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.

The Beast (Borowczyk)

The Beast (La bête). Walerian Borowczyk, 1975.
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Edition screened: Arrow Blu-ray, released 2014. English and French language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 98 minutes.

Summary: Implied murder of a lamb. 4/5❤

Details:
1) We find the remains of a lamb that has been killed and eaten by The Beast, 1:02:41-1:03:07. Slight return, 1:06:25-1:06:27.
The Arrow release also includes Borowczyk’s short film Venus on the Half-Shell (1975).

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Beggars of Life

Beggars of Life. William A. Wellman, 1928.
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Edition screened: Kino Lorber Blu-ray, released 2017. Scored and with English intertitles, no dialogue track. Runtime approximately 81 minutes.

Summary: Chicken plucking

Details: A dead chicken is carried into the cabin at 1:08:05, and is intermittently on screen and occasionally plucked through 1:11:35.

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Belladonna of Sadness

Belladonna of Sadness (Kanashimi no beradonna). Eiichi Yamamoto, 1973.
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Edition screened: Cinelicious  Blu-ray, released 2016. Japanese language. Runtime approximately 29 minutes.

Summary: Artwork of animal abuse.

Details: The Black Plague sequence begins with a black-and-white drawing of a crow having its head snipped off; not gory. That scene continues with animated drawings that include images of vague bestiality. 

These animated drawings are open to interpretation and are not rooted in depicting animal abuse.

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Bells Are Ringing

Bells Are Ringing. Vincente Minnelli, 1960.
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Edition screened: Warner Blu-ray, released 2017. English language. Runtime approximately 126 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.


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Bergman 101

Bergman 101. Peter Cowie, 2009.
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Edition screened: Included with The Seventh Seal in Criterion Blu-ray set Ingmar Bergman’s Cinema, released 2018. English language. Runtime approximately 35 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

A dry but accurate overview of Bergman’s evolving cast, themes, and filmmaking techniques.

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Bergman Island

Bergman Island. Marie Nyreröd, 2006.
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Edition screened: Included in Criterion Blu-ray box set Ingmar Bergman’s Cinema, released 2018. Swedish language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 83 minutes.

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

Nyreröd’s pleasant and nicely-paced documentary about the later years of Bergman’s life on Fårö Island accompanies The Seventh Seal on disc #16 of 30 in Ingmar Bergman’s Cinema.










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Beware My Brethren

Beware My Brethren (The Fiend). Robert Hartford-Davis, 1972.
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Edition screened: Vinegar Syndrome Blu-ray #254, released 2018. English language. Runtime approximately 92 minutes.

Summary: There are no particular depictions of violence or harm to animals. There is one brief scene in a meat locker at 1:01, immediately after we see the sign for “cold storage”. There is no effort to make this interior gross: no heads, blood, or gruesome displays.


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The Big Clock

The Big Clock. John Farrow, 1948.
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Edition screened: Arrow Blu-ray, released 2019. English language. Runtime approximately 95 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.


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Bigger Than Life

Bigger Than Life. Nicholas Ray, 1956.
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Edition screened: Criterion Blu-ray #507, released 2010. English language. Runtime approximately 95 minutes.

Summary: No animals or references to animals in the film.


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Bitch Slap

Bitch Slap. Rick Jacobson, 2010.
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Edition screened: 20th Century Fox Blu-ray, released 2012. English language. Runtime approximately 109 minutes.


Summary: No animals or references to animals in the film.

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Black Peter

Black Peter (Černý Petr). Miloš Forman, 1963.
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Edition screened: Second Run Blu-ray #013, released 2018. Czech language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 90 minutes.


Summary: No animals or references to animals in the film.

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The Blackcoat’s Daughter

The Blackcoat’s Daughter. Osgood Perkins, 2016.
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Edition screened: Lionsgate Blu-ray, released 2017. English language. Runtime approximately 95 minutes.


Summary: No animals or references to animals in the film.
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The Blair Witch Project

The Blair Witch Project. Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez, 1999.
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Edition screened: Lionsgate Blu-ray, released 2007. English language. Runtime approximately 87 minutes.

Summary: A dead mouse is discovered in the wood, but there are no depictions of violence or harm to animals.

Details: A dead mouse is found on the forest floor, 18:50-19:00. This comes well before, and is unrelated to, any violence or horror in the film.

The Lionsgate BD also includes the made-for-TV promo film, Curse of the Blair Witch.

