Violence to Animals in Film: May 2016

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.

House of Flying Daggers

House of Flying Daggers (Shi mian mai fu). Zhang Yimou, 2004.

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Edition screened: Sony DVD, released 2005. Mandarin language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 119 minutes.

Summary: Horses take some ugly tumbles during battle scenes, but there are no depictions of them being injured or killed.

Home, James: James Mason Turns Again to Huddersfield

Home, James: James Mason Turns Again to Huddersfield. Patrick Boyle, 1972.

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Edition screened: Included on Criterion Blu-ray #754 Odd Man Out, released 2015. English language. Runtime approximately 54 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

Hiroshima Death Match

Hiroshima Death Match (Battles Without Honor and Humanity Vol. 2 / Yakuza Papers Vol. #2 / Hiroshima shitô hen). Kinji Fukasaku, 1973.

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Edition screened: Arrow Blu-ray, included in the Battles Without Honor and Humanity box set released 2015. Japanese language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 100 minutes.

Summary: Implication of murdering a dog for food.

Details: We see the beginning of an attack on a dog with ropes and clubs, 36:55-37:05. Immediately thereafter is a dinner scene in which the disgusted diner realizes me must be eating dog meat.

@ BL

Have You Seen ‘Drum’ Recently?

Have You Seen ‘Drum’ Recently? Jürgen Schadeberg, 1989.

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Edition screened: Included on Milestone Blu-ray Come Back, Africa: The Films of Lionel Rogosin, Volume 2, released 2014. South African English language, with optional English subtitles. Runtime approximately 74 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

The Hall of Lost Footsteps

The Hall of Lost Footsteps (Sál ztracených kroků). Jaromil Jireš, 1960.

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Edition screened: Included on Criterion Blu-ray Valerie and Her Week of Wonders #761, released 2015. Czech language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 12 minutes.

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

The Hairdresser’s Husband

The Hairdresser’s Husband (Le Mari de la coiffeuse). Patrice Leconte, 2004.

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Edition screened: Paramount DVD, released 2004. French language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 104 minutes.

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

H.O.T.S.

H.O.T.S. Gerald Sindell, 1979.

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Edition screened: Anchor Bay DVD, released 2007. English language. Runtime approximately 98 minutes.

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

Gun

Gun. Various directors, 1997.

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Edition screened: Tango 3-DVD set, released 2005. English language. Runtime approximately 246 minutes.

Summary: Two of the six episodes contain animal violence:

Episode 2: A large rattlesnake is shot at close range at 1:38. The shooter then flails around for 20 seconds, and we see the rattlesnake dead at 1: 58.

Episode 4: An aquarium is broken and the fish are shown flopping around on the floor, 1:20.

Episode 1 “Columbus Day” (dir. James Sadwith) … Not bad.

Episode 2 “All the President’s Women” (dir. Robert Altman) … Entertaining.

Episode 3 “The Hole” (dir. Ted Demme) … Boring.

Episode 4 “The Shot” (dir. James Foley) … Promising at first but ultimately very disappointing.

Episode 5 “Ricochet” (dir. Peter Horton) … Barely ok.

Episode 6 “Father John” (dir. Jeremiah Chechik) … Atrocious.

The Guitar Mongoloid

The Guitar Mongoloid (Gitarrmongot). Ruben Östlund, 2004.

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Edition screened: Included on Trinity DVD Involuntary, released 2011. Swedish language. Runtime approximately 89 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

I find every Östlund film to be captivating and entertaining. His rare understanding of sociology is accompanied by an even rarer understanding of implicit humor. He allows us to view with intimate distance, in disbelief, the hilarious horror of the commonplace, finally committed to film.

The Great Steam Fair

The Great Steam Fair. David Gladwell and Derrick Knight, 1964.

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Edition screened: Included on BFI ‘Flipside’ Blu-ray #018 Requiem for a Village, released 2011. English language. Runtime approximately 18 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

The Girl

The Girl (Flickan). Fredrik Edfeldt, 2009.

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Edition screened: Olive DVD, released 2011. Swedish language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 95 minutes.

Summary: No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals. Children interact with frogs and tadpoles, but there is no meanness or cruelty depicted.

The Girl Who Knew Too Much (Bava)

The Girl Who Knew Too Much (La ragazza che sapeva troppo / Evil Eye). Mario Bava, 1963.

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Edition screened: Arrow Blu-ray, released 2014. Original English language or original Italian dub with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 86 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

This excellent package from Arrow provides the original Italian The Girl Who Knew Too Much (recorded with English-speaking actors and dubbed into Italian) as well as the re-edited and re-scored American AIP version, Evil Eye. The American version has some longer scenes, some different shots, and clocks in at just over 92 minutes.

The film is well made, and both versions of this mystery/thriller are entertaining. I slightly prefer the longer American version which makes a bit more of the humor in the film and includes 1st-person narration by the main female character rather than 3rd-person male narration. Both versions have a short and unnecessary “happy ending” scene after the real wrap-up of the film. The Italian ending is predictable and forgettable. The American ending is unexpected but frivolous.

The Girl on the Bridge

The Girl on the Bridge (La Fille sur le pont). Patrice Leconte, 1999.

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Edition screened: Legend DVD, released 2008. French language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 90 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

Blood Bath

Blood Bath. Jack Hill and Stephanie Rothman, 1966.

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Edition screened: Arrow 4-film Blu-ray box set, released 2016. English language. Runtime approximately 62 minutes.

Summary: Blood Bath contains no depictions of violence or harm to animals, but the first two films included in the set depict the murder of a German Shepherd.

