Buzz
The American Humane Association's (AHA) statement, 'No animals were harmed in the making of this movie,' has become so commonplace that audiences often assume it applies universally to all mainstream films. However, this is not always the case.
Historically, there have been numerous cases where inadequate safety measures led to animals being injured or killed on set. Shockingly, some productions even deliberately planned for animals to die during filming. As investigations reveal, even films with AHA approval sometimes conceal the truth about animal welfare. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/animals-were-harmed-hollywood-reporter-investigation-on-set-injury-death-cover-ups-659556/
10. Rats—First Blood (1982)
The inaugural installment of the Sylvester Stallone franchise, First Blood, introduced John Rambo, a misunderstood Vietnam War veteran who battles against unjust local authorities, cementing his status as an iconic action hero of the 1980s.
Although the film features numerous onscreen deaths, including those of several dogs, most were achieved through special effects. However, the same cannot be said for the rats. Trapped in an abandoned mine, Rambo fights his way to freedom, encountering a swarm of rats in a confined space. In a fit of rage, he grabs, crushes, and smashes them against the walls.
According to the AHA, real rats were harmed and killed by Stallone during filming, both on and off camera, with the director and crew present. Unable to intervene, the AHA representative contacted the Canadian Council on Animal Care, who advised her to wait until the film's release and report the abuse to the Canadian Film Board.
9. Cockroach—Vampire’s Kiss (1988)
Director Robert Bierman unleashed the eccentric Nicolas Cage we know today by allowing him to fully embrace his role in Vampire’s Kiss. The film follows Peter Loew (Cage), a narcissistic yuppie who descends into madness, convinced he is a vampire. Cage immersed himself in the role, staying in character off-camera, chasing bats in Central Park, and even consuming live cockroaches.
In one scene, Peter was scripted to eat a raw egg yolk, a bizarre but relatively mild act. Cage, seeking a more shocking effect, proposed eating a live cockroach instead, a decision that left audiences horrified.
Producer Barbara Zitwer initially refused, but after the film’s doctor approved, Bierman gave the green light. The crew procured live cockroaches, and Cage consumed them on camera—not once, but twice, pushing the boundaries of his commitment to the role.
8. Pig & Goose—Weekend (1967)
Jean-Luc Godard, a trailblazer of the French New Wave, crafted some of the most iconic films of the 1960s. By the end of the decade, he aimed to push his filmmaking to its limits, resulting in Weekend, a postmodern blend of horror, absurdity, and social commentary. The film depicts a France in chaos, violently rejecting consumerism.
Much of the film focuses on car crashes, both literal and symbolic, as the estranged couple Roland and Corinne Durand (Mireille Darc and Jean Yanne) navigate a countryside overtaken by revolution and surreal violence. In the climax, they are captured by cannibals, who butcher and cook humans offscreen and slaughter a pig and goose on camera.
These scenes are among the most disturbing in a film filled with unsettling imagery. The animals are brutally killed, their deaths captured in graphic detail. Godard argued that audiences would be more horrified by the death of a pig than a human, a claim that remains chillingly provocative.
7. Horses—Jesse James (1939)
Henry King’s Jesse James, despite its famous subject, fell short of expectations. Produced by 20th Century Fox with a then-astronomical budget of $1.6 million, the western failed to accurately portray the outlaw’s life and was criticized for its historical errors. Its lasting legacy, however, is introducing the AHA to Hollywood.
Golden Age westerns often neglected the well-being of horses, leading to frequent on-set injuries. Without oversight, such practices continued unchecked. This changed after a scene in Jesse James where two horses were driven off a 70-foot cliff into water, resulting in their deaths.
Reports differ on whether the horses died from broken backs or drowning due to panic, but the incident sparked widespread outrage. This led the Motion Picture Association of America to grant the AHA authority to monitor animal treatment on sets and establish guidelines for their humane care.
6. Bees—Candyman (1992)
Emerging from a Clive Barker short story, Candyman became a ’90s horror icon, with the act of saying his name five times in a mirror becoming a global test of courage.
Beyond his hooked hand and exposed chest, Candyman’s ability to summon bees at will is one of his most terrifying traits in Bernard Rose’s original film. With CGI still in its infancy, Rose opted for realism, using 200,000 live honeybees for the infamous scene where a swarm pours from Candyman’s mouth.
