There was a scene in House of Flying Daggers where several horses rolled after they were hit with weapons, and one where a horse was tripped and did a full forward somersault. Were any animals hurt during the filming of this movie? It looked real, and I find it difficult to believe that the animals could’ve done that without force.
I haven’t seen it, but it’s entirely possible that they used dummy horses for those stunts. There is a section on one of the LOTR dvd’s where they discuss the use of those so that real horses didn’t have to actually get hit.
I was wondering, since it looked to me a lot like that running wire thing that has been banned in US films. However, I don’t see the ASPCA complaining about it, so it must have been some sort of trick.
friedo
August 15, 2005, 5:15pm
4
Could they have simply been CG horses? That seems to be the standard way to do animal stunts these days.
One quick Google later:
http://www.worldwidedvdforums.com/sutra14700.html&sid=5b72a0f73172f1caf415159f08347906
Thank you for your e-mail regarding the cuts made to scenes involving animal cruelty in House Of Flying Daggers.
The cuts were required on film in accordance with the Board’s obligations under the Cinematograph Films (Animals) Act 1937, and were carried over into the home video/DVD version in accordance with Board policy. Our obligations require us to consider scenes in terms of whether they have been ‘organised or directed in such a way as to involve the cruel infliction of pain or terror on any animal’. This usually means that in scenes involving horsefalls we are looking out for illegal or dangerous ‘tripping’ techniques used to make the horses fall and which carry the likelihood of serious injury. The question of whether or not any animals were actually injured is beside the point.
In the case of House Of Flying Daggers there were three horsefalls which raised concern, particularly as it did not appear that the filming of the relevant scenes was supervised by an accredited animal welfare organisation such as the American Humane Association. The producers were asked for assurances regarding the safety of the techniques used to engineer the horsefalls, but were unable to provide the Board with a satisfactory response. The scenes were then viewed by a member of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons who confirmed the unacceptable (and, in some instances, illegal) nature of the tripping techniques used, as well as their potential for causing serious injury to the horses. It was only after this process that the decision was taken to make the cuts under our statutory and policy obligations, although it should be noted that a fourth horsefall was left intact since the visual evidence, supported by expert advice, confirmed that the animal was made to fall in a manner for which it was trained and under the control of the rider, without the use of a tripping technique. Similar horsefalls have been passed in many films.
I hope that this clarifies the issue and I thank you for your interest in the work of the Board.
Yours sincerely
Ian Mashiah
Can’t guarantee the authenticity of the email, of course.
What did you use for a Google search? I tried “house of flying daggers” and injured horses and didn’t see this link.
What did you use for a Google search? I tried “house of flying daggers” and injured horses and didn’t see this link.
CBCD
August 15, 2005, 8:53pm
8
Do a Google search on ‘animal cruelty house of flying daggers’ and you’ll get a fair number of hits.