Violence to Animals in Film: April 2024

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 Aviator’s Wife

The Aviator’s Wife: Comedies and Proverbs #1/6 (La femme de l'aviateur). Éric Rohmer, 1981.

😸

Edition screened: Blu-ray included in Potemkine box set Coffret Éric Rohmer, l’intégrale, released 2013. French language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 143 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

The Boy Friend

The Boy Friend. Ken Russell, 1971.

😸

Edition screened: Warner Archive Blu-ray, released 2017. English language. Runtime approximately 137 minutes.

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

The Day of the Beast

The Day of the Beast (El día de la bestia). Álex de la Iglesia, 1995.

😿

Edition screened: Severin UHD, released 2021. Spanish language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 104 minutes.

Summary: A woman prepares a rabbit in the kitchen and cuts it into pieces, 15:11 - 16:40.

Friday the 13th Part 2

Friday the 13th Part 2. Steve Miner, 1981.

😿😿

Edition screened: Included in Paramount Friday the 13th: 8-Movie Collection DVD set, released 2017. English language. Runtime approximately 87 minutes.

Summary: The mangled body of a small dog is found in the woods, 37:43-37:46.

Identifiable in the bar scene about 50 minutes in are a 1979 Bally KISS and a 1978 Williams Pokerino.

The Incredible Sex Revolution

The Incredible Sex Revolution. Albert Zugsmith, 1966.

😸

Edition screened: Included with On Her Bed of Roses in Vinegar Syndrome ‘Drive-In Collection’ DVD #093, released 2015. English language. Runtime approximately 112 minutes.

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

Love in the Afternoon

Love in the Afternoon: Six Moral Tales #6/6 (L'amour l’après-midi; Chloé in the Afternoon). Éric Rohmer, 1972.

😸

Edition screened: Blu-ray included in Potemkine box set Coffret Éric Rohmer, released 2013. French language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 95 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

On Her Bed of Roses

On Her Bed of Roses (Psychedelic Sexualis/Psychopathia Sexualis). Albert Zugsmith, 1966.

😸

Edition screened: Included with The Incredible Sex Revolution in Vinegar Syndrome ‘Drive-In Collection’ DVD #093, released 2015. English language. Runtime approximately 111 minutes.

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

Zatoichi’s Pilgrimage

Zatoichi’s Pilgrimage (Zatōichi umi o wataru). Kazuo Ikehiro, 1966.

😸

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: No depictions of violence toward animals.

The fourteenth film in the Zatoichi series.

Violence to Animals in Film