Penda’s Fen

Penda’s Fen. Alan Clarke, 1974.

😿😿😿

Edition screened: Included in Severin Blu-ray box set All the Haunts Be Ours: A Compendium of Folk Horror, released 2021. English language. Runtime approximately 90 minutes.

Summary: A young bird is smashed.

Details: A nestling is huddled in front of a truck tire. We see the truck pull out, obviously killing the bird off screen. The camera returns for a graphic closeup of the smashed young bird, 34:55-35:00.

The Panda’s Fen BD in the Severin box set also includes:

The Pledge (1981 Digby Rumsey)

Robin Redbreast (1970 James MacTaggart)

The Sermon (2018 Dean Puckett)

The Pledge

The Pledge. Digby Rumsey, 1981.

😿

Edition screened: Included with Penda’s Fen (Disc 12) in Severin Blu-ray box set All the Haunts Be Ours: A Compendium of Folk Horror, released 2021. English language. Runtime approximately 22 minutes.

Summary: Dead sheep.

Details: A sheep lies on the ground dead, 6:52-6:55.

Red Shift

Red Shift. John Mackenzie, 1978.

😸

Edition screened: BFI DVD, released 2014. English language. Runtime approximately 84 minutes.

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

This superb adaptation of Alan Garner’s novel by the same title was made for BBC’s “Play for Today” series.  The BFI release also includes an inspiring video portrait of the author One Pair of Eyes: Alan Garner, and the entertaining short film Spirit of Cheshire. 

Robin Redbreast

Robin Redbreast. James MacTaggart, 1970.

😿

Edition screened: Included in Severin Blu-ray box set All the Haunts Be Ours: A Compendium of Folk Horror, released 2021. English language. Runtime approximately 76 minutes.

Summary: Displays of dead rabbits in a church.

Details: An autumnal church service includes displays of “the bounties of the land,” beginning with piles of vegetables then transitioning to dead pheasants and mostly rabbits, 39:25-39:40.

The Robin Redbreast BD in the Severin box set also includes:

Penda’s Fen (1974 Alan Clarke) 

The Pledge (1981 Digby Rumsey)

The Sermon (2018 Dean Puckett)

Russian Lolita

Russian Lolita (Russkaya Lolita). Armen Oganezov, 2007.

😸

Edition screened: On line. Russian language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 93 minutes.

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

The Sermon

The Sermon. Dean Puckett, 2018.

😸

Edition screened: Included with Robin Redbreast (Disc 12) in Severin Blu-ray box set All the Haunts Be Ours: A Compendium of Folk Horror, released 2021. English language. Runtime approximately 12 minutes.

Summary: No animals in the film.

Spirit of Cheshire

Spirit of Cheshire. Kevin Marshland, 1980.

😸

Edition screened: Included on BFI DVD Red Shift, released 2014. English language. Runtime approximately 20 minutes.

Summary: No animals in the film.

A group of historic Rolls-Royce automobiles lead an enjoyable tour around historic Cheshire. 

Štićenik

Štićenik (The Ward). Đorđe Kadijević, 1973.

😸

Edition screened: Included with Leptirica (Disc 3) in Severin Blu-ray box set All the Haunts Be Ours: A Compendium of Folk Horror, released 2021. Serbo-Croatian with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 45 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

Sushi Girl

Sushi Girl. Kern Saxton, 2012.

😿

Edition screened: Magnet Blu-ray, released 2012. English language. Runtime approximately 99 minutes.

Summary: Sushi preparation.

Details: Close-up of the sushi chef decapitating a small (already dead) fish, 3:48.

Transformations

Transformations. Barbara Hirschfeld, 1972.

😸

Edition screened: Included with Eyes of Fire (Disc 2) in Severin Blu-ray box set All the Haunts Be Ours: A Compendium of Folk Horror, released 2021. Scored, no dialogues. Runtime approximately 9 minutes.

