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.

Director Index L - Q

Animal Violence Key:  Clean   Minimal   Substantial   Heavy   Extreme 

La Cava, George Gregory: My Man Godfrey (1936)
Labarthe, André S.: The Dinosaur and the Baby (1967)
Lacy, Susan: Very Ralph (2019)  
Lau, Lawrence: Spacked Out (2000)  
Lau Wai-kenug (Andrew Lau): The Flock (2006) 
Laughton, Charles: The Night of the Hunter (1955)
Laugier, Pascal: Martyrs (2008)
Law, John: The Hatred (2018)   
Lawder, Standish: Necrology (1970)
Lawrence, David: The El Duce Tapes (2019 w/Ascher)  
Lenzi, UmbertoKnife of Ice (1972)   
Levine, Jonathan: Snatched (2017) 
Levy, Shawn: Date Night (2010)The Internship (2013)
Levy-Hinte, Jeffrey: Soul Power (1974) 
Lewin, Albert: Pandora and the Flying Dutchman (1951)
Lewis, Harry & Louis: Ladies Night (1980)Her Wcked Ways (1983)
Lewis, Herschell Gordon: Scum of the Earth (1963)Blood Feast (1963)Moonshine Mountain (1964), Two Thousand Maniacs! (1964)Color Me Blood Red (1965)A Hot Night at the Go Go Lounge! (1966)The Gruesome Twosome (1967)A Taste of Blood (1967)How To Make a Doll (1968)She-Devils on Wheels (1968)Just for the Hell of It (1968)Something Weird (1968), Ecstasies of Women (1969)Linda and Abilene (1969)The Wizard of Gore (1970), Black Love (1971)This Stuff'll Kill Ya (1971), The Gore Gore Girls (1972)
Lewis, Joseph H.: Invisible Ghost (1941), Gun Crazy (1949)Terror in a Texas Town (1958)
Lewis, Kevin: Willy’s Wonderland (2020)  
Leyda, Jay: A Bronx Morning (1931)  
Locke, Francis: Blonde Ambition (2019) 
Lurie, John: Fishing with John (1992)
Lussier, Patrick: Drive Angry (2011)     
Lustig, William: The Violation of Claudia (1977)Hot Honey (1978)Maniac (1980), Maniac Cop (1988)
Lye, Len: Cameramen at War (1943)
Lynch, DavidSix Men Getting Sick Six Times (1966)The Alphabet (1968)The Grandmother (1970)The Amputee (1974)Blue Velvet (1986)The Cowboy and the Frenchman (1988)Wild at Heart (1990)Twin Peaks (1990-1992)Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992)Lumière: Premonition Following an Evil Deed (1995), Lost Highway (1997)Mulholland Drive (2001)Out Yonder: The Neighbor Boy (2001)Industrial Soundscape (2002)The Darkened Room (2002)Lamp (2003)Bug Crawls (2004)The Intervalometer Experiments: View with Nitro; Sunset #1; Steps; Interior Dining Room  (2004)Inland Empire (2006)More Things That Happened (2006)Ballerina (2007)Boat (2007)Member Questions (2007)Twin Peaks: A Limited Event Series (2017)
Lynch, Jennifer Chambers: Boxing Helena (1993)Surveillance (2008)
Lynch, Joe: Wrong Turn 2: Dead End (2007)
Lyne, Charlie: Copycat (2015) 
Lyne, Adrian: 9 1/2 Weeks (1986)  
Lynn, Jonathan: My Cousin Vinny (1992)
Lyon, Nelson: The Telephone Book (1971)
Maanouni, Ahmed El: Trances (1981)   
Mabe, Byron: A Smell of Honey, a Swallow of Brine (1966)
Mackenzie, Alexander: Sweet Smell of Success (1979) 
Mackenzie, John: Red Shift (1978)The Long Good Friday (1979)  
Mackfall, Ryan: Backwoods (2018)    