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Blatzom films

Blatzom series. Jeff Keen, 1986 through 1990s.
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Edition screened: Included in BFI Gazwrx: The Films of Jeff Keen Blu-ray/DVD set, released 2009. English language and/or with sound effects track. Runtimes as indicated.

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

The BFI set includes these wonderful Blatzom films:

Blatzom, 1986, 12 minutes
Blatzom in Artwar, 1990s, 21 minutes
Blatzomatica, 1990s, 4 minutess
Blazon Blatzom: El Pistolera Blatzo, 1990s, 14 minutess





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Blood Harvest

Blood Harvest. Bill Rebane, 1986.
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Edition screened: Vinegar Syndrome Blu-ray #250, released 2018. English language. Runtime approximately 88 minutes.

Summary: Bleeding pig carcass.

Details:
1) Tiny Tim has a Polaroid of his murdered pet pig, 58:22-58:25.
2) A butchered pig is suspended from rafters and drips a little blood on a woman who is struggling to fight off a murderer. The pig carcass is featured 1:19:38-1:19:50, and then can be seen occasionally at the top of the screen through 1:22:03.

The kitty who jumps out of a chest of drawers early in the film is not threatened or seen again.

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Blood Hunger: The Films of José Larraz

Blood Hunger: The Films of José Larraz. 1970-1977 .
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Edition screened: Arrow Blu-ray set, released 2019. English and Spanish language with English subtitles. Cumulative runtime of four feature films approximately 265 minutes.

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

The Arrow set includes an assortment of interview and supplemental material, Simon Birrell’s short horror film His Last Request (2005), and three features by Larraz:

Whirlpool (1970)
Vampyres (1974)


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Blood Theatre

Blood Theatre. Rick Sloane, 1984.
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Edition screened: Vinegar Syndrome Blu-ray #231, released 2018. English language. Runtime approximately 75 minutes.

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

The Vinegar Syndrome release also includes Sloane’s 1986 The Visitants.


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Bloodsuckers from Outer Space

Bloodsuckers from Outer Space. Glen Coburn, 1984.
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Edition screened: Vinegar Syndrome Blu-ray #224, released 2018. English language. Runtime approximately 88 minutes.

Summary: A bloodsucker kneels beside a slightly-quivering sheep, the sheep having blood in its coat at the neck, 48:48-48:54.

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The Bloodthirsty Trilogy

The Bloodthirsty Trilogy. Michio Yamamoto, 1970-1974.
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Edition screened: Arrow Blu-ray set, released 2018. Japanese language with English subtitles. Cumulative runtime of features approximately 236 minutes.

Summary: Animal deaths in the first two films.

The Arrow release includes all three Japanese vampire films of The Bloodthirsty Trilogy: 

The Vampire Doll (Legacy of Dracula), 1970



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Bloody New Year

Bloody New Year. Norman J. Warren, 1986.
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Edition screened: Vinegar Syndrome Blu-ray #258, released 2019. English language. Runtime approximately 94 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

A unique horror film in which we learn survival tactic such as:
• an attacking zombie can be stopped with nautically themed decorative knickknacks
• what appears to be a spot of gravy may actually be the Table Cloth Monster
• if attacked by a decoratively carved oak newel post, the serious wounds that result can be treated by wiping with a Kleenex
• if trapped in a resort hotel that is eerily frozen in New Year’s Eve 1959, take time to enjoy the pinball machine, decorations, and innumerable other things from the the 1970s and 80s that also must have been mysteriously transported to the late 50s, just like you. 

Around 1:24:00, a couple is chased around the room by a Zaccaria Lucky Fruit machine!


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Blue Vengeance

Blue Vengeance. J. Christian Ingvordsen and Danny Kuchuck, 1989.
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Edition screened: Vinegar Syndrome Blu-ray #218, released 2018. English language. Runtime approximately 103 minutes.

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

The Vinegar Syndrome release also includes The First Man (1996) by co-director Kuchuck.
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Body and Soul

Body and Soul. Oscar Micheaux, 1925.
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Edition screened: Included on DVD #371 Paul Robeson: Outsider, in Criterion 4-DVD set #369 Paul Robeson: Portraits of the Artist, released 2007. Scored and with English intertitles, no dialogue track. Runtime approximately 79 minutes.


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

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Body Melt

Body Melt. Philip Brophy, 1993.
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Edition screened: Vinegar Syndrome Blu-ray #243, released 2018. English language. Runtime approximately 83 minutes.

Summary: Killing and mutilation of a kangaroo.

