Blood of the Beasts

In 1949, George Franju, the director of horror classic , gave a taste of his abilities with . Shot in several slaughterhouses in the French capital shortly after WWII, the horror-like documentary provides a glimpse of the rituals surrounding the production of meat: from the slitting of throats in one firm stroke and the precise stripping of skin and hair to the removal of inedible parts and the eventual hanging of carcasses on meat hooks ready for further processing. What is particularly striking is the instrumental, clinical way in which the entire process takes place. Apparently, it is only possible for the slaughterers to survive if they keep a distance. Franju makes the brutal, disagreeable images from the abattoir contrast with the charming outside world. A kissing couple, romantic water panoramas, playing children; this is the tourist's Paris spread across the globe on picture postcards. And yet, the horror is already comprised in the image behind the beauty; the children are playing against the backdrop of an old boxspring that menacingly points at them.