MacKinnon, Gillies: Whiskey Galore! (2016)
Maclaine, Christopher: The End (1953)
Macpherson, Kenneth: Borderline (1930)
MacTaggart, James: Robin Redbreast (1970)  
Madden, John: Ethan Frome (1993)   
Mailer, Norman: Guys Don’t Dance (1987)   
Makhmalbaf, Moshen: Gabbeh (1996)The Silence (1998)The Gardner (2012)
Makk, Károly: Another Way (1982)
Marczewski, Wojciech: Escape from the 'Liberty' Cinema (1990)
Margheriti, Antonio: And God Said to Cain (1970) 
Marshland, Kevin: Spirit of Cheshire (1098)  
Martel, LucreciaLa Cienaga (2001)The Holy Girl (2005), The Headless Woman (2008)Zama (2017)        
Martin, D'Urville: Dolemite (1975)
Martin, Eugenio: Horror Express (1972)
Martin, James: Flesh-Eating Mothers (1988)   
Martin, Jon: A Sweet Sickness (1968)
McLeglan, Andrew V.: Bandolero! (1968)
McLeod, Norman Z.: Monkey Business (1931)    
McTiernan, John: The Hunt for Red October (1990)
Medak, Peter: The Changeling (1980)
Medem, Julio: Sex and Lucía (2001)Room in Rome (2010)
Medvedkin, Alexander: Watch Your Health (1929)Stop, Thief! (1930)Film Journal No. 4 (1932)The Story of Titus (1932)Happiness (1934)
Megahey, Leslie: Schlacken the Painter (1979)
Megaton, Olivier: Colombiana (2011)Taken 2 (2012)Taken 3 (2014)   
Meirelles, Fernando: City of God (2002)The Constant Gardner (2005) 
Mekas, Jonas: Go! Go! Go! (1964)
Melville, Jean-Pierre: 24 Hours in the Life of a Clown (1946)Le Silence de la mer (1949)Bob le flambeur (1956)Le Cercle rouge (1970)
Menken, Marie: Notes on the Circus (1966)
Menzel, Jiří: Closely Observed Trains (1966), Pearls of the Deep: Mr. Baltazar's Death (1966)
Menzies, William Cameron: Things to Come (1936)
Merighi, Ferdinando: The French Sex Murders (1972) 
Merwin, Bannister: A Christmas Accident (1909) 
Meyer, Russ: The Seven Minutes (1971)
Micheaux, Oscar: Body and Soul (1925)
Middleton, Edwin: The Pool Sharks (1915)
Mielche, PaulmichelThe Weird World of Weird (1970)  
Miles, Christopher: The Maids (1974)
Milestone, Lewis: The Front Page (1931)
Milev, Valeri: Wrong Turn 6: Last Resort (2014)  
Mitchell, John Cameron: Rabbit Hole (2010)  
Mitchell, Sagar and James Kenyon: Electric Victorians (1900-1910)  
Mithu, Noor Imran: Komola Rocket (2018)
Moore, John: The Omen (2006) 
Moore, Lawerence: One Pair of Eyes: Alan Garner (1972) 
Moore, Michael: Roger and Me (1989)
Moore, Randy: Escape from Tomorrow (2013)
Moore, Tom: Mark of the Witch (1970)  
Moshinsky, Elijah: The Green Man (1990)   
Moverman, Oren: The Dinner (2017)
Moxey, John Llewellyn: City of the Dead (1960) 
Mullen, April: 88 (2015)
Mulligan, Robert: The Other (1972)  
Mulot, Claude: Sins of the Flesh (1974)La Femme-Objet (1981)   
Murphy, Dudley: The Emperor Jones (1933)
Muscha (Jürgen Muschalek): Decoder (1984)      
Muschietti, Andy: It (2017)  
Mylod, Mark: The Menu (2022)  
Nakahira, Kô: Danger Pays (1962)  
Nakagawa, Nobuo: Jigoku (1960) 
Nakajima, Sadao: The Kyoto Connection: Journey to Japan (1973) 
Nee, Aaron & Adam: The Lost City (2022)   
