It’s no secret that I love murder shows and horror movies.
Ever since I was old enough to appreciate a good story, I’ve been drawn to the drama of human suffering.
Sad documentaries, slasher films, true crime podcasts, books with a dead body in chapter 1 — whatever the medium, if people are devastated in it, I’m down.
But do not, under any circumstances, expect me to watch/read/listen to anything where an animal is harmed. And definitely not if one dies.
This rule goes back even further than my preoccupation with human hardship.
I remember as a child my parents being forced to turn off the TV, because I’d gotten so worked up over an injured crane on a National Geographic program.
I had to turn “Babe: Pig in the City” off a mere quarter of the way in, because I was having a nervous breakdown anticipating his fate, and that of his animal friends.
I quit “The Walking Dead” in the first episode, because the zombies attacked a horse.
This is a show about undead hordes ravaging the world and eating human flesh. But the horse was a no-go.
Likewise, I put down “American Psycho,” basically literary gorno, after the protagonist broke a puppy’s legs.
You get the picture.
The problem is, though, by the time the damage happens and I bounce, I’m already traumatized.
So, often, I avoid things entirely just in case — “Planet Earth,” for instance — or wait until a friend sees it and pronounces it safe.
“Don’t worry, the dog doesn’t die.”
But now, I don’t have to rely on my social circle for recon, thanks to an ingenious website Dan told me about last week.
Doesthedog.com is a crowd-sourced outlet for all types of media — from movies to books to TV — that allows you to research ahead of time whether harm comes to any animals in the story.
Beyond that, it flags all sorts of potential triggers — children dying, abuse of any kind, drug use, vomiting, jump scares, spiders, you name it.
It’s actually organized so that you can search by category.
The ones I know I’ll use: Animal abuse, animal dies, dog dies, cat dies and, off-topic, “there are bugs.”
Clicking on “the dog dies,” you can then filter using the options “yes, a dog dies” or “no dogs die,” then sort by type — from anime to video game.
The entries are headed by title — “The Babadook,” for example — followed by a brief description of the scene or situation. Some go so far as to include the times to avoid.
For the aforementioned “Babadook,” it reads, “FOR ANYONE WHO DOESN’T WANT TO WATCH THE DEATH OF THE DOG. Don’t watch from 1:09:20-1:11:20.”
Many will caution you even if the death is implied.
“Hereditary,” a movie I thoroughly enjoyed for it’s human-based-horror, gets this dog-lover’s alert: “The death is not shown on screen. The camera briefly shows the aftermath (not bloody, just a small furry stillness) but if you’re not paying attention you could easily miss what it’s showing you.”
Helpful, right?
Now if only they could invent an app that would warn me when an ASPCA commercial is about to come on, so I don’t have to run out of the room with my hands over my ears when I inevitably can’t find the remote in time to change the channel.
Katie McDowell is a copy editor/lifestyles writer for The Dominion Post. Email her at kmcdowell@dominionpost.com.