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

True Romance

True Romance. Tony Scott, 1993.

😸

Edition screened: Arrow UHD, released 2021. English language. Runtime approximately 121 minutes.

Summary: Several aquariums are smashed during the fight at Gary Oldman’s place, but there are no depictions of fish stranded or dying.

Virtual Encounters

Virtual Encounters. Cybil Richards, 1996.

😸

Edition screened: Full Moon DVD, released 2012. English language. Runtime approximately 84 minutes.

Summary: No animals or references to animals in the film. 1.5/5❤

Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched: A History of Folk Horror

Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched: A History of Folk Horror. Kier-La Janisse, 2021.

😿😿

Edition screened: Included on Severin Blu-ray box set All the Haunts Be Ours: A Compendium of Folk Horror, released 2021. Mostly English, with other languages and English subtitles. Runtime approximately 192 minutes.

Summary: This overview of international folk horror includes innumerable short clips and commentary from films both included and excluded from the accompanying anthology. Some clips that include animal violence:

1) Brief image of a dead rabbit in a coffin, 6:53.

2) A wolf is decapitated with flying head shenanigans, 52:01-52:10.

3) Church interior with dead game displayed including dried blood around the mouths of rabbits, 1:03:25-1:03:40.

4) Quick image of one dead sheep, no blood, 1:25:13-1:25:15.

5) Pedestrians carry a dead bird and a bloated frog, 1:34:05-1:34:23.

6) Disturbing images of sacrificed animals from The Believers, 1:52:46-1:53:07.

7) A man carries a dead kangaroo, 2:01:31-2:01:37.

8) Mutilated animals found, 3:02:13-3:02:24

9) A woman eats a worm, 3:03:00-3:03:07.

Blonde Cobra

Blonde Cobra. Ken Jacobs, 1963.

😸

Edition screened: Included on Keno Lorber Blu-ray Ken Jacobs Collection Vol. 1, released 2021. English language. Runtime approximately 33 minutes.

Summary: No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals. A dead chicken, like from a butcher shop, is handled oddly, briefly.

Fraternity Vacation

Fraternity Vacation. James Frawley, 1985.

😸

Edition screened: Included on Image DVD Fraternity Vacation/Reform School Girls, released 2011. English language. Runtime approximately 94 minutes.

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

High Life

High Life. Claire Denis, 2018

😿😿

Edition screened: Lionsgate Blu-ray, released 2019. English language. Runtime approximately 113 minutes.

Summary: Images of dead dogs.

Details:

1) A dog lies dead in a stream, 24:10-24:20.

2) A neglected kennel with dogs lying dead or near death, 1:32:24-1:34:14.

Hot Legs/California Gigolo

Hot Legs/California Gigolo. Bob Chinn, 1979.

😸

Edition screened: Vinegar Syndrome DVD #071 Peekarama: Hot Legs/California Gigolo, released 2016. English language. Cumulative runtime approximately 150 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals in either feature.

Hot Legs, 1979, approximately 79 minutes. 1.5/5❤

California Gigolo, 1979, approximately 71 minutes. 3/5❤

I, Daniel Blake

I, Daniel Blake. Ken Loach, 2017.

😸

Edition screened: eOne Blu-ray, released 2017. English language. Runtime approximately 100 minutes.

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

Reform School Girls

Reform School Girls. Tom DeSimone, 1986.

😿😿

Edition screened: Included on Image DVD Fraternity Vacation/Reform School Girls, released 2011. English language. Runtime approximately 94 minutes.

Summary: Implication of a murdered kitten.

Details: Pat Ast chases a kitten across the dormitory, attempting to stomp on it. We see only floor’s-eye-view shots of her gigantic shoes descending, but she apparently is successful in smashing the kitten at 1:07:55 based on reaction shots from the girls. No blood or dead kitten depicted, but the worst kind of cheap laughs for the cheaply enlaughed.

