Faces of Death - Face of Death: Fact or Fiction?

Faces of Death / Faces of Death: Fact or Fiction?
Double Feature DVD
Reviewed by John

Written by Alan Black
Directed by Conan Le Cilaire
(both aka John Schwartz)

You know them, you love them, you can't die without them...I think you know what I'm talking about. Faces of Death has its roots in the Italian Mondo Film, international travelogues which exposed the savage nature of man by showing naked Aftrican villagers as well as people getting eaten up by fake-looking Alligator dummies. By the 80's the old formula was getting a bit tired and the Japanese decided to take it to the next level by hiring U.S. filmmaker John Schwartz to produce the classic Faces of Death, whose original Japanese title was Junk. Faces... was never made for American theatrical release but it was eventually given one and it caused a national scandal after its successful home video release, eventually spawning four official sequels as well as numerous rip-offs, send-ups and laying the groundwork for the modern phenomenon of "reality" televison. With such an immense history, it was only a matter of time before this controversial film made it's way to DVD.

Michael Carr at work

As you might guess from the title, Faces of Death is a journey through the various stages of death and dying. Our guide on this quest is a doctor James Gross (Michael Carr), a strange little fellow who has spent years as a coroner pursuing this subject and is kind enough to show us numerous clips he's collected over the years.

Every imaginable area of death is touched on, from (fake-looking) executions both domestic and foreign, explosions, accidents and vicious alligator attacks (every mondo film must have an alligator attack).One segment even follows the old mondo "man's inhumanity" trip and shows us chickens being decapitated; monkey's having their heads bashed in; Seal having their heads bashed in; and finally, a guy with an assault rifle randomly shooting into the ocean at stock footage of sharks and dolphins bouncing around. That's what I call fishing.

Also included for your enjoyment are ritual sacrifices, lots of gunfire and some unfortunate soul trying to recreate the album cover of Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here." We're even granted a fun trip through a morgue, where bodies are casually sewn-up and taken apart, faces stripped off the skull, etc.

People who are extremely sensitive to scenes of suffering or animal cruelty may want to skip this one, but those that can get the sick joke and go along with the insanity might find some enjoyment within the all the chaos.

VIDEO:

Gorgon certainly didn't spend too much on remastering the video. This DVD features the same crappy-looking 1.33:1 transfer that was probably used for the recent VHS re-releases. While not being pristine, the picture quality is still very good and I guess the roughness of the image makes the film seem more gritty and realistic.

AUDIO:

Dolby Digital 2.0 English. Even though the box indicates that the track is stereo, it appears to be the same old mono track. The audio is about as rough as the video but you can still hear the death cries of that monkey real nice. There's also English and Spanish subtitles included, allowing you to introduce your hearing-impaired friends to all the sickness and depravity.

EXTRAS:

The disc includes three trailers: one interesting theatrical trailer for Faces of Death along wtih two promos for some of Gorgon's other made-for-video material.

The longest extra is of course the other feature on the disc, Faces of Death: Fact or Fiction?, a new video interview with Faces of Death director Conan Le Cilaire who takes us through the creation of Faces... and describes in detail the authenticity of most of the big set-pieces. One might hope that Gorgon would "give it up" and actually provide a real interview with the actual writers and directors, but I suppose they have a few more tapes to sell before they want the whistle blown. Also interviewed is Doctor Lewis Flelles, the guy that took over from Doctor Gross in Faces of Death 4 after Gross supposedly died. Flelles is shown as being very ill himself, but still has enough strength to describe in detail many gruesome scenes he saw as a character actor...I mean Medical Physician. In real life, Flellis is actually the brother of original director Schwartz.

Anyone interested in Faces of Death or mondo films in general may want to check out the well-researched book "Killing For Culture: A History of Mondo and Death Film" By David Kerekes and David Slater, which provides a complete filmography and various press materials from the Faces of Death series..

DETAILS:

Released by Gorgon Video
Running Time: 150 Minutes total
Format: Single-Sided/Single Layer Region 0 NTSC
Video: 1.33:1 (4:3)
Audio: English DD 2.0 Mono
Website: www.Gorgon-Video.com