The 36th Chamber of Shaolin (Shao Lin san shi liu fang). Liu Chia-Liang, 1978.
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Edition screened: Included in the Arrow Blu-ray box set Shawscope: Volume Two, released 2022. Mandarin language. Runtime approximately 116 minutes.
Summary: A particularly odd attempt to thwart warriors on horseback involves rigging modest amounts of rice flour to fall from the city gate as they pass below, 1:50:00. Hmmm. The horses are not injured but are visibly confused and weirded out, understandably.
54. Mark Christopher, 1998.
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Edition screened: Miramax DVD, released 1999. English language. Runtime approximately 93 minutes.
Summary: No animals or references to animals in the film.
Amazon Jail (Curral de Mulheres). Oswaldo de Oliveira, 1985.
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Edition screened: Included with Amazon Jail 2 in Vinegar Syndrome Blu-ray set #442, released 2023. Portuguese language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 99 minutes.
Summary: Campsite cooking.
Details:
1) Campsite with plucked birds hanging from clothes lines during dialogue, 1:00:32 - 1:00:53.
2) Large fish impaled on a spit over a campfire, 1:18:45 - 1:19:23.
3) A piglet carcass is rubbed with blocks of ice or salt in preparation for cooking, 1:25:00 - 1:25:06. This image is not clear.
4) The piglet is impaled on a spit over a fire during the entire dance sequence, 1:27:42 - 1:29:26. There are several gory closeups.
. . . and a note for someone else’s “Violence to Polymers in Film” blog: Amazon Jail also includes a depiction of a man smashing a geometric piece of plastic on his leg while pretending it is an insect.
Amazon Jail 2 (Prisioneiras da Selva Amazônica). Conrado Sanchez, 1987.
😿 😿
Edition screened: Included with Amazon Jail in Vinegar Syndrome Blu-ray set #442, released 2023. Portuguese language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 70 minutes.
Summary: Terrible handling of a snake.
Details:
1) We see a live pet tarantula on a man’s leg. The man then eats an obviously fake tarantula, 6:35-6:45.
2) A man grabs a very large snake that was minding his own business at 28:07 and handles him roughly, culminating in tying the reptile in a bulky knot at 28:26.
Aside from the mortifying snake abuse, the last half of the film is like a 1980s TV advertisement for a Family Fun Drive-Thru Safari. The four hostage girls handle snakes nicely, cuddle jungle kittens, and share the water with small wild pigs. At no point is a ‘jail’ of any sort seen on screen.
Blonde Ambition. Francis Locke, 2019.
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Edition screened: Full Moon DVD, released 2019. English language. Runtime approximately 101 minutes.
Summary: No animals or references to animals in the film. 3.5/5❤
The Boss of It All (Direktøren for det hele). Lars von Trier, 2006.
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Edition screened: IFC DVD, released 2007. Danish language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 96 minutes.
Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.
Supplemental material on the IFC disc is very good, including a featurette about “Automavision”, the computer-assisted filming technique von Trier created as a new creative obstruction in his process, and a mockumentary about cast members which is much better than expected.
Disciples of the 36th Chamber (Pi li shi jie). Liu Chia-Liang, 1985.
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Edition screened: Included in the Arrow Blu-ray box set Shawscope: Volume Two, released 2022. Mandarin language. Runtime approximately 93 minutes.
Summary: A large beautiful fish is thrown about callously, 19:05-19:18.
Evil Dead Rise. Lee Cronin, 2023.
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Edition screened: Warner Blu-ray, released 2023. English language. Runtime approximately 96 minutes.
Summary: No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals. The only reason we see a fluffy cat prowling around in the ductwork is to give the undead sister the same idea.
Gentlemen Prefer Nature Girls. Doris Wishman, 1963.
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Edition screened: Included in AGFA Blu-ray set The Films of Doris Wishman: The Daylight Years. English language. Runtime approximately 71 minutes.
Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.
Hideout in the Sun. Doris Wishman and Larry Wolk, 1960.
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Edition screened: Included in AGFA Blu-ray set The Films of Doris Wishman: The Daylight Years. English language. Runtime approximately 70 minutes.
Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals, including our trip to the legendary Miami Serpentarium!
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.
😿😿
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.
😿
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.
😿 😿
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.
