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.

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click Title for details Animal Violence Immaculate Corpse
I Am Always Ready Clean The smeary bottom
I Am Guilty Clean The expansive middle
I Am Love Clean The expansive middle
I Am Not a Witch Minimal The expansive middle
I Am Sartana, Your Angel of Death Clean The expansive middle
I, an Actress Clean The expansive middle
I, Daniel Blake Clean The expansive middle
I Don't Want To Be a Man Clean The expansive middle
I Dream of Jeanie Clean The expansive middle
I . . . Dreaming Clean The expansive middle
I Knew Her Well Clean The elusive top
I Know Everybody and Everybody’s Racket Clean The expansive middle
I Know Where I'm Going! Minimal The expansive middle
I Like to Watch Clean The expansive middle
I Live In Fear Clean The expansive middle
I Love to Singa Clean The expansive middle
I Love You, Man Clean The smeary bottom bordumb
I Married a Witch Clean The expansive middle
I Saw the Devil Clean The expansive middle
I Shot Andy Warhol Clean The expansive middle
I Spit on Your Grave (Monroe) Substantial The expansive middle upgrade
I Spit on Your Grave (Zarchi) Clean The smeary bottom degrade
I Stand Alone  Clean The elusive top
I Take These Truths Clean The expansive middle
I Think His Name Is John Clean The expansive middle
I, Tonya Substantial The expansive middle
I Walked with a Zombie Minimal The expansive middle
I Want To Go to School Clean The expansive middle
I Was a Fireman Clean The expansive middle
I Was Born, But … Clean The expansive middle
Ice Cream Man Substantial The smeary bottom Chuck Taylors
The Ice House Clean The expansive middle
The Iceman Cometh Clean The expansive middle
Ichi (Sori) Clean The expansive middle
Ichi the Killer Clean The expansive middle
Ida Clean The expansive middle
Identification of a Woman Clean The expansive middle
Idiocracy Clean The expansive middle
The Idiot (Kurosawa) Clean The expansive middle
The Idiots (von Trier) Clean The expansive middle
If …. Clean The expansive middle
If You Meet Sartana … Pray for Your Death Clean The expansive middle
Ikarie XB-1 Clean The expansive middle
Ikiru Clean The expansive middle
Ikebana Clean The elusive top
Ilibatezza Clean The expansive middle
I'll Sleep When I'm Dead Clean The expansive middle
Illumination Substantial The elusive top
The Illusionist Clean The expansive middle
I'm King Kong! The Exploits of Merian C. Cooper Clean The expansive middle
I’m No Angel Clean The expansive middle
I’m Not There Clean The expansive middle
I’m Still Here Clean The expansive middle
The Image Clean The expansive middle
Images from the Playground Clean The expansive middle
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus Substantial The expansive middle
Imitation of Life (Sirk) Clean The elusive top
Imitation of Life (Stahl) Clean The expansive middle
Immoral Tales Clean The expansive middle
Immoral Tales: L'Age d'Or Substantial The expansive middle
The Immortal Story Clean The expansive middle
The Immortalizer Clean The smeary bottom
Impaled Clean The expansive middle
In a Lonely Place Clean The expansive middle
In a Year with 13 Moons Extreme The expansive middle
In Celebration Clean The expansive middle
In Cold Blood Minimal The expansive middle
In Heaven There Is No Beer? Clean The expansive middle
In Search of Blind Joe Death: The Saga of John Fahey Clean The expansive middle
In Search of the Unreturned Soldiers of Malaysia Clean The expansive middle
In Search of the Unreturned Soldiers of Thailand Clean The expansive middle
In the Aftermath Clean The expansive middle
In the Beginning was the End: The Truth About De-Evolution Clean The expansive middle
In the Border States Clean The expansive middle
In the Cold of the Night Clean The expansive middle
In the Cut Clean The expansive middle
In the Dark Clean The expansive middle
In the Earth Clean The expansive middle
In the House Clean The expansive middle
In the Loop Clean The expansive middle
In the Mirror of Maya Deren Clean The expansive middle
In the Mood for Love Clean The expansive middle
In the Soup Clean The expansive middle
In the Year of the Pig Clean The elusive top
In Which We Serve Clean The expansive middle
Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome Clean The expansive middle
Incoherence Clean The expansive middle
The Incorrigible Clean The elusive top
The Incredible Petrified World Substantial The expansive middle
The Incredible Sex Revolution Clean The expansive middle
The Incubus Substantial The smeary bottom
