The first on-screen kill in movie history
It’s difficult to imagine the cinematic world without violence: those suspense-filled moments where we clutch our popcorn tightly, our pulses racing. Fighting is part of human nature, so it only makes sense that the relatively new artistic medium would reflect that. However, the origin of on-screen violence dates back over 100 years: a tale of experimentation, a new medium finding its feet and the earliest depiction of death on the silver screen.
The late 19th century was a period of immense curiosity and invention. Cinematic techniques were being explored, and films were mainly short and experimental. In the midst of this came a film that would, unknowingly at the time, pave the way for a whole approach to depicting violence. Surprisingly, it wasn’t some Shakespearean murder or old-fashioned cowboy duel. It was, in fact, the very real deaths of several rodents.
Directed by William Kennedy Dickson, an associate of the renowned inventor Thomas Edison, a now-lost 1894 film titled Rat Killing was the first-ever on-screen kill. This short film showcased a rat terrier being unleashed among a group of rats, ending in a very quick and presumably gruesome demise for the furry creatures. The narrative was simple and without much story, following in the vein of short documentary-style vignettes that were abundant during the early days of moving images.
Soon after, in 1895, a film was made that did indeed show a human death; unlike the rats, it was ingeniously faked. The Execution of Mary, Queen of Scots, directed by Alfred Clark, another Edison employee, re-enacted the 1587 execution of Mary, Queen of Scots. Charged with plotting to dethrone Queen Elizabeth I, the final moments of Mary’s life were recreated using innovative film techniques of the time.
The film emphasised the value of editing to depict the beheading: an actor portraying Mary was seamlessly swapped with a mannequin for the execution scene, and the two takes were spliced together to create a continuous decapitation. This might seem rudimentary to the modern viewer, but back then, it was a groundbreaking use of editing to achieve a special effect. Interestingly, as a male Edison employee played Mary, it also marked one of the first instances of ‘drag’ on film.
Clark’s vision behind his films was primarily educational. He hoped to recreate historical events on film to sell them as learning materials. Whether the same can be said for Rat Killing, we’re unsure. Audiences’ reactions to Dickson’s film, or indeed The Execution of Mary, Queen of Scots, remain shrouded in mystery. Of both, however, only Clark’s film survives, offering an invaluable glimpse into the earliest days of cinematic storytelling.
As the reels of history roll on, Dickson’s work, whether by design or accident, could very well be perceived as the inception of violence on camera. Was Rat Killing purely to document a ‘day in the life’, or was it an attempt to turn something into entertainment? We’ll never know, but one thing’s for sure: cinema has never been the same since.
