Faces of Death

This article is about Faces of Death, the film. For the rap album of the same name, see Faces of Death (album).

Faces of Death
File:Faces of Death (movie).jpg French VHS cover
Directed by	Conan Le Cilaire
Written by	Alan Black
Produced by	William B. James Herbie Lee Rosilyn T. Scott
Starring	Michael Carr
Cinematography	Michael Golden
Edited by	James Roy
Music by	Gene Kauer
Distributed by	Aquarius Releasing Gorgon Video (VHS/Blu-ray) MPI Home Video (DVD)
Release date	1978
Running time	105 minutes
Country	Template:FilmUS
Languages	English German
Budget	$450,000
Box office	$35,000,000

Faces of Death (also released as The Original Faces of Death) is a 1978 mondo film which guides viewers through explicit scenes depicting a variety of ways to die and violent acts.

It is often billed as Banned in 40+ Countries. The film has been banned (at least temporarily) in Australia, Norway, Finland, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. Although several of the "human death" scenes are obvious fakes (with Allan A. Apone, make-up and special effects artists for the film saying that about 40% of it is fake), some of the footage is genuine. Famous scenes of death from the media are included, such as stock footage of a napalm bombing in Vietnam, various newsreel footage, and wartime footage of Adolf Hitler. Also featured are the actual on-camera deaths of a variety of animals, including seals being clubbed to death and animals being killed on the slaughterhouse line. The nadir of the film is the inclusion of an extreme fatal accident; the shattered remains of a cyclist are seen under a semi-tractor trailer. The camera pans long enough to capture paramedics scooping up blood clots, brain matter and clumps of hair from the tarmac—this incident is authentic and culled from newsreels.

Production

The film was written and directed by John Alan Schwartz (credited as "Conan le Cilaire" for directing and "Alan Black" for writing). Schwartz also took credit as second unit director, this time as "Johnny Getyerkokov". He also appears in one of the segments in this film, as the leader of the alleged flesh eating cult in San Francisco and puts in cameo appearances in several other films in this series. This film stars Michael Carr as the narrator, and 'creative consultant' called "Dr. Francis B. Gröss". John Alan Schwartz has gone on record as saying this film's budget was $450,000 and there are estimates that it has grossed more than $35 million worldwide in theatrical releases, not including rentals. It was ranked #50 on Entertainment Weekly's "Top 50 Cult Films of All Time" in 2000.

Legacy

A number of Faces of Death sequels were made. Faces of Death I–IV and Faces of Death: Fact or Fiction? (a "documentary" on the making of the series) were written and at least partially directed by John Alan Schwartz. Faces of Death 5 and 6 were made up entirely of highlights from the first four films, with no new footage at all, and released in some countries where the original films were banned. The first three starred Carr as "Dr. Gröss", although The Worst of Faces of Death (released between installments III and IV and consisting of highlights from the first three installments) instead featured Schwartz's brother, James Schwartz, as "Dr. Louis Flellis". Flellis explains that he accidentally killed "Dr. Gröss" while operating on him the prior week. However, in Faces of Death IV, Flellis explains the absence of Dr. Gröss by stating that he had killed himself, having been driven insane as a result of witnessing so much death.

Some of the actors and special makeup/effects crew have reportedly come forward to try to obtain credit for their work on this film. Most of these people were not in any union at the time of filming. This is the reasoning for the brief credits which helped make the film seem more realistic.

Home media

In 2008, the film was re-released on DVD accompanied by an extensive interview with the film's editor James Roy. Roy explains how they used numerous film techniques and tricks to make the fake footage appear real. Dark Sky Films released the film on Blu-ray on October 7, 2008. A brand new high definition transfer was made with new material and a 5.1 digital soundtrack.

Critical reception

Johnny Butane of Dread Central said, "As a curiosity piece, Faces of Death is well worth a look, especially if you've not seen it in a very long time. As for its place in horror cinema history, well, that remains to be seen. As I said it's not a film that holds up very well at all, but considering how groundbreaking it was for its time, I doubt anyone will ever forget it. And while it is nice to have all of the myths about Faces finally addressed by the people who created it, it also takes some of the fun out if it, too."

Christopher Kulik of DVD Verdict wrote, "The YouTube generation will be unable to comprehend what purpose the film served thirty years ago, and thus it's difficult to ignore how hopelessly dated Faces of Death really is. In short, it's a cinematic experiment which has long outlived its effects, although it remains compelling for film and horror buffs viewing the film in the proper perspective. For the curious virgins, I say give it a shot only if you can handle what has been described up until this point; if you can get through Faces of Death, then you can get through just about anything. Feel free to judge for yourself."

J.C. Maçek III of WorldsGreatestCritic.com said, "Does Faces of Death deserve the condemnation and reviling that it gets? Well, that depends on the tastes of the viewer. Personally I could live for a long, long time without watching this movie again. However, in that much of this film consists of stock footage, clearly these things existed long before Faces of Death did."

External links

• Official website
• Faces of Death at IMDb
• Lifting the mask from 'Faces of Death' (St. Petersburg Times article, October 26, 2000)