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.

E titles



click Title for details Animal Violence Immaculate Corpse
E-CLIP-SE of Sets Clean The expansive middle
Early Bergman (Eclipse 1) Clean The expansive middle
Early Hou Hsiao-Hsien: Three Films 1980-1983 Heavy The expansive middle
The Early Works: Rainer Werner Fassbinder Clean The expansive middle
The Earrings of Madame de … Clean The elusive top
The Earth as Seen from the MoonCleanThe expansive middle
Easter Parade Clean The expansive middle
Eastern Promises Clean The expansive middle
Easy Rider Minimal The expansive middle
Eat at the Blue Fox Clean The expansive middle
Eaten Alive (Hooper)  Substantial The expansive middle
Eaten Alive: A Tasteful Revenge  Clean The expansive middle
Eating Raoul  Clean The expansive middle
Eau d'artifice Clean The elusive top
The Eclipse [Rose Hobart] (Cornell) Clean The expansive middle
L'eclisse (Antonioni) Clean The elusive top
Ecstasies of Women  Clean The expansive middle
Ecstasis Clean The expansive middle
Edge of the Axe Heavy The expansive middle
Education for the Future Clean The expansive middle
Edward Scissorhands Clean The expansive middle
Effi Briest  Clean The expansive middle
Eggshells Clean The expansive middle
The Eight Diagram Pole Fighter Clean The expansive middle
Eight Hours of Terror Clean The expansive middle
Eisenstein: The Sound Years Clean The expansive middle
The El Duce Tapes Clean The expansive middle
Electra, My Love Clean The expansive middle
Electric Edwardians: The Lost Films of Mitchell & Kenyon Clean The expansive middle
The Element of Crime Minimal The expansive middle
Elena and Her Men Clean The expansive middle
Elephant (Clarke) CleanThe expansive middle
The Elephant Will Never Forget Clean The expansive middle
Elevator to the Gallows Clean The expansive middle
The Eleventh Commandment Clean The expansive middle
Elf Clean The expansive middle
Elise Janis in a Vaudeville Act: Behind the Lines Clean The expansive middle
Elles Clean The expansive middle
Ellipses Reel Five (". . . " Reel Five) Clean The expansive middle
Elsa la rose Clean The expansive middle
Elvira: Mistress of the Dark Minimal The expansive middle
The Embassy Clean The expansive middle
Embodiment of Evil Substantial The expansive middle
The Emerald Forest Substantial The expansive middle
The Emigrants Heavy The expansive middle
Emile de Antonio: Films of a Radical Saint Clean The elusive top
Emma Clean The expansive middle
Emma Mae Clean The expansive middle
Emotion (Ôbayashi) Clean The elusive top
The Emperor Jones Clean The expansive middle
The Emperor's New Clothes (Taylor) Clean The expansive middle
The Enchanted City Clean The expansive middle
Encounters at the End of the World Clean The expansive middle
The End Clean The expansive middle
The End of an Old Song Clean The expansive middle
End of Man Clean The expansive middle
End of the Commune? Clean The expansive middle
The Endless Summer Minimal The expansive middle
The Endurance: Shackleton's Antarctic Expedition Clean The expansive middle
Enemy Clean The expansive middle
Enemy Gold Clean The expansive middle
L'Enfer (Chabrol) Clean The expansive middle
The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser (Herzog) Minimal The elusive top
L'Ennui Clean The expansive middle
Enoch Arden Clean The expansive middle
Ensemble for Somnambulists Clean The expansive middle
Enter the Dragon Minimal The expansive middle
Enter the Ninja Clean The expansive middle
Enter the Void Clean The expansive middle
Enthusiasm: Symphony for the Donbass Clean The expansive middle
The Entire History of the Louisiana Purchase Minimal The expansive middle
The Entity Clean The expansive middle
The Epic of Everest Clean The expansive middle
Epidemic [6] Minimal The elusive top
Equilibrium (from Eros) Clean The expansive middle
Equinox Clean The expansive middle
The Equinox … A Journey into the Supernatural Clean The expansive middle
Erik the Conqueror Clean The expansive middle
Ernest Hemingway's 'The Killers'  Clean The expansive middle
Eros Clean The expansive middle
Eros + Massacre Clean The expansive middle
Erotic Adventures of Candy Clean The expansive middle
The Erotic Adventures of Hercules Clean The smeary bottom
Erotic Point of View Clean The expansive middle
Erotikon Clean The expansive middle
Escape: Synchronomy No. 4 Clean The expansive middle
Escape from New York Clean The expansive middle
Escape from the 'Liberty' Cinema Clean The expansive middle
Escape from Tomorrow Clean The expansive middle
Essence of Life Clean The expansive middle
D'est Clean The expansive middle
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind Clean The expansive middle
Ethan Frome Substantial The expansive middle
Ethel Sinclair and Marge La Marr: At the Seashore Clean The expansive middle
L'Etrange Portrait de le dame en jaune Clean The expansive middle
Eugene Minimal The expansive middle
Eureka (Roeg) Minimal The expansive middle
Evangeline Clean The expansive middle
Even Dwarfs Started Small Extreme The expansive middle
An Evening Like the OthersCleanThe expansive middle
Everybody's an Actor, Shakespeare Said Clean The expansive middle
Everything Everywhere All at Once Substantial The expansive middle
Everything Visible Is Empty Clean The expansive middle
Evil Come, Evil Go Clean The expansive middle
Evil Dead (Alvarez) Substantial The expansive middle Delta 88
The Evil Dead (Raimi) Clean The expansive middle
Evil Dead Rise Clean The expansive middle
Evil Dead II Clean The expansive middle
Evil Ed Clean The expansive middle
Evil of Dracula Clean The expansive middle
The Evil of Frankenstein Substantial The expansive middle
Evils of the Night Clean The smeary bottom
Ex Machina Clean The expansive middle
Excalibur Minimal The expansive middle
Excision Substantial The expansive middle
The Executioner: Part II Clean The expansive middle
Executioners from Shaolin Clean The expansive middle
The Exorcism of Emily Rose Clean The expansive middle
The Exorcist Clean The expansive middle
Expansion: Kakuchou Clean The expansive middle
Expectations Clean The expansive middle
The Exterminating Angel  Minimal The elusive top
The Exterminator Substantial The expansive middle
Extract Clean The expansive middle
The Eye Like a Strange Balloon Mounts Toward Infinity Clean The elusive top
Eye Myth Clean The expansive middle
Eyes of Fire Substantial The expansive middle
Eyes Without a Face Clean The expansive middle
Eyewash Clean The expansive middle
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