Rat Pfink a Boo Boo. Ray Dennis Steckler, 1965.
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Edition screened: Included in Severin Blu-ray box set The Incredibly Strange Films of Ray Dennis Steckler, released 2002. English language. Runtime approximately 67 minutes.
Summary: An outdoor pen of pigeons is jostled slightly during the fight scene that comprises the last third of this film. The birds are not touched.
Psychomania. Don Sharp, 1973.
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Edition screened: Included in Severin Blu-ray box set All the Haunts Be Ours: A Compendium of Folk Horror Volume 2, released 2024. English language. Runtime approximately 90 minutes.
Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.
Pigs and Battleships (Buta to gunkan). Shôhei Imamura, 1961.
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Edition screened: Criterion DVD #472 included in box set #471 Pigs, Pimps and Prostitues: 3 Films by Shôei Imamura, released 2009. Japanese language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 108 minutes.
Summary: General disregard for animals.
Details:
1) An officer opens a hessian bag and we see two dead dogs inside, 33:13-33:17.
2) A whole pig is served for dinner around the 49 minute mark.
3) We see what appears to be a dead pig on the back of a mini truck, 1:43:05.
4) Many pigs run through the street toward the film’s end and there is a scene in which humans are squishing on top of a few pigs; neither of these scenes showing injury to the pigs.
Lethal Ladies 2 Collection. Cirio H. Santiago and Steve Carver, 1973-1975.
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Edition screened: Shout! Factory 2-DVD set, released 2012. English language. Cumulative runtime of three films approximately 235 minutes.
Summary: The Arena includes a bloody chicken plucking scene.
The Roger Corman’s Cult Classics Triple Feature ‘Lethal Ladies 2’ Collection includes:
The Arena (1974 Steve Carver) — mediocre as expected
Fly Me (1973 Cirio H. Santiago) — substantially better than expected
Cover Girl Models (1975 Cirio H. Santiago) — even worse than expected
The Immoral Three (Hotter Than Hell). Doris Wishman, 1975.
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Edition screened: Included in AGFA Blu-ray set The Films of Doris Wishman: The Twilight Years. English language. Runtime approximately 74 minutes.
Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.
If you are compelled to watch a Wishman film, The Immoral Three would be a good choice.
The Enchanted. Carter Lord, 1984.
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Edition screened: Included in Severin Blu-ray box set All the Haunts Be Ours: A Compendium of Folk Horror Volume 2, released 2024. English language. Runtime approximately 90 minutes.
Summary:
The film includes several quick scenes of calves and dogs depicted as dying just after being attacked by a predator. Despite these realistic depictions the director conveys a prevailing care for animals, not just in these scenes but also in the film’s enveloping world view.
Each just-attacked animal is shown lying on its side with the appearance of a bloody wound at its throat. The animals clearly are breathing and panting, presumably tranquilized and cosmetically treated with theatrical effects. Tranquilizing animals for film production is not to be applauded, but the decision and effort to do so in an era when it was common simply to kill the animals is laudable.
The chicken and quails probably were killed, lingering evidence of our stratification of food animals and non-food animals.
The film is set in the Florida everglades and features portentous closeups of woodland animals. Owls, snakes, and squirrels watch the story unfold in montages that make them omniscient audience, jury, and innocents to all they survey. A kitten appears late in the film. She provides an excellent performance in her important role and is not threatened or harmed.
Details:
1) Several quail are shot by a hunter and fall into the brush, 2:05-2:11. The scene is in the style of stock footage and includes no closeups or details.
2) A dead fish is pulled from the river and the hook disengaged, 4:49-5:10.
3) Depiction of a dead calf with a bloody neck wound, as described above, 32:46-32:58.
4) A calf is attacked and killed, 53:18-53:25.
5) A man presents the body of a chicken just decapitated off-screen, 1:04:53, and we see the chicken’s body lying on the floor at 1:05:14.
6) Another dead calf with bloody neck wound, 1:05:54-1:05:57.
7) Dead hunting dogs, depicted in the same way as the calves, 1:11:35-1:11:55.
8) Men shoot at a black wolf, 1:18:19, and we see the dying wolf (also visibly panting) 1:18:44-1:19:00.
The BD also includes Lord’s 1973 short film Swimmer.
Cover Girl Models. Cirio H. Santiago, 1975.
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Edition screened: Included in Shout! Factory Lethal Ladies Collection Vol. 2 DVD set, released 2012. English language. Runtime approximately 73 minutes.
Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.
The Roger Corman’s Cult Classics Triple Feature ‘Lethal Ladies’ Collection Vol. 2 also includes:
The Arena (1974 Steve Carver)
Fly Me (1973 Cirio H. Santiago and Jonathan Demme)
Black Emanuelle (Emanuelle nera). Bitto Albertini, 1975.
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Edition screened: Included in Severin Blu-ray box set The Sensual World of Black Emanuelle, released 2023. English language, with original Italian as an option. Runtime approximately 96 minutes.
Summary: Long sequence of peaceful photography of African wild animals. No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals. 3/5❤
Included on this BD is Kier-La Janisse’s 20-minute documentary The Reluctant Icon - A Tribute to Laura Gemser, along with several commentaries and interviews..
Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues. Adam McKay, 2013.
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Edition screened: Paramount Blu-ray, released 2014. English language. Runtime approximately 118 minutes.
Summary: Unkind one-line jokes about animals throughout the film. In the final scene, a dog regarded as part of the news team jumps into the ocean to save Will Ferrell from a shark. No actual depictions of harm to animals.
In the apartment scene 52 minutes into the film, we see a 1978 Bally The Six Million Dollar Man, a 1978 Bally Playboy, a 1979 Bally Harlem Globetrotters, and a 1977 Williams Eight Ball.
America Lost and Found: The BBS Story. Various directors, 1968-1972.
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Edition screened: Criterion Blu-ray box set, released 2010. English language. Runtime of seven feature films approximately 690 minutes.
Summary: Easy Rider, Five Easy Pieces, and Drive, He Said include comparatively mild moments of dead animals or animals in stressful situations. Click individual titles for details.
The Criterion box set includes seven feature films with supplemental material.
Head (1969 Bob Rafelson)
Easy Rider (1969 Dennis Hopper)
Five Easy Pieces (1970 Bob Rafelson)
Drive, He Said (1970 Jack Nicholson)
The Last Picture Show (1971 Peter Bogdanovich)
A Safe Place (1971 Henry Jaglom)
The King of Marvin Gardens (1972 Bob Rafelson)
Add-A-Ball: The Return of Pinball. Sam Cullis, 2015.
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Edition screened: Watched online. English language. Runtime approximately 20 minutes.
Summary: No animals or references to animals in the film.