The Mummy. Karl Freund, 1932.
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Edition screened: Included in Universal Classic Monsters Blu-ray set, released 2012. English language. Runtime approximately 73 minutes.
Summary: No particular depictions of violence toward animals.
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 Mummy. Karl Freund, 1932.
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Edition screened: Included in Universal Classic Monsters Blu-ray set, released 2012. English language. Runtime approximately 73 minutes.
Summary: No particular depictions of violence toward animals.
My Sinful Life/Las Vegas Girls. Carlos Tobalina (as Troy Benny), 1983.
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Edition screened: Vinegar Syndrome DVD #085 Peekarama: My Sinful Life/Las Vegas Girls, released 2015. English language. Cumulative runtime approximately 164 minutes.
Summary: No animals in either feature.
• My Sinful Life, 1983, approximately 83 minutes. 3/5❤
• Las Vegas Girls, 1983, approximately 81 minutes. 1.5/5❤
The Rabbit Hunters (A caça ao coelho com pau). Pedro Costa, 2007.
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Edition screened: Included in Criterion DVD box set #508 Letters from Fontainhas: Three Films by Pedro Costa, released 2010. Portuguese language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 23 minutes.
Summary: No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals. There are two short dialogues about capturing animals. The first is a man simply stating that he had caught a rabbit and a bird that both were near death, and the second is a man describing ways to flush a rabbit from its burrow.
The Rabbit Hunters is Costa’s contribution to the omnibus film Memories (2007).
Return to the 36th Chamber (Shao Lin da peng da shi). Liu Chia-Liang, 1980.
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Edition screened: Included in the Arrow Blu-ray box set Shawscope: Volume Two, released 2022. Mandarin language. Runtime approximately 101 minutes.
Summary: No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals.
The disc includes the 15 minute documentary Hero on the Scaffolding, (2003 Celestial Pictures), illuminating a scene in Return to the 36th Chamber in which an elaborate bamboo scaffolding is built as part of kung fu training. The Celestial short address both the martial arts depicted and the continuance of bamboo scaffolding in present-day China.
I enjoyed Hero on the Scaffolding more than the feature film due to the relentless cheap comedy that permeates Return to the 36th Chamber.
The Sacred Spirit (EspÃritu sagrado). Chema GarcÃa Ibarra, 2021.
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Edition screened: Arrow Blu-ray, released 2022. Spanish language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 97 minutes.
Summary: No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals.
The Arrow release includes a second Blu-ray with six short films by Ibarra, all free of animal violence. The short films are generally charming and better than The Sacred Spirit in various ways. The themes and characters among all seven films complement each other and expand the scope of the feature title.
The Attack of Robots from Nebula-5 (2008, approximately 6 minutes)
Protoparticles (2013, approximately 7 minutes)
Misterio (2013, approximately 12 minutes)
Uranes (2014, approximately 59 minutes)
The Disco Shines (2016, approximately 12 minutes)
The Golden Legend (2019, approximately 11 minutes)
Studio 54. Matt Tyrnauer, 2018.
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Edition screened: Dogwoof Blu-ray, released 2018. English language. Runtime approximately 99 minutes.
Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.
Tarrafal. Pedro Costa, 2007.
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Edition screened: Included in Criterion DVD box set #508 Letters from Fontainhas: Three Films by Pedro Costa, released 2010. Portuguese language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 16 minutes.
Summary: No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals.
Baby Driver. Edgar Wright, 2017.
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Edition screened: TriStar Blu-ray, released 2017. English language. Runtime approximately 117 minutes.
Summary: No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals.
Curse of the Puppet Master. David DeCoteau (as Victoria Sloan), 1998.
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Edition screened: Full Moon DVD, released 2013. English language. Runtime approximately 77 minutes.
Summary: No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals.
Meg 2: The Trench. Ben Wheatley, 2023.
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Edition screened: Warner Blu-ray, released 2023. English language. Runtime approximately 114 minutes.
Summary: Killing of CGI-osaurs by humans and other CGI-osaurs.
