Violence to Animals in Film

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.

Hot Flashes

Hot Flashes. Leonard Kirtman (as Leon Gucci), 1984.

😸

Edition screened: Vinegar Syndrome DVD #165, released 2017. English language. Runtime approximately 76 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals. 0/5❤

Ugh. Erotic comedy must be the result of a contest to develop a type of film less appealing that horror comedy.

Hot Fuzz

Hot Fuzz. Edgar Wright, 2007.

😸

Edition screened: Included in The World’s End/Hot Fuzz/Shaun of the Dead 3-Pack, released 2013. English language. Runtime approximately 121 minutes.

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

Hot Love

Hot Love. Jörg Buttgereit, 1985.

😸

Edition screened: Included on the Necromantik Blu-ray in the Cult Epic box set Sex Murder Art: The Films of Jörg Buttgereit, released 2016. German language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 29 minutes.

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

Hotel Terminus: The Life and Times of Klaus Barbie

Hotel Terminus: The Life and Times of Klaus Barbie. Marcel Ophüls, 1988.

😸

Edition screened: Icarus DVD, released 2010. French, German, and English languages with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 267 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

The Hound of the Baskervilles (Lanfield)

The Hound of the Baskervilles. Sidney Lanfield, 1939.

😿😿

Edition screened: Included in MPI The Complete Sherlock Holmes Collection Blu-ray set, released 2011. English language. Runtime approximately 80 minutes.

Summary: Murder of a dog.

Details:

1) Holmes and Watson shoot at a dog and we see it limp away, 1:10:10-1:10:23. Holmes then examines the body of the dog he just shot, 1:11:25-1:11:40.

2) Twice in the film we see the small, dank, windowless burial crypt in which the poor dog is kept.

House (Borowczyk and Lenica)

House (Dom). Walerian Borowczyk and Jan Lenica, 1958.

😸

Edition screened: Included on Arrow Blu-ray Story of Sin, released 2017. Scored, no dialogue track. Runtime approximately 12 minutes.

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

House (Miner)

House. Steve Miner, 1986.

😸

Edition screened: Included in Arrow’s House: Two Stories Blu-ray set, released 2017. English language. Runtime approximately 93 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

I do not like it when adults talk to children in a ridiculous mush-mouthed lisping voice, as though children were mentally deficient. Similarly, I do not appreciate children’s movies that are intentionally plodding and redundant in the mistaken assumption that young people can understand stupid things better than interesting things. Children’s movies should be stimulating and wonderful, not insultingly retarded.

House is a horror film of sorts, targeted at mentally deficient children of all ages.

Warning: Arrow’s House: Two Stories set also includes the second film in the House franchise, which is so stupefyingly dumb that it makes this first film seem as though it were made with good intentions. And Rumer Godden has it that installments III and IV are “not as good.”

House II: The Second Story

House II: The Second Story. Ethan Wiley, 1987.

😸

Edition screened: Included in Arrow’s House: Two Stories Blu-ray set, released 2017. English language. Runtime approximately 88 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

Do not judge this entire film by the horrible first five minutes! This smarmy opening sequence in which young parents are required to relinquish their baby and then are killed is completely different from the rest of the film, which is far far worse and not just because it is ‘funny’.

The House of the Devil

The House of the Devil. Ti West, 2009.

😸

Edition screened: MPI Blu-ray, released 2009. English language. Runtime approximately 95 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

Hugh

Hugh. Joshua Oppenheimer, 1996.

😸

Edition screened: Included on Second Run DVD #102 Joshua Oppenheimer: Early Works, released 2016. English language. Runtime approximately 10 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

The Human Tornado

The Human Tornado (Dolemite II). Cliff Roquemore, 1976.

😸

Edition screened: Vinegar Syndrome Blu-ray #121, released 2016. English language. Runtime approximately 96 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

I Don't Want To Be a Man

I Don't Want To Be a Man (Ich möchte kein Mann sein). Ernst Lubitsch, 1918.

😸

Edition screened: Eureka! Masters of Cinema Blu-ray #175, included in the box set Lubitsch in Berlin: Fairy-Tales, Melodramas, and Sex Comedies, released 2017. Scored, with German intertitles and English subtitles, no dialogue track. Runtime approximately 45 minutes.

