This Is the Way the World Ends. Dee Austin Robertson, 2007.
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Edition screened: Included on Arrow Blu-ray Southland Tales, released 2021. English language. Runtime approximately 10 minutes.
Summary: This short animated film tells of human extinction and animal mutation as the result of military bombing. Mutant invertebrates are depicted but they are silly and wiggly rather than alarming. No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals.
Southland Tales. Richard Kelly, 2006.
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Edition screened: Extended “Cannes Cut” included with Arrow Blu-ray, released 2021. English language. Runtime approximately 159 minutes.
Summary: Very brief discussion of monkeys used in a NASA-like flight, with a one-second image of a monkey sitting unprovoked in something like a space capsule or simulator. No particular depictions of violence or harm to any animals.
In a normal world Southland Tales would be a great YouGetItorYouDon’t film. Under the current regime of vulgar disfunction nearly identical to the film’s content, it’s more of a YouAllowYourselfToGetItorYouDon’t.
The Arrow release includes the theatrical cut, the longer Cannes debut cut, and the 2007 animated short This Is the Way the World Ends.
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.
Django, Prepare a Coffin (Preparati la bara!). Ferdinando Baldi, 1968.
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Edition screened: Arrow Blu-ray, released 2015. Italian language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 88 minutes.
Summary: No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals.
In which not-Franco Nero enlists the help of not-Jack Albertson to defeat an uncharacteristically evil not-Steve McQueen.
Audrey Rose. Robert Wise, 1977.
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Edition screened: Arrow Blu-ray, released 2022. English language. Runtime approximately 113 minutes.
Summary: No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals.
Zombie for Sale (Gimyohan gajok). Lee Min-jae, 2019.
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Edition screened: Arrow Blu-ray released 2020. Korean language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 112 minutes.
Summary: Two brief scenes around the six minute mark suggest that a domestic rabbit has just been murdered. There is no violence, blood or other evidence, and an inattentive viewer probably would miss the entire implication.
The Boxer’s Omen (Mo). Kuei Chih-hung, 1983.
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Edition screened: Included in the Arrow Blu-ray box set Shawscope: Volume Two, released 2022. Mandarin language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 105 minutes.
Summary: Ritualistic killing and torture of two chickens.
Details: Two psychic battles between a boxer-turned-monk and practitioners of Black Magic consume over half of this film’s runtime. In the first battle, the evil sorcerer performs outrageous rituals in his (lab?, game room?) decorated like the waiting area for the scary show at an amusement park. The monk sits calmly in a temple and counters his attacks. The second battle is rooted in arcane Thai magic, alluringly psychedelic rather than spooky in the traditional Chinese or Japanese taste. Both sequences hinge on the mystical power of stop-action claymation.
Although the evil magicians’ spells hinge primarily on the persecution of rubber animals, two live chickens also are cruelly victimized. The killing of these chickens compromise what otherwise would be a uniquely entertaining film.
1) From 16:32 through 18:25, a silly rubber bat is repeatedly killed and resurrected. The final minute of that sequence includes a real black rat which the sorcerer repeatedly pretends to bite into and spits simulated rodent blood on various Halloween decorations from aisle #2 in Home Depot.
2) This scene of ritual conjuring continues to include real vipers having their venom ‘milked’ (ick) into a glass container, through 24:22. The snakes do not appear to be particularly annoyed or even interested in the fact that rubber spiders are then supercharged with their venom.
3) A live rooster is decapitated and his blood thrown around to generate more evil rubber bats, 43:17-44:10.
4) A real crocodile is provoked with a weapon, then a rubber prop is used for the ensuing scene in which the fake crocodile is eviscerated and used as a resurrection coffin for a female demon, 58:10-59:27.
5) A live chicken’s protruding anus is sliced off and eaten family-style as part of the demon resurrection ritual, 1:03:41-1:04:15.
Mercenaries from Hong Kong (Lie mo zhe). Jing Wong, 1982.
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Edition screened: Included in the Arrow Blu-ray box set Shawscope: Volume Two, released 2022. Mandarin language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 106 minutes.
Summary: No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals.
Rather than the usual Asian tale of two bickering warlords and the young fighters on both sides, Mercenaries from Hong Kong is American-style nostalgia about The Toughest Vet who assembles a crew of his old buddies for a rescue-and-revenge mission in an unpleasant place.
Merry-Go-Round. Jacques Rivette, 1981.
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Edition screened: Included in Arrow Blu-ray box set The Jacques Rivette Collection, released 2016. English language and French language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 160 minutes.
Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.