Wild Things (McNaughton)

Wild Things. John McNaughton, 1998.

😸

Edition screened: Arrow UHD, released 2022. English language. Runtime approximately 108 minutes.

Summary: No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals, despite scenes filmed at an alligator farm.

A 1975 Chicago Coin Olympics can be identified in the closing credits.

Witchfinder General

Witchfinder General. Michael Reeves, 1968.

😿

Edition screened: Tigon Blu-ray, released 2003. English language. Runtime approximately 86 minutes.

Summary: Implication of shooting a horse.

Details: At 59:39 we see Vincent Price shoot at a soldier on horseback and hear the horse whinny; cut to the man rising up from the ground uninjured but no sign of the horse.

The Tigon release also includes Reeves’ 1961 film Intrusion (10 minutes, silent, black-and-white, no animals).

10 Violent Women

10 Violent Women. Ted V. Mikels, 1979.

😸

Edition screened: Alpha Video DVD, released 2007. English language. Runtime approximately 97 minutes.

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

I wish I had the option to watch just one or two violent women, which might have been proportionately less terrible. 

Angel de fuego

Angel de fuego. Dana Rotberg, 1992.

😿😿

Edition screened: Desert Mountain DVD, released 2003. Spanish language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 91 minutes.

Summary: Sacrifice of a young goat.

Details: A dead kid lies on an altar; blood has dripped down the altar cloth, 1:01:33-1:01:48. No killing or close-ups, but sad.

I appreciated Angel de fuego, superficially reminiscent of Santa sangre but telling a unique story of circus, religion, and desperation. Many scenes filmed in the impoverished fringes of Mexico City are haunting, beautiful, and laden with fading folk culture.

Blood Orgy of the She-Devils

Blood Orgy of the She-Devils. Ted V. Mikels, 1973.

😸

Edition screened: Alpha Video DVD, released 2007. English language. Runtime approximately 73 minutes.

Summary: No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals. A lizard in a jar is evoked in some poorly-conceived malevolent spell-casting, but he is not harmed.

No part of this bland and boring film vaguely resembles the primary image on the cover.

Caesar and Cleopatra

Caesar and Cleopatra. Gabriel Pascal, 1945.

😸

Edition screened: Included in Criterion Eclipse Series 20 George Bernard Shaw on Film 3-DVD set, released 2010. English language. Runtime approximately 128 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

The Corpse Grinders II

The Corpse Grinders II. Ted V. Mikels, 2000.

😸

Edition screened: Alpha Video DVD, released 2007. English language. Runtime approximately 103 minutes.

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

Crippled Avengers

Crippled Avengers (Can que). Chang Cheh, 1978.

😸

Edition screened: Included in Arrow Blu-ray box set Shawscope: Volume One, released 2021. Mandarin language with English subtitles or English dub. Runtime approximately 104 minutes.

Summary: No animals in the film.

Dirty Ho

Dirty Ho (Lan tou He). Liu Chia-Liang, 1979.

😸

Edition screened: Included in Arrow Blu-ray box set Shawscope: Volume One, released 2021. Cantonese language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 103 minutes.

Summary: No animals in the film.

The Doll Squad

The Doll Squad. Ted V. Mikels, 1973.

😸

Edition screened: Alpha Video DVD, released 2007. English language. Runtime approximately 91 minutes.

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

Five Deadly Venoms

Five Deadly Venoms (Wu du). Chang Cheh, 1978.

😸

Edition screened: Included in Arrow Blu-ray box set Shawscope: Volume One, released 2021. Mandarin language with English subtitles or English dub. Runtime approximately 102 minutes.

Summary: No animals in the film.

George Bernard Shaw on Film

George Bernard Shaw on Film. Gabriel Pascal and Chester Erskine, 1941-1952.

😸

Edition screened: Criterion Eclipse Series #20 DVD set, released 2010. English language. Collective runtime approximately 347 minutes.

