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.

The Seven Minutes

The Seven Minutes. Russ Meyer, 1971.

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Edition screened: Included with Arrow Blu-ray Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, released 2016. English language. Runtime approximately 115 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

Sex and the City 2

Sex and the City 2. Michael Patrick King, 2010.

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Edition screened: New Line Blu-ray, released 2010. English language. Runtime approximately 146 minutes.

Summary: An extended scene that mocks anti-fur activists, but no depictions of violence or harm to animals.

Sex and the City: The Movie

Sex and the City: The Movie. Michael Patrick King, 2008.

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Edition screened: New Line DVD, released 2008. English language. Runtime approximately 145 minutes.

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

The Sexorcist/Deviates in Love

The Sexorcist/Deviates in Love. Ray Dennis Steckler (as Max Miller), 1973 & 1978.

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Edition screened: Vinegar Syndrome DVD #247 The Sexorcist’s Devil/ Deviates in Love, released 2018. English language. Cumulative runtime approximately 119 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

• The Sexorcist (The Sexorcist’s Devil, Undressed to Kill). Ray Dennis Steckler (as Max Miller), 1973, approximately 60 minutes. 0.5/5❤

• Deviates in Love (Fade to Red). Ray Dennis Steckler (as Max Miller), 1978, approximately 59 minutes. 1/5❤

Sharp Objects

Sharp Objects. Jean-Marc Vallée, 2018.

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Edition screened: HBO Blu-ray set, released 2018. English language. Runtime approximately 422 minutes.

Summary: Mutilation of a pig’s head.

Details: The setting of this miniseries is a small town dominated by a hog farming operation, the only large employer in the area. There are many references to the animals and we see them running around in their pens occasionally, but the only act of violence happens in Episode Two (of eight) in which the detective experiments on a pig’s head to assess how difficult it is to remove its teeth with pliers. This is seen coming and easily skipped or fast-forwarded if you so choose.

She-Devils on Wheels

She-Devils on Wheels. Herschell Gordon Lewis, 1968.

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Edition screened: Included in the Arrow box set The Herschell Gordon Lewis Feast, released 2016. English language. Runtime approximately 86 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

This BD also includes Lewis’s Just for the Hell of It.

Showdown

Showdown. Henri Pachard, 1985.

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Edition screened: Vinegar Syndrome DVD #239, released 2018. English language. Runtime approximately 80 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals. 0.5/5❤

Dudranch.

Sister Street Fighter

Sister Street Fighter (Onna hissatsu ken). Kazuhiko Yamaguchi, 1974.

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Edition screened: Included on Arrow Blu-ray set Sister Street Fighter Collection, released 2019. Japanese language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 86 minutes.

Summary: Depicted killing of insects and a bird.

Details:

1) We see two flies that have been impaled on toothpicks, 5:25-5:36.

2) Depiction of a caged bird shot with a blowgun at 28:00; quick, indistinct, and almost certainly another one of the taxidermy specimens that appears throughout the film.

Sister Street Fighter Collection

Sister Street Fighter Collection. Kazuhiko Yamaguchi and Shigehiro Ozawa, 1974-1976.

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Edition screened: Arrow Blu-ray box set, released 2019. Japanese language with English subtitles. Cumulative runtime of four feature films approximately 325 minutes.

Summary: Each film has some brief but unnecessary animal abuse scene, most being the impaling of some tiny thing from across the room with an even tinier projectile.

The Arrow set includes the four films of this popular series. Click individual titles for details.

Sister Street Fighter (1974, Kazuhiko Yamaguchi)

Sister Street Fighter: Hanging by a Thread (1974, Kazuhiko Yamaguchi)

Return of the Sister Street Fighter (1975, Kazuhiko Yamaguchi)

Sister Street Fighter: Fifth Level Fist (1976, Shigehiro Ozawa)

Sister Street Fighter: Fifth Level Fist

Sister Street Fighter: Fifth Level Fist (Onna hissatsu godan ken). Shigehiro Ozawa, 1976.

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Edition screened: Included on Arrow Blu-ray set Sister Street Fighter Collection, released 2019. Japanese language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 77 minutes.

Summary: Mild fish cleaning.

Details: Several fish are slit open to get the packets of drugs hidden within, 6:50-7:19.

Sister Street Fighter: Hanging by a Thread

Sister Street Fighter: Hanging by a Thread (Onna hissatsu ken: Kiki ippatsu). Kazuhiko Yamaguchi, 1974.

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Edition screened: Included on Arrow Blu-ray set Sister Street Fighter Collection, released 2019. Japanese language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 85 minutes.

Summary: Gory encounter with a bull’s head.

