Under the Tree

Under the Tree (Undir trénu). Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigurðsson, 2017.

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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. 

Uninvited

Uninvited. Greydon Clark, 1987.

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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.

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.

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.

The Very Eye of Night

The Very Eye of Night. Maya Deren, 1959.

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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.

The Violation of Claudia / Hot Honey

The Violation of Claudia / Hot Honey. William Lustig (as Billy Bagg), 1977-1978.

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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.

Vladimir et Rosa

Vladimir et Rosa. Jean-Luc Godard and Jean-Pierre Gorin, 1970.

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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.

Wacko

Wacko. Greydon Clark, 1981.

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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.

Waiting Women

Waiting Women (Kvinnors väntan). Ingmar Bergman, 1952.

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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’). 

Warm Nights and Hot Pleasures

Warm Nights and Hot Pleasures. Joseph Sarno, 1964.

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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❤

The Wedding Party

The Wedding Party. Brian De Palma, 1969.

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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.

Wheel of Time

Wheel of Time. Werner Herzog, 2003.

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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.

Whirlpool

Whirlpool. José Ramón Larraz (as J.R. Larrath), 1970.

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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.

The White Diamond

The White Diamond. Werner Herzog, 2004.

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Edition screened: Fox Lorber DVD, released 2005. English language. Runtime approximately 88 minutes.

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

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. 

Who Saw Her Die?

Who Saw Her Die? (Chi l'ha vista morire?). Aldo Lado, 1972.

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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.

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.

Wind from the East

Wind from the East (Le vent d'est). Jean-Luc Godard and Jean-Pierre Gorin, 1970.

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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 93 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

The Witch

The Witch. Robert Eggers, 2015.

😿😿

Edition screened: Lionsgate Blu-ray, released 2015. English language. Runtime approximately 92 minutes.

Summary: Animals murdered by an unseen force.

Details:

1) Partially eviscerated dog found dying and breathing heavily, 38:24-38:27. No detail or close view.

2) Bloody bodies of two dead goats in background during dialogue 1:16:51-1:17:50. Again, no close views or details.

With the Reindeer

With the Reindeer (Porojen parissa). Erik Blomberg and Eino Mäkinen, 1947.

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Edition screened: Included with Eureka! Masters of Cinema Blu-ray #203 The White Reindeer, released 2019. Finnish language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 7 minutes.

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

Wrath of Daimajin

Wrath of Daimajin (Daimajin 3 / Daimajin gyakushu / Daimajin Strikes Again). Kazuo Mori, 1966.

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Edition screened: Included in Mill Creek Daimajin Triple Feature 2-Blu-ray set, released 2012. Japanese language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 79 minutes.

Summary: Mild depictions of a dead hawk.

Details: A dead hawk is literally tossed onto the set, 1:01:25-1:01:30. A little very fake blood is shown dribbling from its eye 1:01:56-1:02:02. The hawk comes back to life and is fine a few minutes later.

Written on the Wind

Written on the Wind. Douglas Sirk, 1956.

😿

Edition screened: Criterion DVD #96, released 2001. English language. Runtime approximately 99 minutes.

Summary: Dead quail.

Details: Rock Hudson and his father return from hunting, the latter with a stringer of quail, 38:50-39:02.

The local bar has two pinball machines, one with a stripped cabinet and a 1951 Chicago Coin Thing. 

Yakuza Law

Yakuza Law (Yakuza Law: Lynching / Yakuza keibatsu-shi: Rinchi!). Teruo Ishii, 1969.

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Edition screened: Arrow Blu-ray, released 2019. Japanese language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 96 minutes.

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

Zama

Zama. Lucrecia Martel, 2017.

😿

Edition screened: Strand Blu-ray, released 2018. Portuguese language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 115 minutes.

Summary: Depiction of a horse shot.

Details: A gun is fired off screen, then the camera pans to a downed horse, 45:52-46:11.

Zatoichi and the Chest of Gold

Zatoichi and the Chest of Gold (Zatōichi senryō-kubi). Kazuo Ikehiro, 1964.

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Edition screened: In Criterion Blu-ray box set #679 Zatoichi: The Blind Swordsman, released 2013. Japanese language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 88 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence toward animals.

The sixth film in the Zatoichi series.

Zatoichi’s Flashing Sword

Zatoichi’s Flashing Sword (Zatōichi abare tako). Kazuo Ikehiro, 1964.

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Edition screened: In Criterion Blu-ray box set #679 Zatoichi: The Blind Swordsman, released 2013. Japanese language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 82 minutes.

Summary: Killing of a fly.

Details: The opening scene, before the credits, shows our sleeping blind swordsman bothered by a fly. He awakens and slices the insect into three sections, 01:25-01:30.

The seventh film in the Zatoichi series.

After the Rehearsal

After the Rehearsal (Efter repetitionen). Ingmar Bergman, 1984.

😸

Edition screened: Included in Criterion Blu-ray set Ingmar Bergman’s Cinema, released 2018. Swedish language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 73 minutes.

Summary: No animals in the film.

After the Rehearsal shares disc #20 of 30 in Ingmar Bergman’s Cinema (part of ‘Centerpiece 2’) with The Magic Flute.

Alice, Sweet Alice

Alice, Sweet Alice (Communion). Alfred Sole, 1976.

😿😿😿

Edition screened: Arrow Blu-ray, released 2019. English language. Runtime approximately 107 minutes.

Summary: Depiction of a kitten being murdered.

Details: A kitten is picked up, strangled with one hand and thrown to the floor dead, 35:43-35:51.

All Americans

All Americans. Joseph Santley, 1929.

😸

Edition screened: Included on Criterion Blu-ray #915 King of Jazz, released 2018. English language. Runtime approximately 19 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

All at Sea

All at Sea. Alistair Cooke, 1933.

😿😿😿

Edition screened: Included on Criterion Blu-ray #543 Modern Times, released 2010. Scored and with some title cards, no dialogue track. Runtime approximately 18 minutes.

Summary: A shark is killed for no reason.

Details: A shark is caught on a huge hook through her belly, and is held in place upside-down alongside the boat as she bleeds and dies, 13:50-15:12.

All at Sea is a home movie of Charlie Chaplin, Paulette Goddard, and Alistair Cooke having a day on Chaplin’s yacht. It’s somewhat interesting to see these beautiful stars relaxing and calmly clowning around a bit, until this horrible shark incident. Sadly, this glimpse of reality lowers my heroic opinion of Charlie Chaplin and my world is a little darker.

All These Women

All These Women (För att inte tala om alla dessa kvinnor). Ingmar Bergman, 1964.

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Edition screened: Included in Criterion Blu-ray set Ingmar Bergman’s Cinema, released 2018. Swedish language with English subtitles. Approximately 80 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence toward animals.

It is as though an indignant Ingmar Bergman said, “How come Fellini can make all these tawdry gross movies but I can’t!?”  Apparently he can.

The Devil’s Eye and All These Women share disc #17 of 30 in Ingmar Bergman’s Cinema (parts of ‘Centerpiece 2’). 

American Horror Project Vol. 2

American Horror Project Vol. 2. Various directors, 1970-1977.

😿😿😿

Edition screened: Arrow Blu-ray box set, released 2019. English language. Cumulative runtime of feature titles approximately 253 minutes.

Summary: Dream no Evil is free of animal violence, while the other two each include a fairly gory dead animal. See individual titles for details.

This second installment of Arrow’s American Horror Project includes:

Dream No Evil (1970 John Hayes)

Dark August (1976 Martin Goldman)

The Child (1977 Robert Voskanian)