The Invisible Man vs. The Human Fly (Tomei ningen to hae otoko). Mitsuo Murayama, 1957.
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Edition screened: Included on Arrow Blu-ray with The Invisible Man Appears, released 2021. Japanese language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 96 minutes.
Summary: Abuse, possible real killing, of lab rabbits.
Details:
1) We see a white rabbit die in her cage, including convulsions 50:55 - 51:26.
2) A second caged white rabbit with surgical tubes dies with convulsions, 57:51 - 58:41
The Invisible Man Appears (Tômei ningen arawaru). Shinsei Adachi and Shigehiro Fukushima, 1949.
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Edition screened: Included on Arrow Blu-ray with The Invisible Man vs. The Human Fly, released 2021. Japanese language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 87 minutes.
Summary: Rough handling of animals.
Details:
1) Around the 8:00 mark a guinea pig is fed liquid from a syringe, after which everyone pretends the animal has disappeared. The guinea pig is not happy about the syringe but is not harmed.
2) A cat is hoisted by a wire attached to her absurd clown collar and is flung around a room to make it appear that an invisible man is lifting and throwing her, 50:55-51:26.
Invincible Shaolin (Unbeatable Dragon/Nan Shao Lin yu bei Shao Lin). Chang Cheh, 1978.
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Edition screened: Included in the Arrow Blu-ray box set Shawscope: Volume Two, released 2022. Mandarin language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 106 minutes.
Summary: No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals.
The Kid with the Golden Arm (Jin bi tong). Chang Cheh, 1979.
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Edition screened: Included in the Arrow Blu-ray box set Shawscope: Volume Two, released 2022. Mandarin language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 86 minutes.
Summary: No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals.
The Magnificent Ruffians (Mai ming xiao zi). Chang Cheh, 1979.
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Edition screened: Included in the Arrow Blu-ray box set Shawscope: Volume Two, released 2022. Mandarin language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 106 minutes.
Summary: No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals.
Ten Tigers of Kwangtung (Guangdong shi hu xing yi wu xi). Chang Cheh, 1980.
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Edition screened: Included in the Arrow Blu-ray box set Shawscope: Volume Two, released 2022. Mandarin language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 91 minutes.
Summary: No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals.
Mallrats. Kevin Smith, 1995.
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Edition screened: Arrow Blu-ray, released 2020. English language. Runtime approximately 94 minutes.
Summary: Mean humor about kittens.
Details:
1) The movie begins with a voice-over about killing kittens for an obscene reason, 00:20 - 00:52. The comic book-style opening credits come next, the best part of Mallrats by far.
2) We meet Jay 16:16 - 18:55, who pounds at the kittens on the glass pet shop window just like you never should.
Shannen Doherty’s performance is good and her physical appearance is lovely. The scattered vignettes of Jay and Silent Bob are somewhat entertaining. Everything else about Mallrats is wretched.
Mad Monkey Kung Fu (Feng hou). Liu Chia-Liang, 1979.
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Edition screened: Included in the Arrow Blu-ray box set Shawscope: Volume Two, released 2022. Mandarin language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 115 minutes.
Summary: Depicted abuse and murder of a trained monkey.
Details:
1) A street performer has a monkey on a chain leash. The monkey is made to perform backflips when the owner jerks him upward via the chain, 21:12-21:22.
2) The monkey is seized by thugs at 32:46, who swing the monkey violently in circles by his chain before smashing him against a tree. The dead monkey is tossed to the ground and picked up by his owner through 33:24.
Five Superfighters (Shao Lin da peng da shi). Lo Mar, 1979.
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Edition screened: Included in the Arrow Blu-ray box set Shawscope: Volume Two, released 2022. Mandarin language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 100 minutes.
Summary: No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals.
The 36th Chamber of Shaolin (Shao Lin san shi liu fang). Liu Chia-Liang, 1978.
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Edition screened: Included in the Arrow Blu-ray box set Shawscope: Volume Two, released 2022. Mandarin language. Runtime approximately 116 minutes.
Summary: A particularly odd attempt to thwart warriors on horseback involves rigging modest amounts of rice flour to fall from the city gate as they pass below, 1:50:00. Hmmm. The horses are not injured but are visibly confused and weirded out, understandably.
Disciples of the 36th Chamber (Pi li shi jie). Liu Chia-Liang, 1985.
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Edition screened: Included in the Arrow Blu-ray box set Shawscope: Volume Two, released 2022. Mandarin language. Runtime approximately 93 minutes.
Summary: A large beautiful fish is thrown about callously, 19:05-19:18.