer. 


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Who Saw Her Die?

Who Saw Her Die? (Chi l'ha vista morire?). Aldo Lado, 1972.
😸
Edition screened: Arrow Blu-ray, released 2019. Original Italian or English dub. Runtime approximately 90 minutes.

Summary: No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals. A seated individual at a country house shoots at or toward some pigeons, but nothing comes of it.

A young girl in Venice plays a 1967 Gottlieb Harmony pinball machine.


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Willie Dynamite

Willie Dynamite. Gilbert Moses, 1974.
😸
Edition screened: Arrow Blu-ray, released 2018. English language. Runtime approximately 102 minutes.


Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals, but a lot of gratuitous fur.
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