Details: During an indoor battle scene, we see a bull’s head sitting decoratively on a table, looking like a taxidermy specimen or possibly a realistic sculpture. A swordsman in the thick of battle takes time to cut the horns off one at a time, then to strike the top of the head which emits a geyser spray of blood. This inscrutable weirdness is 35:17-35:31.

Skin Flicks

Skin Flicks. Gerard Damiano, 1978.

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Edition screened: Vinegar Syndrome Blu-ray #274, released 2019. English language. Runtime approximately 85 minutes.

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

Smashing the 0-Line

Smashing the 0-Line (Mikkô zero rain). Seijun Suzuki, 1960.

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Edition screened: Included in Arrow Blu-ray box set Seijun Suzuki: The Early Years Vol. 2: Border Crossings: The Crime and Action Movies, released 2018. Japanese language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 83 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

Smashing Time

Smashing Time. Desmond Davis, 1967.

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Edition screened: Kino Lorber Blu-ray, released 2018. English language. Runtime approximately 96 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

Bally Bazaar pinball in the little restaurant around the 8:00 mark.

Smiles of a Summer Night

Smiles of a Summer Night (Sommarnattens leende). Ingmar Bergman, 1955.

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Edition screened: Criterion Blu-ray #101, included in Criterion Blu-ray set Ingmar Bergman’s Cinema, released 2018. Swedish language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 109 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

Smiles of a Summer Night is on disc #1 of 30 in Ingmar Bergman’s Cinema (part of ‘Opening Night’), and is accompanied by a 2003 introduction by Bergman with Marie Nyreröd, a trailer, and a very good conversation about the film between Peter Cowie and Jörn Donner (2003, 17 minutes).

Something Weird

Something Weird. Herschell Gordon Lewis, 1968.

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Edition screened: Included with Color Me Blood Red in the Arrow box set The Herschell Gordon Lewis Feast, released 2016. English language. Runtime approximately 80 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

This is one of the most watchable HGL films.

The Spiral

The Spiral (Rasen). Jôji Iida, 1998.

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Edition screened: Included in Arrow Blu-ray set Ringu Collection, released 2019. Japanese language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 97 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

Yet another director’s stab at a follow-up to Ringu.

Splatter University

Splatter University. Richard W. Haines, 1984.

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Edition screened: Vinegar Syndrome Blu-ray #261, released 2019. English language. Runtime approximately 78 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

Spookies

Spookies. Thomas Doran, et al., 1985

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Edition screened: Vinegar Syndrome Blu-ray #301, released 2019. English language. Runtime approximately 85 minutes.

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

A lot of information about this boring film is available on line, and there are legitimate reasons that this boring film gets a lot of attention. Its production history and release history both are interesting, and the frequent gore/monster/zombie special effects are far, far superior to most films of similar age and budget.

But those special effects are the Spookies’ only redeeming attribute. It is “comedy-horror” at its worst, a last-place contestant in an almost last-place sub-genre second only to “comedy-porn” in unpleasantness. The film is 85 minutes of pushy juvenile comments disguised as comedy recited by the worst actors on earth portraying the most unappealing characters on earth.

The Sting

The Sting. George Roy Hill, 1973.

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Edition screened: Universal Blu-ray, released 2012. English language. Runtime approximately 130 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

Stranger Than Paradise

Stranger Than Paradise. Jim Jarmusch, 1984.

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Edition screened: Criterion DVD #400, released 2007. English language. Runtime approximately 89 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

The Criterion release also includes Jarmusch’s earlier related film Permanent Vacation (1980).

Strip Nude for Your Killer

Strip Nude for Your Killer (Nude per l'assassino). Andrea Bianchi, 1975.

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Edition screened: Arrow Blu-ray, released 2019. Original Italian or English dub. Runtime approximately 98 minutes.

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

The director clearly intends that this film be remembered for its beautiful women and substantial nudity. Check. But even more memorable are the interminable ‘wacky driving’ scene through the streets of Milan and a tiresome discussion about milk in coffee. The guts, if you will, of this giallo thriller are very good but the filler material is excruciating at times.

A Study in Choreography for Camera

A Study in Choreography for Camera. Maya Deren and Talley Beatty, 1934.

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Edition screened: Included on Mystic Fire DVD Maya Deren: Experimental Films, released 2002. No audio track. Runtime approximately 4 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

The Suckling

The Suckling. Francis Teri, 1989.

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Edition screened: Vinegar Syndrome Blu-ray #269, released 2019. English language. Runtime approximately 89 minutes.

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

Sudden Fury

Sudden Fury. Brian Damude, 1975.

