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.

Zatoichi Challenged

Zatoichi Challenged (Zatōichi chikemurikaidō). Kenji Misumi, 1967.

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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 86 minutes.


Summary: Killing of a hornet.


Details: Blind Zatoichi continues to roam the Japanese countryside, cementing his reputation as yes a masseuse and yes a gambler and yes an incredible swordsman and yes a graduate of the Clint Eastwood School for Uncompensated Defense of the Pathetic, but most distinctively as a slayer of lone flying insects. This time a hornet endures his unsighted wrath at 29:15. If you are new to the series or possibly a little Zatoichi Challenged yourself, a display of samurai fly swatting is his typical opening move to impress those he will later defend and warn those he will later smite.


The seventeenth film in the Zatoichi series.


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The World’s Greatest Sinner

The World’s Greatest Sinner. Timothy Carey, 1962.

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Edition screened: Watched online. English language. Runtime approximately 76 minutes.


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

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Wild Guitar

Wild Guitar. Ray Dennis Steckler, 1962.

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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 90 minutes.


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


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A Taste of Honey

A Taste of Honey. Tony Richardson, 1961.

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Edition screened: Criterion Blu-ray #829, released 2016. English language. Runtime approximately 100 minutes.


Summary: A dead sparrow is spotted on a sidewalk near the end of the film; no gratuitous content.


The Criterion BD also includes Richardson’s 1955 nightclub short Momma Don’t Allow. 


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The Sting of Death

The Sting of Death (Shi no toge). Kôhei Oguri, 1990.

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Edition screened: Radiance Blu-ray, released 2024. Japanese language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 115 minutes.


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


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Portrait of Jason

Portrait of Jason. Shirley Clarke, 1967.

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Edition screened: Milestone Blu-ray, released 2014. English language. Runtime approximately 107 minutes.


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


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O-Bi, O-Ba: The End of Civilization

O-Bi, O-Ba: The End of Civilization (O-bi, o-ba. Koniec cywilizacji). Piotr Szulkin, 1985.

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Edition screened: Radiance Blu-ray, released 2024. Polish language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 84 minutes.


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


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Nowhere

Nowhere. Gregg Araki, 1997.

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Edition screened: Included in Criterion Teen Apocalypse Trilogy Blu-ray set #1233, released 2024. English language. Runtime approximately 82 minutes.


Summary: Brief scene of a dead dog carried in someone’s arms, 36:48.



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Love Toy

Love Toy. Doris Wishman (as Louis Silverman), 1971.

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Edition screened: Included in AGFA Blu-ray set The Films of Doris Wishman: The Twilight Years. English language. Runtime approximately 75 minutes.


Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.


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Life Is Cheap. . . But Toilet Paper Is Expensive

Life Is Cheap. . . But Toilet Paper Is Expensive. Wayne Wang and Spencer Nakasako, 1989.

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Edition screened: Arbelos Blu-ray, released 2023. English and Cantonese language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 85 minutes.


Summary: The opening scene shows an abattoir/slaughterhouse worker casually eating a sandwich with a dead chicken hanging behind him and the walls covered in blood. There may be more animal violence of this sort following, but this is unknown as the film was stopped since distribution was not.


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The Killing of a Chinese Bookie

The Killing of a Chinese Bookie. John Cassavetes, 1976.

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Edition screened: Criterion Blu-ray #254 in box set #250 John Cassavetes: Five Films, released 2013. English language. Runtime approximately 135 minutes.


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


The Criterion release also includes Cassavetes’ 1978 108-minute edit of the film, also cruelty-free.

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Kamikaze Hearts

Kamikaze Hearts. Juliet Bashore, 1986.

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Edition screened: Kino Blu-ray, released 2022. English language. Runtime approximately 87 minutes.


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


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Jackson County Jail

Jackson County Jail. Michael Miller, 1976.

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Edition screened: Included on Shout! Factory DVD ‘Roger Corman’s Cult Classic Double Feature’ Jackson County Jail/Caged Heat, released 2011. English language. Runtime approximately 84 minutes.


Summary: A small squalid room has many amateur taxidermy projects in varying stages of completion, 20:24-23:00. There is no particular focus on the taxidermy but we see pelts or dead animals lying on a table and a pelt hanging on a form in the background.



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Hard Truths

Hard Truths. Mike Leigh, 2024.

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Edition screened: Decal Blu-ray released 2025. English language. Runtime approximately 97 minutes.


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


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Hail

Hail. Amiel Courtin-Wilson, 2011.

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Edition screened: Online. English language. Runtime approximately 104 minutes.


Summary: Famous scene of a horse falling through the air, around 85 minutes into the film. Much has been written about the film in general and this scene in particular. 



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The Films of Doris Wishman: The Twilight Years

The Films of Doris Wishman: The Twilight Years. 1971-1977.

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Edition screened: AGFA Blu-ray, released 2023. English language. Combined runtime of feature films approximately 523 minutes.


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


Click on individual titles for additional information:


The Amazing Transplant (1970)

Love Toy (1971)

Keyholes Are for Peeping (1972)

Deadly Weapons (1974)

Double Agent 73 (1974)

The Immoral Three (1975)

Let Me Die a Woman (1977)


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Emanuelle in Bangkok

Emanuelle in Bangkok (Emanuelle nera: Orient reportage). Joe D’Amato, 1976.

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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 94 minutes.


Summary: Spectator blood sports. 2.5/5❤


Details:

1) A few quick shots in a cockfighting arena around the 29:00 mark. The roosters are squaring off at the beginning of a fight and there is no combat or blood.

2) We see an entire baited fight between a mongoose and a cobra, 39:41-41:03. The animals are confined within a glass aquarium, attack one another, and fight until the cobra’s bloody death.


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Emanuelle in America

Emanuelle in America. Joe D’Amato, 1976.

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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 94 minutes.


Summary: A woman manually stimulates a stallion, 22:48-23:50. I’m calling this nonconsensual as the horse was tethered and did not reciprocate.  4/5❤


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The Doom Generation

The Doom Generation. Gregg Araki, 1995.

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Edition screened: Included in Criterion Teen Apocalypse Trilogy Blu-ray set #1233, released 2024. English language. Runtime approximately 82 minutes.


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



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