Details: A kangaroo is killed by a thrown rock, then the kangaroo’s throat is slit and the adrenal gland removed and eaten. This all happens 26:22-27:15.

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Boggy Depot

Boggy Depot. Mark Ellinger and Curt McDowell, 1973.
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Edition screened: Included in Synapse Thundercrack! Blu-ray/DVD set, released 2015. English language. Runtime approximately 17 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

Clever in its conception and entertaining in its execution, Boggy Depot is by far the winner among the bonus short films included in Synapse’s Thundercrack! release.
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Borderline

Borderline. Kenneth Macpherson, 1930.
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Edition screened: Included on DVD #371 Paul Robeson: Outsider, in Criterion 4-DVD set #369 Paul Robeson: Portraits of the Artist, released 2007. Scored and with English intertitles, no dialogue track. Runtime approximately 75 minutes.


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

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A Boring Afternoon

A Boring Afternoon (Fádní odpoledne). Ivan Passer, 1964.
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Edition screened: Included on Second Run Blu-ray #012 Intimate Lighting, released 2018. Czech language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 14 minutes.

Summary: No animals or references to animals in the film.

An excellent, subtle film.

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Born Under Crossed Stars

Born Under Crossed Stars (Akutarô-den: Warui hoshi no shita demo). Seijun Suzuki, 1965.
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Edition screened: Included in Arrow Blu-ray box set Seijun Suzuki: The Early Years Vol. 1: Seijun Rising: The Youth Movies, released 2018. Japanese language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 98 minutes.

Summary: From 16:55 through 17:50, scenes of three roosters fighting in a barnyard are intercut with scenes of boys in a combat training class. There also are a few quick images of men betting and cheering for the roosters as though watching a cockfight, but there is no “sporting” environment to the rooster-fight scenes. There also is no killing, blood, or extremely violent attacks; just a lot of squabbling and flailing. Toward the end of the film there is another similar 2-second scene of the roosters.
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Boy and Bicycle

Boy and Bicycle. Ridley Scott, 1965.
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Edition screened: Included on BFI Blu-ray Loving Memory, released 2012. English language. Runtime approximately 27 minutes.

Summary: Dead dog on beach.

Details: The boy walks by a slightly decomposing dog on the beach, 18:01-18:05.

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The Boys from Fenguei

The Boys from Fenguei (All the Youthful Days / Feng gui lai de ren). Huo Hsiao-Hsien, 1983.
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Edition screened: Eureka! Masters of Cinema Blu-ray #190 in the set Early Huo Hsiao-Hsien: Three films 1980-1983, released 2018. Mandarin language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 100 minutes.

Summary: Pointless animal abuse.

Details:
1) A ‘comedic’ attempt to sacrifice a chicken culminates in injuring the bird’s neck without killing it, and throwing it roughly to the ground, 24:55-26:38.
2) A snake minding his own business is pursued and clubbed to death, 50:32-50:50.

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Breakout

Breakout. Jeff Keen, 1962.
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Edition screened: Included in BFI Gazwrx: The Films of Jeff Keen Blu-ray/DVD set, released 2009. No audio track. Runtime approximately 11 minutes.

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


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The Bride’s Initiation

The Bride’s Initiation (Demon’s Brew). Emilio Portici (as Duncan Stewart), 1973.
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Edition screened: Vinegar Syndrome DVD #252, released 2018. English language. Runtime approximately 68 minutes.

Summary: No animals or references to animals in the film. 2.5/5❤

Bonus material indicates that ‘Emilio Portici’ really is Canadian-born Emile Alan Harvard.

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A Brief History of Paradise as Told by the Cockroaches

A Brief History of Paradise as Told by the Cockroaches. Joshua Oppenheimer, 2002.
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Edition screened: Included on Second Run DVD #102 Joshua Oppenheimer: Early Works, released 2016. English language. Runtime approximately 3 minutes.

Summary: The film is an art piece in which cockroaches are harnessed by thin ribbons to restrict their movement. They walk on magazines that glamorize wasteful human culture while the squeaky cockroach voice-over talks about the Good Old Days of excellent cupcake crumbs, etc.  Some roaches are seen in distress and dying. 




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Brimstone & Treacle

Brimstone & Treacle. Richard Loncraine, 1982
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Edition screened: MGM/UA DVD, released 2003. English language. Runtime approximately 87 minutes.

Summary: Around the 72-minute mark, Sting finds a dead baby bird among leaves. He picks it up and handles it gently and mournfully for a minute. Nothing harmful or troubling here.

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