Tony Todd, the actor behind Candyman, revealed he was stung 27 times during filming. Each sting proved fatal for the bees, as their barbed stingers, designed for insects, became lodged in human skin, tearing their abdomens upon withdrawal.
5. Rabbit—Nekromantik (1987)
Since its release in the late 1980s, Nekromantik has been notorious for its graphic depiction of necrophilia. Despite its controversial subject matter, the film has garnered a cult following, appealing to fans of low-budget effects, including real animal intestines, and its absurdly dark humor.
In the film, Robert Schmadtke (Bernd Daktari Lorenz), a crime scene cleaner, brings home a corpse for himself and his wife Betty (Beatrice Manowski) to engage in necrophilia. However, tensions arise when Betty develops a stronger attraction to the dead body. The premise is as bizarre as it sounds.
Director Jörg Buttgereit aimed to incorporate real death into his film. Unable to find actors willing to die for the role, he chose an animal instead. Buttgereit filmed the killing and skinning of a rabbit, stating it was to make viewers confront their reasons for watching such content and to provoke self-reflection.
4. Goat & Donkey—Land without Bread (1933)
Luis Bunuel, one of cinema’s most influential directors, also had controversial moments in his career. His documentary Land without Bread portrays the extreme poverty of Spain’s Las Hurdes region, where residents lacked basic necessities like roads, electricity, and bread.
However, much of the film’s depiction was staged. Scenes were exaggerated to amplify the region’s hardships, including a goat falling to its death from a cliff to highlight the dangerous terrain and a donkey being killed by bees to emphasize the harsh realities of life in Las Hurdes.
Given the staged nature of much of the documentary, Bunuel could have used props instead of live animals. Instead, he chose to film these fabricated scenes authentically, pushing the goat off a cliff and covering the donkey in honey before toppling beehives onto it.
3. Cow—Cow (2021)
Andrea Arnold, an indie filmmaker, aimed to depict the full spectrum of life on an English farm in Cow. Over four years of filming, she prioritized realism and transparency, avoiding overt political commentary and letting viewers draw their own conclusions.
Shot at Park Farm in Kent, Cow follows the life of Luma, a dairy cow. Arnold filmed without a script, capturing the natural highs and lows of Luma’s existence in a cinéma vérité style. The film unflinchingly documents her insemination, calving, separation from her calves, moments of freedom in the fields, confinement, and eventual slaughter.
The film concludes with Luma being killed by a farmer using a captive bolt gun, a standard tool in animal slaughter. Her body is then processed for consumption, mirroring the fate of 900,000 cows each day.
2. Muskrat, Monkeys, Giant Sea Turtle & Others—Cannibal Holocaust (1980)
The notorious mockumentary Cannibal Holocaust, infamous for its graphic and seemingly real violence, has faced bans in numerous countries since its release. Set in the Amazon rainforest and featuring indigenous tribes and amateur actors, the film plunges into extreme brutality, often blurring the line between fiction and reality.
While the human cast survived unscathed, the same cannot be said for the animals. The film depicts widespread cruelty, resulting in the deaths of numerous creatures, including the slaughter and dismemberment of a giant sea turtle—a species protected by international conservation efforts.
Despite widespread criticism from the public, media, and even the cast, director Ruggero Deodato showed little remorse. He defended the inclusion of such scenes by claiming they catered to the demands of the “Oriental market.” However, the sheer extent of the animal killings suggests a deeper, more personal intent behind the brutality.
1. Octopus—Oldboy (2003)
Korean cinema flourished in the late 1990s and early 2000s as censorship relaxed, allowing filmmakers to explore bold and unprecedented themes. Among the standout works of this era is Park Chan-wook’s Oldboy, a masterpiece that pushed creative boundaries.
In this iconic thriller, Choi Min-sik’s character, Oh Dae-su, is freed after 15 years of captivity. Determined to uncover the truth behind his imprisonment, he sets out on a vengeful mission. His journey begins with a meal at a sushi restaurant, where he consumes a live octopus.
Choi’s performance involved eating real live octopuses, a process that required multiple takes. During rehearsals, he practiced on several cephalopods, biting off their heads and displaying their writhing tentacles before discarding them. While raw octopus is a delicacy in South Korea, consuming it alive is not.