Blood Bath was realized through multiple reinterpretations of the Yugoslavian art-theft thriller Operation Titian, tinkered with until it became a vampire horror film. Production details can be found numerous places on the internet (here for example). The Arrow box set includes all four surviving stages of this transformation. Click on individual titles for more details:

Operation Titian (1964) is much better than expected and stands on its own as a good mid-60s European crime thriller with decent acting and creepy old museums.

Portrait in Terror (1964) is identical to Operation Titian much of the time. It is simplified slightly for an American audience and adds a long scene in which a killer carries a woman’s body from the hillside church where she was murdered way down to the bay. The original just lets us assume that she was tossed over the side. Watch Operation Titian instead.

Blood Bath (1966) is very different from the first two films, recycling a few atmospheric shots but having a completely different plot and only one returning actor/character. The vampire serial killer story is convoluted but completely enjoyable. Jack Hill’s comedy scenes are fun to watch, the female characters are cute and sexy, and the underwater vampire attack is quite a novelty.

Track of the Vampire (1966) is nearly identical to Blood Bath except for three boring and unnecessary scenes that were added to lengthen BB’s short run time: First comes a tedious sequence in which a new character is chased through the woods and across a beach, followed immediately by a stylistically fumbled beach ballet sequence, and finally a doubling-down on the underwater vampire attack. While the original aquatic blood sucking in Blood Bath was a fun surprise, this additional one goes on about four times longer than it should, and diminishes the fun of the original which comes later in the film. Track o/t Vampire also reaches clear back to Operation Titian to add a few more Old World architectural shots containing characters no longer in the last two films. Watch Blood Bath instead.

The Girl on a Motorcycle

The Girl on a Motorcycle. Jack Cardiff, 1968.

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Edition screened: Kino/Jezebel Blu-ray, released 2012. English language. Runtime approximately 88 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

George Harrison: Living in the Material World

George Harrison: Living in the Material World. Martin Scorsese, 2011.

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Edition screened: UMe Blu-ray, released 2012. English language. Runtime approximately 227 minutes.

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

Gangster VIP 2

Gangster VIP 2 (Outlaw: Gangster VIP 2 / Daikanbu - burai ). Keiichi Ozawa, 1968.

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Edition screened: Included in Arrow Blu-ray box set Outlaw Gangster VIP: The Complete Collection released 2016. Japanese language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 97 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

Gangster VIP

Gangster VIP (Outlaw: Gangster VIP / Burai yori daikanbu). Toshio Masuda, 1968.

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Edition screened: Included in Arrow Blu-ray box set Outlaw Gangster VIP: The Complete Collection released 2016. Japanese language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 93 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

Galileo

Galileo. Joseph Losey, 1975.

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Edition screened: Included in Kino DVD box set The American Film Theatre: The Complete 14 Film Collection, released 2008. English language. Runtime approximately 138 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence toward animals.

Topol stars in this presentation of Bertolt Brecht’s play.

The Funhouse

The Funhouse. Tobe Hooper, 1981.

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Edition screened: Arrow Blu-ray, released 2011. English language. Runtime approximately 95 minutes.

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

@ BL

Footprints

Footprints (Stopy). Jaromil Jireš, 1960.
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Edition screened: Included on Criterion Blu-ray Valerie and Her Week of Wonders #761, released 2015. Czech language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 12 minutes.

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

Erotic Adventures of Candy/Candy Goes to Hollywood

Erotic Adventures of Candy/Candy Goes to Hollywood. Gail Palmer, 1978-1979.

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Edition screened: Vinegar Syndrome Blu-ray #105 Peekarama: Erotic Adventures of Candy/Candy Goes to Hollywood, released 2016. English language. Cumulative runtime approximately 174 minutes.

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

Erotic Adventures of Candy, 1978, approximately 86 minutes. 2.5/5❤

Candy Goes to Hollywood, 1979, approximately 88 minutes. 2.5/5❤

The End of an Old Song

The End of an Old Song. John Cohen, 1973.

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Edition screened: DVD Included with Smithsonian Folkways CD Dark Holler: Old Love Songs and Ballads, released 2005. English language. Runtime approximately 26 minutes.

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

Down Terrace

Down Terrace. Ben Wheatley, 2009.

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Edition screened: Magnolia Blu-ray, released 2011. English language. Runtime approximately 89 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

Diary of Yunbogi

Diary of Yunbogi (Yunbogi no nikki ). Nagisa Ôshima, 1965.

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Edition screened: Included on Criterion Blu-ray Death by Hanging #798, released 2016. Japanese language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 25 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence toward animals.

Death Walks on High Heels

Death Walks on High Heels (La morte cammina con i tacchi alti/Death Stalks on High Heels). Luciano Ercoli, 1971.

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Edition screened: Included in Arrow Blu-ray box set, Death Walks Twice: Two Films by Luciano Ercoli released 2016. Italian language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 105 minutes.

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

Death Walks at Midnight

Death Walks at Midnight (La morte accarezza a mezzanotte/Cry Out in Terror). Luciano Ercoli, 1972.

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Edition screened: Included in Arrow Blu-ray box set, Death Walks Twice: Two Films by Luciano Ercoli released 2016. Italian language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 103 minutes.

Summary: Murdered cat

Details: A dead long-haired cat is held by its tail, his head half cut off, 1:04:35-1:04:45. Close-up of a (different?) dead cat’s face under bushes, 1:14:02-1:14:06.

This gore is completely gratuitous, lacking even the common cheap-script take this as a warning! implications. There is just the dead cat with the comment “it was necessary,” and soon thereafter we see one of the film’s many villains with scratches on his cheek leaving us to presume that there was an altercation with the cat. None of this has relevance to the film in any way.

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