The Indecent Desires Clean The expansive middle
The Indelicate Balance Clean The expansive middle
Independence Day Clean The expansive middle
India Song Clean The expansive middle
Inferno (Argento) Substantial The expansive middle
Inferno of Torture Heavy The expansive middle
Infrasexum Clean The expansive middle
INGENIVM NOBIS IPSA PVELLA FECIT, Part I Clean The expansive middle
The Ingenues: The Band Beautiful Clean The expansive middle
Inglorious Basterds Clean The expansive middle
Ingmar Bergman (Björkman) Substantial The expansive middle
Ingmar Bergman Bids Farewell to Film Clean The expansive middle
Ingmar Bergman Makes a Movie Clean The expansive middle
Ingmar Bergman on Life and Work Clean The expansive middle
Ingmar Bergman: Reflections on Life, Death, and Love - with Erland Josephson Clean The expansive middle
Ingmar Bergman’s Cinema Clean The elusive top
Inherent Vice Clean The expansive middle
L'Inhumaine Clean The elusive top
The Initiation Clean The expansive middle
The Initiation of Sarah (Day) Clean The expansive middle
Inland Empire: A Woman in Trouble Clean The elusive top
The Inland Sea Substantial The expansive middle
The In-Laws Clean The expansive middle
Innocence Clean The expansive middle
The Innocent (Visconti) Clean The elusive top
The Innocents (Clayton) Clean The expansive middle
Innocents Abroad (de Renzy) Clean The expansive middle
Innocents with Dirty Hands Clean The expansive middle
Inquisition Minimal The expansive middle
Insiang Heavy The expansive middle
Inside (Katsoupis) Clean The expansive middle
Inside (Minter) Clean The expansive middle
Inside Deep Throat Clean The expansive middle
Insignificance (She's the Bomb) Clean The expansive middle
Insomnia (Skjoldbjærg) Substantial The expansive middle
Inspector Lavardin Clean The expansive middle
The Inspector Lavardin Collection Clean The expansive middle
Instant Cinema Clean The expansive middle
Interferenz Clean The expansive middle
Interlude in the Marshland Clean The elusive top
Internal Affairs Clean The expansive middle
The Internship Clean The expansive middle
Interrogation Clean The expansive middle
Interstellar Clean The expansive middle
Interview (Buscemi) Clean The expansive middle
Interviews with Welshmen Clean The expansive middle
An Intimate Dinner in Celebration of Warner Bros.' Silver Jubilee Clean The expansive middle
Intimate Lighting Heavy The expansive middle
Into the Black Clean The expansive middle
Intolerable Cruelty Clean The expansive middle
Intolerance Clean The expansive middle
An Introduction to Ingmar Bergman Clean The expansive middle
Intrusion (Reeves) Minimal The expansive middle
The Intrusion (Colt) Clean The expansive middle
The Invasion Clean The expansive middle
Invasion from Inner Earth Minimal The expansive middle
Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion Clean The expansive middle
Invincible Substantial The expansive middle
Invincible Shaolin CleanThe expansive middle
Invisible Ghost Clean The expansive middle
The Invisible Man SubstantialThe expansive middle
The Invisible Man Appears MinimalThe expansive middle
The Invisible Man vs. The Human Fly HeavyThe expansive middle
Invocation of My Demon Brother Substantial The expansive middle
Involuntary Clean The elusive top
The Irishman Clean The expansive middle
Irma Vep Clean The expansive middle
Irresistible Attack Clean The expansive middle
Irreversible (Noé) Clean The expansive middle
Is Paris Burning? Clean The elusive top
Is There Sex After Death? Clean The smeary bottom no
Is Your Honeymoon Really Necessary? Clean The expansive middle
The Island Clean The expansive middle
Island of Blood (Whodunit?) Clean The smeary bottom
Island of Death Heavy The expansive middle
Island of Lost Souls Clean The expansive middle
Islands (Maysles) Clean The expansive middle
Islands of the West Clean The expansive middle
Isle of Dogs Minimal The expansive middle
It (Muschietti) Substantial The expansive middle
It Came from Kuchar Clean The expansive middle
It Happened One Night Clean The expansive middle
It Rains on Our Love Minimal The expansive middle
It's a Wonderful Life Clean The expansive middle
It's Impossible to Learn to Plow by Reading Books Clean The expansive middle
The Italian Connection Minimal The expansive middle
The Italian Job (Collinson) Clean The expansive middle
The Italian Job (Gray) Clean The expansive middle
Ivan the Terrible, Part I Clean The expansive middle
Ivan the Terrible, Part II Clean The expansive middle
Ivan's Childhood Clean The expansive middle
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