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Edition screened: Vinegar Syndrome Blu-ray #253, released 2018. English language. Runtime approximately 92 minutes.

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

The Sun in a Net

The Sun in a Net (Slinko v sieti). Štefan Uher, 1962.

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Edition screened: Second Run DVD #81, released 2013. Slovak language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 90 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

Super 8

Super 8. J.J. Abrams, 2011.

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Edition screened: Paramount Blu-ray, released 2012. English language. Runtime approximately 112 minutes.

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

Survive Style 5+

Survive Style 5+. Gen Sekiguchi, 2004.

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Edition screened: Geneon DVD, released 2005. Japanese language with English subtitle. Runtime approximately 120 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

Swing Time

Swing Time. George Stevens, 1936.

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Edition screened: Criterion Blu-ray #979, released 2019. English language. Runtime approximately 103 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals. A dog and cat team get a funny cameo early in the film.

Down by Law

Down by Law. Jim Jarmusch, 1986.

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Edition screened: Criterion Blu-ray #166, released 2012. English language. Runtime approximately 107 minutes.

Summary: Rabbit hunting and cooking.

Details:

1) Roberto Benigni has caught a rabbit in the woods, and holds the small dead rabbit by the ears, 1:21:24-1:21:55.

2) We see a rabbit being roasted on a spit during dialogue, 1:23:05-1:26:31.

Detective Bureau 2-3: Go to Hell Bastards!

Detective Bureau 2-3: Go to Hell Bastards! (Kutabare akutô-domo - Tantei jimusho 23). Seijun Suzuki, 1963.

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Edition screened: Arrow Blu-ray, released 2018. Japanese language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 89 minutes.

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

The Cloud-Capped Star

The Cloud-Capped Star (Meghe Dhaka Tara). Ritwik Ghatak, 1960.

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Edition screened: Criterion Blu-ray #993, released 2019. Bengali language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 127 minutes.

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

The Candy Snatchers

The Candy Snatchers. Guerdon Trueblood, 1973.

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Edition screened: Vinegar Syndrome Blu-ray #302, released 2019. English language. Runtime approximately 95 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

Bloody Birthday

Bloody Birthday. Ed Hunt, 1981.

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Edition screened: Arrow Blu-ray, released 2018. English language. Runtime approximately 85 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

Three children are born during an eclipse, which causes Bloody Birthday to portray these children with unexpected authenticity.

Black Venus

Black Venus (Vénus noire). Abdellatif Kechiche, 2010.

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Edition screened: Arrow Blu-ray, released 2018. English, French, and Afrikaans languages with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 159 minutes.

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

Avenging Angel

Avenging Angel. Robert Vincent O’Neill, 1985.

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Edition screened: Vinegar Syndrome Blu-ray #299B in The Angel Collection box set, released 2019. English language. Approximate runtime 93 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

Angel III: The Final Chapter

Angel III: The Final Chapter. Tom DeSimone, 1985.

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Edition screened: Vinegar Syndrome Blu-ray #299C in The Angel Collection box set, released 2019. English language. Approximate runtime 99 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

The Angel Collection

The Angel Collection. Robert Vincent O’Neill and Tom DeSimone, 1984-1988.

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Edition screened: Vinegar Syndrome Blu-ray set #299, released 2019. English language. Cumulative runtime of three feature films approximately 195 minutes.

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

The VS box set includes

• Angel (1984 Robert Vincent O’Neill, 93 minutes)

• Avenging Angel (1985 Robert Vincent O’Neill, 93 minutes)

• Angel III: The Final Chapter (1988 Tom DeSimone, 99 minutes)

Angel

Angel. Robert Vincent O’Neill, 1984.

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Edition screened: Vinegar Syndrome Blu-ray #299A in The Angel Collection box set, released 2019. English language. Approximate runtime 93 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

An American Werewolf in London

An American Werewolf in London. John Landis, 1981.

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Edition screened: Arrow Blu-ray, released 2019. English language. Runtime approximately 97 minutes.

Summary: Depiction of killing a deer.

Details: In a dream sequence, David sees himself running naked in the woods. He attacks and kills a deer at 25:15 and eats a dismembered leg through 25:15.

1984

1984. Michael Radford, 1984.

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Edition screened: Criterion Blu-ray #984, released 2019. English language. Runtime approximately 110 minutes.

Summary: No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals. Rats get significant attention, but there is no harm depicted.

Aloys

Aloys. Tobias Nölle, 2015.

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Edition screened: Eureka! Blu-ray, released 2016. Swiss German language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 91 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

The title character’s house cat has a prominent role, and the feline actor gives a truly first-rate performance.