Details: The first five minutes of the film is a computer-generated sequence showing prehistoric animals killing and eating each other to demonstrate the hierarchy of predators. The final thirty minutes of the film is a prolonged battle in which humans kill various types of prehistoric creatures that are attacking vacationers at an island resort.
The Meg. Jon Turteltaub, 2018.
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Edition screened: Warner Blu-ray, released 2018. English language. Runtime approximately 113 minutes.
Summary: Recurring killing of and by large sea creatures. Bloody, but no worse than films with ‘normal’ mutilation of fish for sport.
Details:
1) Numerous scenes of the giant shark attacking other sea creatures, with blood and body parts.
2) Two somewhat graphic scenes of humans killing large sea creatures. The first is when Rainn Wilson has depth charges dropped into the ocean, and we then see an enormous mangled bloody body alongside the boat. The second is the concluding action sequence in which Jason Statham graphically attacks and kills the megalodon.
** The small dog that swims toward the shark returns unharmed. **
Mysterious Object at Noon (Dokfa nai meuman). Apichatpong Weerasethakul, 2000.
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Edition screened: Criterion Blu-ray #875 in box set #873 Martin Scorsese’s World Cinema Project No. 2, released 2017. Thai language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 89 minutes.
Summary: No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals.
The Omen III: The Final Conflict. Graham Baker, 1981.
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Edition screened: Included in 20th Century Fox The Omen Collection Blu-ray set, released 2008. English language. Runtime approximately 108 minutes.
Summary: Fox hunting.
Details: A traditional fox hunt with horses and hounds begins as 53:55. One fox is forced from his hiding spot at 54:38, caged, then released unharmed. A second fox is shot off-screen, found dead, then dragged through the woods to create a scent trail for the dogs through 58:51.
The Omen Collection includes:
The Omen (1976 Richard Donner)
Damien: Omen II (1978 Don Taylor and Mike Hodges)
Omen III: The Final Conflict (1981 Graham Baker)
The Omen (2006 John Moore)
The Omen. John Moore, 2006.
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Edition screened: Included in 20th Century Fox The Omen Collection Blu-ray set, released 2008. English language. Runtime approximately 110 minutes.
Summary: Ferocious dogs attack trespassers in a cemetery. We see the men swing iron objects to hit the dogs and the gesture of punching the dogs in the face, but we do not see any actual blows land or injured animals.
The smashed bowl of goldfish from the original 1976 film is replaced here with a smashed potted plant.
The Omen Collection includes:
The Omen (1976 Richard Donner)
Damien: Omen II (1978 Don Taylor and Mike Hodges)
Omen III: The Final Conflict (1981 Graham Baker)
The Omen (2006 John Moore)
Postwar Kurosawa. Akira Kurosawa, 1946-1955.
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Edition screened: Criterion Eclipse Series #7 5-DVD set, released 2007. Japanese language with English subtitles. Collective runtime approximately 593 minutes.
Summary: No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals.
This 7th volume in Criterion’s Eclipse Series includes the following films. See individual titles for details.
No Regrets for Our Youth (1946)
One Wonderful Sunday (1947)
Scandal (1950)
The Idiot (1951)
I Live in Fear (1955)
Shaun of the Dead. Edgar Wright, 2004.
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Edition screened: Included in The World’s End/Hot Fuzz/Shaun of the Dead 3-Pack, released 2013. English language. Runtime approximately 100 minutes.
Summary: Early in the film, a man in a park prepares to bite the head off of a pigeon; no resolution shown.
Sick of Myself (Syk pike). Kristoffer Borgli, 2022.
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Edition screened: Vinegar Syndrome Blu-ray, released 2023. Norwegian with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 97 minutes.
Summary: A dog is harassed in one scene, timing uncertain.
Smile. Michael Ritchie, 1975.
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Edition screened: Fun City Blu-ray, released 2021. English language. Runtime approximately 113 minutes.
Summary: No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals.
Southern Comfort. Kate Davis, 2001.
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Edition screened: Watched online. English language. Runtime approximately 90 minutes.
