10 Movies That Abused Animal Rights During Production

2. Heaven's Gate Blew Up A Horse With Dynamite

An almighty financial and critical failure, Heaven's Gate was declared as one of the worst films of all time shortly after its release. Michael Cimino's notorious box-office bomb was fiercely panned from all corners, with the United Artists studio taking a colossal blow as a result. But time was kind to the Western. Over the years, the initial critical backlash was reversed - with some even flipping 180 to declare the movie a masterpiece. But time also revealed some much, much darker details of the film. Upon release, the movie had been condemned for its mistreatment of animals as well as its artistic ability. But a closer look at production shows that Heaven's Gate inflicted some of the worst ever animal cruelty by a Hollywood film. The film may no longer be widely considered as artistically inept, but morally - it remains in a distinctively shadowy area. Four horses were killed during film production of Heaven's Gate, and the AHA were actually booted off set due to enormous unrest within the organisation at the state of the film's cruelty. One horse was even blown to pieces by dynamite. The film's negligence sparked fury among animal rights advocates, and prompted other productions to begin using the "no animals were harmed..." credit (issued by the AHA) to reassure audiences that they didn't follow in Heaven's Gates' footsteps. The AHA unsurprisingly deemed the film "UNACCEPTABLE", and although the Western's critical consensus may have reversed, its treatment of animals remains some of the most shocking in cinema history.