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

I Know Where I’m Going!

I Know Where I’m Going! Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, 1945.

😿

Edition screened: Criterion DVD #94, released 2001. English language. Runtime approximately 91 minutes.

Summary: Mild falconry violence.

Details:

1) A blowhard clowns around with the body of a fox, 1:19:51-1:20:19.

2) An eagle attacks an already-dead rabbit, 1:22:10-1:22:16.

The Criterion release of this superb, enjoyable film also includes the good follow-up documentary, ‘I Know Where I’m Going!’ Revisited (1994 Mark Cousins, approximately 30 minutes, no animal violence).

I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead

I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead. Mike Hodges, 2003.

😸

Edition screened: Paramount DVD, released 2004. English language. Runtime approximately 98 minutes.

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

The Image

The Image. Radley Metzger, 1975.

😸

Edition screened: Synapse Blu-ray, released 2011. English language. Runtime approximately 91 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals. 4/5❤

In Search of the Unreturned Soldiers of Malaysia

In Search of the Unreturned Soldiers of Malaysia (Mikikan-hei o otte: Marei-hen). Shôhei Imamura, 1971.

😸

Edition screened: Included in the Icarus 4-DVD set A Man Vanishes, released 2012. Japanese language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 45 minutes.

In the Dark

In the Dark (V temnote). Sergei Dvortsevoy, 2004.

😸

Edition screened: Included on Icarus DVD One Day in the Life of Andrei Arsenevich, released 2011. Russian language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 41 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

A good exposé about an aging blind man and the lively cat with whom he shares his life and small apartment.

In the House

In the House (Dans la maison). François Ozon, 2012.

😸

Edition screened: Cohen Blu-ray, released 2013. French language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 105 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

INGENIVM NOBIS IPSA PVELLA FECIT, Part I

INGENIVM NOBIS IPSA PVELLA FECIT, Part I. Hollis Frampton, 1975.

😸

Edition screened: Included on Criterion Blu-ray #607 A Hollis Frampton Odyssey, released 2012. Silent. Runtime approximately 5 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

Inherent Vice

Inherent Vice. Paul Thomas Anderson, 2015.

😸

Edition screened: Warner Blu-ray, released 2015. English language. Runtime approximately 148 minutes.

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

L’Inhumaine

L’Inhumaine (The Inhuman Woman). Marcel L’Herbier, 1924.

😸

Edition screened: Flicker Alley Blu-ray, released 2016. Scored, with French intertitles and English subtitles, no dialogue track. Runtime approximately 122 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

L’Inihumaine is one of the most visually stimulating things you could watch, perhaps comparable to Metropolis.

The Initiation

The Initiation. Larry Stewart, 1984.

😸

Edition screened: Arrow Blu-ray, released 2016. English language. Runtime approximately 97 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

Innocents Abroad

Innocents Abroad. Alex de Renzy, 1971.

😸

Edition screened: Included on Vinegar Syndrome DVD #144, 3 Documentaries by Alex de Renzy, released 2016. English language. Runtime approximately 96 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals. 4/5❤

A tour of famous sex industry neighborhoods in Hamburg, Copenhagen, Paris, and other European cities.

Inquisition

Inquisition (Inquisición). Paul Naschy (as Jacinto Molina), 1976.

😿

Edition screened: Mondo Macabro Blu-ray, released 2017. Spanish language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 90 minutes.

Summary: Gratuitous kitchen gore.

Details: Prolonged view of a fake-looking pig impaled on a spit, with plenty of oozing blood where its head should be; also other smaller corpses hanging from hooks and a chicken being plucked in the middle ground. This all happens 29:43-30:00.

I am surprised that a film about satanism and torture made in 1970s Spain doesn’t include far more and worse violence to animals.

Inside

Inside (Dentro). Emiliano Rocha Minter, 2012.

😸

Edition screened: Included on Arrow Blu-ray We Are the Flesh, released 2017. Minimal Spanish language, scored and with environmental sound effects. Runtime approximately 15 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

An excellent short film with roots in Environmental Art and Destructo-Art.

Interlude in the Marshland

Interlude in the Marshland (Uppehåll i myrlandet). Jan Troell, 1965.