Summary: Several nauseating heaps of meat are cooked up, but no depictions of killing those animals.
Take Me Naked. Michael & Roberta Findlay (as Julian Marsh and Anna Riva), 1966.
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Edition screened: Something Weird DVD, released 2003. English language. Runtime approximately 71 minutes.
Summary: No animals or references to animals in the film.
The Third Eye (Il terzo occhio). Mino Guerrini, 1966.
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Edition screened: Included in Arrow Blu-ray set Gothic Fantastico: Four Italian Tales of Terror, released 2022. Italian language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 98 minutes.
Summary: Taxidermy studio.
Details:
1) The first scene in the taxidermy studio provides an overview of Franco Nero’s projects, mostly birds but also some mammals including a white domestic cat and a deer (10:45-12:29).
2) A return to the taxidermy studio at 15:25 starts abruptly with the violent disemboweling of a dead hawk, followed by unclear but less violent tasks through 19:48. Action in the studio is intercut with scenes of the housekeeper cutting the brake line of the fiancé’s car and the fiancé driving away angrily. Ruh roh!
3) Dead parakeets on the floor of a large bird cage, 38:26-38:30.
4) A very upset parrot is tormented with a broom handle by deranged Frank Nero, 43:40-44:30.
Vengeance Is Mine. Michael Roemer, 1984.
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Edition screened: Film Desk Blu-ray, released 2023. English language. Runtime approximately 118 minutes.
Summary: No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals.
Les visiteurs du soir (The Devil’s Envoys). Marcel Carné, 1942.
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Edition screened: Criterion Blu-ray #626, released 2012. French language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 122 minutes.
Summary: Unkind and stressful situations for animals, although we see no actual harm come to them.
Details:
1) A trained bear has chains wrapped around his head and is led away walking upright, 6:38-7:00.
2) Lucifer smashes a vase of flowers in a hissy fit, and numerous snakes are released from the vase as it breaks on the floor, 1:29:10-1:29:13.
Welcome to the Dollhouse. Todd Solondz, 1995.
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Edition screened: Radiance Blu-ray, released 2023. English language. Runtime approximately 88 minutes.
Two kids are playing in a little cubby house while the camera pans briefly to a dead bird in a box, 13:08-13:12.
The Witch: Subversion (Manyeo). Park Hoon-jung, 2018.
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Edition screened: Warner Bros. Blu-ray, released 2020. Korean language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 125 minutes.
Summary: A pack of vicious dogs is released on a young girl 1:25:26. Cut to her covered in blood after killing them all, and we see one dog lying in blood, 1:25:46-2:25:49.
The Witch in Love (La strega in amore/Strange Obsessions). Damiano Damiani, 1966.
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Edition screened: Included in Arrow Blu-ray set Gothic Fantastico: Four Italian Tales of Terror, released 2022. Italian language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 110 minutes.
Summary: Murdering of cats.
1) A dead cat is found among the plants, 25:26-26:33, strangled and with a rope around its neck.
2) A live cat with a rope around its neck is dragged through a courtyard, 1:25:52-1:26:07. The cat is sprawling, hissing and resisting in every way possible.
These scenes are easily skipped, leaving an interesting adaptation of Carlos Fuentes’ novel Aura.
The World’s End. Edgar Wright, 2013.
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Edition screened: Included in The World’s End/Hot Fuzz/Shaun of the Dead 3-Pack, released 2013. English language. Runtime approximately 109 minutes.
Summary: No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals.
Louie Bluie. Terry Zwigoff, 1985.
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Edition screened: Criterion DVD #532, released 2010. English language. Runtime approximately 60 minutes.
Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.
A charming, entertaining film about Howard “Louie Bluie” Armstrong, also featuring the talents of well-known string band musicians Yank Rachell, “Banjo” Ikey Robinson, and Ted Bogan.
The Last Island. Marleen Gorris, 1990.
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Edition screened: Cult Epics Blu-ray, released 2023. Dutch language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 101 minutes.
Summary: Animal killing is perceived as necessary in That Survival Lifestyle.
