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iamcinema · 5 years

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IAC Reviews #004: Faces of Death (1978) [Retrospective #1]

Warning: The following film contains (real) graphic violence that might NSFL for some viewers; including that of autopsies, animal cruelty, air and road accidents, and simulated death media. If this seems like something that might offend or upset you, don’t seek it out. This retrospect, however, will discuss the film and these aspects without the usage of stills, and is marked safe. Read forward at your own discretion.

Let’s take things in a slightly different direction this time around, and discuss one of the most infamous pieces of shocking and controversial cinema of all time; John Alan Schwartz’s 1978 shockumentary Faces of Death.

While it doesn’t predate other films of a similar ilk like Mondo Cane (1962), Shocking Asia (1974), or even gory, road safety films like Signal 30 (1959) or Red Asphalt (1960), it could be considered to be the first film of its kind to become a household name - a pretty dark one, and bring the term “shockumentary” to the mainstream. Becoming a cult classic that out performed films like E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial (1982) in sales in countries like Japan in the 1980s, the film gained traction for it’s proclamation that it was banned in at least “46 countries” for its raw, graphic depiction of death caught on film in the form of surgical procedures, autopsies, animal cruelty, and news footage or home videos of disasters and accidents caught on film.

Since this year marks the 41st anniversary of the film’s release, why not touch on it again?

Faces of Death in One Gif:

Okay, so shitposting aside, let’s get down to talking about this.

One of the big things that ultimately comes up about the film is a simple one word question.

Why?

What’s so special about this thing that has caused it to remain so relevant and influential that it continued to inspire its own sequels and dwell in the hearts of other mondo/shockumentary based films or series like Banned! in America (1998-2000), Traces of Death (1993 - 2000), or modern day mixtapes like The Most Disturbed Person on Planet Earth (2014-). The film’s connections page alone is impressive, with it being given a nod to in mainstream films and programs like Scream 2 (1997), House of 1000 Corpses (2003), The Houses October Built (2014) and Mystery Science Theater 3000 (1988-). This becomes more apparent when the topic of the authenticity of the footage is brought into question, and it ends up being one of the focal discussions about both this film and the rest of the series as a whole - with roughly 40-70% of the footage being staged or recreated.

To some, they can spot the fakes from a mile away without any hesitation, and some end up being genuinely surprised when they find out certain shots were, in fact, staged. This includes the famous alligator attack, the police shoot-out, the electric chair execution that often graces the cover of posters, and the beheading execution sequence that takes place shortly there after. However, not all the scenes are staged. Well, sort of. Some are in fact, genuine, but have tacked on moments to build tension or to pad them out; such as that of footage of a suicide jumper - which included additional footage of firefighters rushing to the scene and close-ups of the aftermath.

Furthermore, due to the quality of some of the footage, it can often be hard to tell and scenes that look cheap and fake end up turning out to be genuine. The content that’s genuine is often quite brutal, and it can be very in your face about it - giving you a true face to face encounter with what your own death might be.

The most infamous of the more graphic content is the unflinching depiction of animal cruelty in a number of settings and situations; including slaughterhouses, family farms, or at the hands of hunters, and poachers. In documentaries and interviews about the experiences from the crew during the filming of such scenes, such as the slaughterhouses. In the Fact or Fiction special about the series, the director talked about how they were once up to their hips in blood and entrails while filming at one of these locations. To state that these sequences aren’t graphic or violent would be a bold faced lie, and this chapter isn’t for those who are faint of heart and can be hard to watch.

Two of the more notable sequences that contain real footage include that of unaired news footage from the famous PSA Flight 182 disaster, a deadly plane crash that took place in the North Park neighborhood of San Diego, which killed several people on the ground and destroyed several buildings and homes, as well as footage captured by the film crew by pure chance of a drowning victim that washed up on the beach after being reported missing for several days.

“Okay, so it’s not all bullshit. So what? But that still doesn’t answer the question of why it’s so popular though to begin with or why it still is.”

Well, I feel like the controversy speaks for itself and maybe people end up just answering their own question.