😸

Edition screened: Included on Criterion Blu-ray #766, Here is Your Life, released 2015. Swedish language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 30 minutes..

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

Interlude in the Marshland is a wonderful mystery story of a sort, in which a railroad brakeman undertakes a curious journey. By the end of the tale we understand and applaud his decisions.

The Internship

The Internship. Shawn Levy, 2013.

😸

Edition screened: 20th Century Fox Blu-ray, released 2013. English language. Runtime approximately 119 minutes.

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

The Intrusion

The Intrusion. Zebedy Colt (as Arthur Nouveau), 1975.

😸

Edition screened: Vinegar Syndrome DVD #183, released 2017. English language. Runtime approximately 67 minutes.

Summary: No animals or references to animals in the film. 4/5❤

The Island

The Island. Peter Pickering, 1952.

😸

Edition screened: Included in the BFI 4-DVD set Shadows of Progress: Documentary Film in Post-War Britain 1951-1977, released 2013. English language. Runtime approximately 25 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

An overly-long PR piece for British Petroleum, struggling to convince the people that it is a grand and wonderful thing for a beautiful wetlands area to be backfilled and paved to create a refinery. The writers load up the piece with Old Britannia’s flowery language and tales of the nostalgic past, narrated over a backdrop of construction equipment destroying everything for a New and Wonderful Tomorrow. I think ‘contemptible fuckers’ is the phrase.

The 😸 is begrudgingly awarded since, of course, BP forgets to show the uncountable thousands of animals that died horrible deaths under construction vehicle wheels, from having their homes flooded with toxic runoff, and just for the hell of it.

Islands of the West

Islands of the West. Bill Forsyth, 1972.

😸

Edition screened: Included on BFI ‘Flipside’ Blu-ray #29 That Sinking Feeling, released 2014. English language. Runtime approximately 30 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

A tour of the Western Isles of Scotland, with commentary on history and sociology.

It Rains on Our Love

It Rains on Our Love (Det regnar på vår kärlek). Ingmar Bergman, 1946.

😿

Edition screened: Included in Artificial Eye Blu-ray box set Classic Bergman: 5 Films by the Master of Cinema, released 2012. Swedish language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 95 minutes.

Summary: A dog yelps because it is lightly struck by a police officer, 21:48.

The Italian Job (Gray)

The Italian Job. F. Gary Gray, 2003.

😸

Edition screened: Paramount DVD, released 2003. English language. Runtime approximately 110 minutes.

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

Jailhouse 41

Jailhouse 41 (Female Prisoner Scorpion: Jailhouse 41/Joshû sasori: Dai-41 zakkyo-bô). Shunya Itô, 1972.

😿😿

Edition screened: Included in Arrow Blu-ray box set Female Prisoner Scorpion: The Complete Collection released 2016. Japanese language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 94 minutes.

Summary: Depicted killing of dogs.

Details:

1) Hungry escaped prisoners attack and club a small dog 29:22-29:39, followed by a scene of them eating cooked meat.

2) Image of a dog killed in a trap, 38:30-38:35.

Jean Vigo

Jean Vigo. Michel Gondry, 2011.

😸

Edition screened: Included on Criterion Blu-ray #578, The Complete Jean Vigo, released 2011. No audio track. Runtime approximately 1 minute.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

This animated short is Gondry’s tribute to L’Atalante and the genius of Vigo.

Joanna

Joanna. Michael Sarne, 1968.

😸

Edition screened: BFI ‘Flipside’ Blu-ray #16, released 2011. English language. Runtime approximately 113 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

The BFI disc set also includes Road to Saint Tropez (Sarne, 1966) and Death My Be Your Santa Claus (Frankie Dymon, Jr., 1968).

John Wick

John Wick. Chad Stahelski, 2014.

😿😿

Edition screened: Lionsgate Blu-ray, released 2015. English language. Runtime approximately 101 minutes.

Summary: Puppy murdered.

Details: The puppy is clubbed and killed 14:38-14:40. We then see Keanu Reeves, badly injured, holding and mourning his dead dog. The viewer, too, is maneuvered to love the dog and to be furious over its death.

John Wick provides a rare example of an animal’s death weighed appropriately, rather than quickly dismissed or used as a trampoline to worry about human safety.