Summary: No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals in any of the three films.

This 20th volume in Criterion’s Eclipse Series includes the following films. Click individual titles for details.

Major Barbara (1941)

Caesar and Cleopatra (1945)

Androcles and the Lion (1952)

Girl in Gold Boots

Girl in Gold Boots. Ted V. Mikels, 1968.

😸

Edition screened: Alpha Video DVD, released 2007. English language. Runtime approximately 91 minutes.

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

The Gleaners & I

The Gleaners & I (Les glaneurs et la glaneuse). Agnès Varda, 2000.

😸

Edition screened: Included in Criterion Blu-ray box set The Complete Films of Agnès Varda (disc 12) released 2020. French language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 82 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

The Gleaners & I: Two Years Later

The Gleaners & I: Two Years Later (Les glaneurs et la glaneuse... deux ans après). Agnès Varda, 2002.

😸

Edition screened: Included in Criterion Blu-ray box set The Complete Films of Agnès Varda (disc 12) released 2020. French language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 63 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

Heroes of the East

Heroes of the East (Zhong hua zhang fu). Liu Chia-Liang, 1978.

😸

Edition screened: Included in Arrow Blu-ray box set Shawscope: Volume One, released 2021. Cantonese language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 105 minutes.

Summary: No animals in the film.

Little Mother

Little Mother (Woman of the Year/Blood Queen). Radley Metzger, 1973.

😸

Edition screened: Image DVD, released 2006. English language. Runtime approximately 139 minutes.

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

Monsters Crash the Pajama Party

Monsters Crash the Pajama Party: Spook Show Spectacular. David L. Hewitt, 1965, and other directors and production dates.

😸

Edition screened: Something Weird DVD, released 2001. English language. Cumulative runtime of assorted contents, approximately 214 minutes.

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

A rather charming production from Something Weird, attempting to explain the 1950s-60s phenomenon of a “Spook Show” by providing examples of the films screened along with interpretive material and compilations of ephemera. I count an amazing thirty-three separate components, all navigable through a multi-screen menu of a graveyard and haunted house with hidden clickables and surprises.  These thirty-three indexed items range from entire films to snippets of horror nonsense.

The complete films are:

• Monsters Crash the Pajama Party (1965 David L. Hewitt, 31 minutes).
  A sub-Banana Splits enactment of the Teenagers-in-haunted-house model.
• Asylum of the Insane. Seven minutes of alleged mayhem in 3D, including horrors such as a man doing yoyo tricks and an old lady poking you with her cane. (The Something Weird package includes two pairs of 3D glasses.)
• Don’t Be Afraid (1952 Hal Kopel, 11 minutes). An educational film produced by Encyclopaedia Britannica that teaches us about the psychological importance of fear and that it is ok to be afraid despite the title of the film.
• Tormented (1960 Bert Gordon, 72 minutes). A horror classic about a musician tormented by spectral pieces of his departed girlfriend.

A few of my favorite shorts on the disc are:

• A 16-minute compilation of four short films with fun Cramps-style background music.
• An 8-minute compilation of three vintage musical shorts, The Boogie Woogieman featuring a dancing skeleton and three girls singing good close harmony, an African-American quintet performing Dry Bones, and a musical skit probably called There’s a House on the Hill.
• A 48-minute compilation of teasers for Spook Shows coming to your town soon!
• A collection of vintage comic book mail-order instructions to stage your own Spook Show.
• A video montage simulating a ride through a 1960s House of Horror carnival ride.

Psyched by the 4D Witch

Psyched by the 4D Witch: A Tale of Demonology. Victor Luminera, 1972.

😿 

Edition screened: Included on Something Weird DVD Way-Out Double Feature: Monster a Go-Go and Psyched by the 4D Witch, released 2002. English language. Runtime approximately 81 minutes.