While it wasn’t the original mondo film, let alone the first to get international attention, it’s my understanding that it was targeted specifically with Western, theatrical audiences in mind. With the boasted reputation it garnered for being banned in nearly 50 countries and the in your face trailer with its depiction of corpses, religious cults, and general mayhem; it can be enticing to the morbidly curious, especially in the aftermath of the Vietnam war and the waves of anti-war footage and photography that had released in its wake. This inadvertently helped to fuel attention, controversy, and attention for the film, which Schwartz said banning it was the best kind of press it could have been given - proving the point that the more you tell people they can’t have something, the more they’re likely to seek it out . Like other mondo and shockumentary films that would follow in its footsteps, it’s also a time capsule of the period; such as with the aforementioned news footage from the PSA 182 crash that had happened barely two months prior to the theatrical release, and a chapter of the film dedicated to capital punishment, which had only been reinstated in the United States two years prior in 1976 following the Supreme Court’s ruling of the Gregg vs Georgia case.

Faces of Death was a product of its time, but did it age well? From a practical effects standpoint, I’d say not really.

As stated before, many moment come off as fake, and several of the ones that are clearly show to the point of it being almost laughable. The publicity fueled behind it resembles that of Snuff (1976) in some aspects, where the team behind it staged fake protests to get the film more attention and infamy for the iconic ending sequence. With that being said, I wouldn’t be surprised if the production team drew inspiration from that as a way to gain traction or beef it up for the masses. Just like with that film, the scene may have fooled some people back then, but by today’s standards, the effects are quite amateurish in nature and not something you’d get away with if you wanted to trick people. Even going by the level that’s being met for many horror films these days, there’s no competition; even for films in the independent and underground scenes from the last twenty years that had barely a fraction of the budget that went into Faces of Death.

From a cultural and influential standpoint, I’d say it has in a way.

Without Faces of Death, I don’t think we’d fully be where we are now extreme cinema, even for films that wouldn’t necessarily think of themselves as such; like Death Scenes (1989), which is more of a historical piece and A Certain Kind of Death (2003) being just about the process of death and what goes into how it’s managed. It feels like traces of it can be found in a ton of films, unless that’s just a stretch. There’s also the ongoing debate about snuff films as well, as there had been rumors that people were killed to make Faces of Death, and thus, the legend of snuff continues to live on in films like Cannibal Holocaust, (1980), Guinea Pig: Flower of Flesh and Blood (1985), Man Bites Dog (1992), Niku Daruma (1998), August Underground (2001), and Be My Cat: A Film For Anne (2015).

However, with the advent of the Internet, you can easily find whatever you’re looking for with a quick search with little to no real effort. It’s no longer a serious challenge to find audio recordings from the last moments of mass suicide cults or plane crashes, gruesome crime scene photos, or graphic videos of murders, executions, or animal cruelty. So, why pay (or stream) to see something that’s partially or mostly fake, when you can see something real yourself? With sites that cater to the morbidly curious or the few and far between depraved like Ogrish, Rotten, BloodShows, and BestGore, shockumentaries, even the rawest and unflinching of their kind become outdated and sort of pointless. This also applies to the MDPOPE, which is barely turning five years old as of this being written, which at the end of the day, is a simple mixtape of content you could find online if you’re willing to look hard for it.

Closing Thoughts:

With all of that said, would I recommend watching Faces of Death? In short, yes I would.

To quote Killion over at HNN; “Is the movie entertaining? It isn’t entertaining; it’s a rite of passage.“

Faces of Death is an exploration into death, and since I’ve first seen it roughly 13 years ago, I still see people who come out of it saying that it gave them a new outlook on life or has helped them to cherish their own with whatever time they may have left; which is a similar response I’ve heard from people who gravitate towards sites like BestGore or LiveLeak. If you haven’t seen it or you’re particularly on the squeamish side, I’d say to still give it a fair shot and see how you feel coming out of it.

Rating: 5.7/10

“In a world with no sounds,

Their cries go unheard.

Reality of life becomes totally absurd.

The counting of time is considered a crime,

And the money one earned not worth a bold dime.

So here they will lie for the rest of the night,

Their bodies remain still in darkness and in light.

Don't be afraid for it'll happen to you,

When all stops as your body turns blue...“ - Luther Easton

Closing Theme:

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