1) A survivor shoots a marsupial for food, 18:34-18:40.
2) A bird is shot, 24:02
3) A snake is beaten with a stick, 58:50.
4) A survivor carries a dead pig on his shoulders and slams it down on a table, 1:00:23.
Lady Snowblood 2: Love Song of Vengeance (Shura-yuki-hime: Urami Renga). Toshiya Fujita, 1974.
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Edition screened: Criterion Blu-ray # 791, included in The Complete Lady Snowblood, released 2016. Japanese language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 89 minutes.
Summary: Dead and endangered animals
Details:
1) A trapper’s two dead rabbits can be seen during plot action, 7:10-7:29, and again 9:13-9:35.
2) A dog corpse floats in water, 32:42-32:50.
3) Chickens are trapped in a burning building, 1:14:58, with no resolution.
The Criterion set also contains Fujita’s original Lady Snowblood (1973).
Jacquot de Nantes. Agnès Varda, 1991.
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Edition screened: Included in Criterion Blu-ray box set The Complete Films of Agnès Varda (disc 10) released 2020. French language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 118 minutes.
Summary: No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals.
I Live In Fear. Akira Kurosawa, 1955.
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Edition screened: Included in Criterion Eclipse Series 07: Postwar Kurosawa 5-DVD set, released 2007. Japanese language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 103 minutes.
Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.
Hell Behind Bars (Perverse oltre le sbarre). Gianni Siragusa (as Willy Regant), 1984.
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Edition screened: Watched online. English language. Runtime approximately 88 minutes.
Summary: No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals. 1/5❤
Gothic Fantastico: Four Italian Tales of Terror. Various directors, 1963-1966.
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Edition screened: Arrow 4-Blu-ray set, released 2022. Italian language with English subtitles. Combined runtime approximately 384 minutes.
Summary: The Third Eye and The Witch include scenes of animal violence. Click titles for details.
The Arrow set includes:
Lady Morgan’s Vengeance (Massimo Pupillo, 1965)
The Blancheville Monster (Alberto De Martino, 1963)
The Third Eye (Mino Guerrini, 1966)
The Witch in Love (Damiano Damiani, 1966)
Gas Pump Girls. Joel Bender, 1979.
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Edition screened: Watched online. English language. Runtime approximately 84 minutes.
Summary: No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals.
The Disappearance of Alice Creed. J. Blakeson, 2009.
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Edition screened: Anchor Bay DVD, released 2010. English language. Runtime approximately 100 minutes.
Summary: No animals or references to animals in the film.
A Christmas Story Christmas. Clay Kaytis, 2022.
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Edition screened: Watched online. English language. Runtime approximately 98 minutes.
Summary: No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals.
Cemetery of Terror (Cementerio del terror). Rubén Galindo, Jr., 1985.
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Edition screened: Vinegar Syndrome Blu-ray #337, released 2020. Spanish language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 91 minutes.
Summary: No animals or references to animals in the film.
Anyone But My Husband/‘Sweet Punkin’ I Love You. Roberta Findlay (as Robert Norman) 1975-1976.
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Edition screened: Vinegar Syndrome Blu-ray VS Peek-009, released 2022. English language. Cumulative runtime approximately 151 minutes.
Summary: No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals in either feature.
• Anyone But My Husband. 1975, approximately 70 minutes. 2.5/5❤
• ‘Sweet Punkin’ I Love You. 1976, approximately 81 minutes. 2/5❤
Agnès V. by Jane B. Walter Hart, 2020.
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Edition screened: Included in Criterion Blu-ray box set The Complete Films of Agnès Varda (disc 9) released 2020. French language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 16 minutes.
Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.
Afire (Roter Himmel). Christian Petzold, 2023.
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Edition screened: Watched online. German language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 102 minutes.
Summary: Animals killed and suffering in a forest fire.
Details:
1) At 1:22:28 a baby boar runs down a hill with its back on fire. We then see what appears to be a small fox suffering and then die.
2) At 1:31:35 we see a dead baby deer(?) in the burnt woods.