Summary: Inappropriate handling of a snake. 1/5❤

Details: A fantasy hallucination includes two women who sequentially hold a small snake below its head and maneuver it around their torsos in an erotic way, beginning at 39:25. This concludes at 42:35 with the first woman returning and putting the snake’s head in her mouth. Narration at the beginning of the sequence informs us that the snake had been “inside” the woman for eight hours in preparation for the ritual, withdrawn through her anus, then used for the ritual which concludes with biting off the snake’s head. The only portion of that depicted in (blurry, damaged, vintage) film are scenes of the women kneeling while moving the snake across their breasts and stomaches, and then one woman putting the snake’s head in her mouth. 

In addition to the two feature titles, the Something Weird DVD also includes numerous trailers, stills galleries, and three short films with no credits and unknown real titles but identified as:

• Bedtime Booga Booga: About 5 minutes, color, early 1970s.
  A man dreams of being attacked by murderous zombie clowns and awakens to find that a rubber-masked robber has slit his throat.

• Psyched by the 2D Dot: About 2 minutes, B&W, mid-1960s.
  A dancer attempts to perform an interpretive dance, but is harassed by an interactive censoring mark on the film.
  
• Driving Miss Daisy Crazy: About 36 minutes, B&W, late 1960s.
  A woman seeking help instead is led down a path of drug dependency, abuse, and general bad advice.

Shawscope: Volume 1

Shawscope: Volume One. Various directors, 1972-1979.

😿 😿

Edition screened: Arrow Blu-ray box set, released 2021. Mandarin and Cantonese languages with English subtitle. Cumulative runtime of feature films approximately 1,286 minutes.

Summary: Only Five Shaolin Masters and The Mighty Peking Man contain violence to animals, the latter being the main offender. See those titles for details.

The Arrow set includes several documentaries produced by Celestial Pictures around 2003, many interviews and commentaries, and twelve feature films:

King Boxer (Five Fingers of Death), 1972, Jeong Chang-hwa

The Boxer from Shantung, 1972, Chang Cheh and Pao Hsueh-Li

Five Shaolin Masters (5 Masters of Death), 1974, Chang Cheh

Shaolin Temple, 1976, Chang Cheh

The Mighty Peking Man, 1977, Ho Meng-Hua

Challenge of the Masters, 1976, Liu Chia-Liang

Executioners from Shaolin, 1977, Liu Chia-Liang

Chinatown Kid, 1977, Chang Cheh

Five Deadly Venoms, 1978, Chang Cheh

Crippled Avengers, 1978, Chang Cheh

Heroes of the East, 1978, Liu Chia-Liang

Dirty Ho, 1979, Liu Chia-Liang

Smash Cut

Smash Cut. Lee Demarbre, 2009.

😸

Edition screened: Lionsgate DVD, released 2009. English language. Runtime approximately 86 minutes.

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

Spring in a Small Town

Spring in a Small Town (Xiao cheng zhi chun). Fei Mu, 1948.

😸

Edition screened: BFI DVD, released 2015. Mandarin language with English. Runtime approximately 94 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

Therese and Isabelle

Therese and Isabelle. Radley Metzger, 1968.

😸

Edition screened: Image DVD, released 1999. English language. Runtime approximately 117 minutes.

Summary: No animals or references to animals in the film. 2/5❤

Tormented

Tormented. Bert I. Gordon, 1960.

😸

Edition screened: Something Weird DVD Monsters Crash the Pajama Party: Spook Show Spectacular, released 2001. English language. Runtime approximately 72 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

A simplified seaside interpretation of Poe’s The Tell-Tale Heart, in which a bridegroom is self-haunted by a former lover.

Tourist Trap

Tourist Trap. David Schmoeller, 1979.

😸

Edition screened: Full Moon Blu-ray, released 2020. English language. Runtime approximately 90 minutes.

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

I typically find horror movies to be scary to the same degree that I find comedy movies to be funny. Not very. But Tourist Trap is truly horrifying with unexpected inversions of common setups.