Newell, Mike: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005)
Nicol, Alex: Point of Terror (1971)
Nihonmatsu, Kazui: The X from Outer Space (1967)Genocide (1968)
Nilsson, Leopoldo Torre: The Female (1962)  
Noguchi, Haryasu: Murder Unincorporated (1965)
Nolan, Christopher: Memento (2000)Interstellar (2015)
Nölle, Tobias: Aloys (2015)
Nørgaard, Mikkel: Klown (2010)
Norrington, Stephen: Blade (1998) 
Noshir, Shabaz: Angst isst Seele auf (2002)
Nosseck, Noel: Best Friends (1975) 
Novaković, Radoš: Operation Titian (1964)
Novis, Celia: On Vampyres and Other Symptoms (2011)
Nuchtern, Simon: Silent Madness (1984)
Nugent, J.C.: The Rounder (1930)
Nussbaum, Raphael: Pets (1973)    
Nyholm, Kristoffer: Taboo (2017 w/Engstöm)  
Nyoni, Rungano: I Am Not a Witch (2017)  
O'Donald, Bobby: The Night Hustlers (1968)  
O'Hara, Gerry: The Pleasure Girls (1965)
O'Hara, Terrence: Darkroom (1989)
O'Horgan, Tom: Rhinoceros (1973)
Oganezov, Armen: Russian Lolita (2007) 
Ojeda, Michael S.: Avenged (2013)  
Okamoto, Kihachi: Kill! (1968) ,
Olivier, Lawrence: Three Sisters (1970)
O'Malley: Let Us Prey (2014)   
Oppenheim, Lance: Some Kind of Heaven (2020) 
Oppenheimer, Joshua: Light Test (1995)Camera Test (1995), Hugh (1996)The Challenge of Manufacturing (1996)These Places We've Learned to Call Home (1996)The Entire History of the Louisiana Purchase (1997)Land of Enchantment (2000)The Globalisation Tapes (2002)Market Update (2002)A Brief History of Paradise as Told by the Cockroaches (2002)Muzak: A Tool of Management (2002)Postcard from Sun City, Arizona (2003)The Act of Killing (2012)The Look of Silence (2014)
Ormsby, Alan: Murder on the Emerald Seas (1973)
Orrom, Michael: Portrait of Queenie (1964)
Ôshima, Nagisa: Diary of Yunbogi (1965)Pleasures of the Flesh (1965)Death by Hanging (1968)
Östlund, Ruben: Guitar Mongoloid (2004), Autobiographical Scene Number 6882 (2005), Involuntary (2008)Play (2011)Force Majeure (2014), The Square (2017)Triangle of Sadness (2022)  
Page, Jimmy: Led Zeppelin (2003)
Parker, Finn: Smile (2023)  
Pata, John: Pity (2014) 
Piestrak, Marek: Wilczyca (1983)     
Pickering, Peter: The Island (1952)
Pietrangeli, Antonio: I Knew Her Well (1965)
Pinter, Harold: Butley (1974)
Piper, Brett: Galaxy Destroyer (1985)Mutant War (1988)
Pirro, Mark: Buns (1978)The Spy Who Did It Better (1979)Deathrow Gameshow (1987)
Platts-Mills, Barney: St. Christopher (1967)Everybody's an Actor, Shakespeare Said (1968), Bronco Bullfrog (1969)Private Road (1971)
Plotkin, Vsevold: Red Mob (1992)    
Polák, Jindřich: Ikarie XB-1 (1963)
Pollack, SydneyThe Way We Were (1973) 
Polley, SarahWomen Talking (2022)   
Prieto, Joseph G.: Shanty Tramp (1967)
Prince, Richard: House Call (2006)
Provenza, Paul: The Aristocrats (2005)
Protazanov, Yakov: The Queen of Spades (1916)Satan Exultant (1917)     
Prowse, John: The Changes (1975)
Proyas, Alex: Knowing (2009) 
Puckett, Dean: The Sermon (2018)  

Animal Violence Key:  Clean   Minimal   Substantial   Heavy   Extreme