Faces of Death: 30th Anniversary Edition (US - BD RA)
Gabe relives the grotesque horror of Faces of Death in 1080p. Yes, really...
Feature
Since High School I’ve had an affection for the most macabre and most exploitative filmmaking I could get my hands on. In college I found my limits when I started renting Mondo and Mondo inspired ‘real death’ movies. I found that I could take just about any level of violence or gore as long as I knew it was fake, but the second I knew (or thought I knew) it was real I was turned off, as was the television. I ended up giving up the entire ‘real death’ endeavour after seeing only two films ( The Amazing Shocking Asia and Death Faces, for those of you keeping score). Later I developed the ability to deal with atrocity reels, and I discovered that almost all of the really gory close-up stuff in Mondo films was faked. I’ve since rented several of the original Mondo films of the ‘60s thanks to Blue Underground and Synapse DVD releases, and finally saw the most notorious of all the genre— Faces of Death.
Faces of Death is really only the most notorious of the bunch through a series of good marketing decisions, because it’s not really all that shocking, even compared to some of the earliest films in the official Mondo canon (I’m thinking Africa Addio specifically). I’m sure every reader near my age has a childhood story concerning Faces of Death, and I frankly pity all you young ones that have had the film’s reputation ruined by the information age. Personally I was way to squeamish a lad to have ever sat down with the film, but I heard stories from friends with less protective parents than my own. From what I could ascertain, Faces of Death was so terrifying it would actually kill you on the spot and steal your soul.
You kids today are all too desensitized for your own good these days thanks to the internet and reality TV. This kind of notoriety is never going to surround any motion picture ever again in the day and age of rotten.com and viral videos of hostages being beheaded. I pity you guys. I mean, I’m desensitized, don’t get me wrong, but at least I had a good twelve years of ‘innocence’. Besides the desensitization issue, there’s also an issue of availability. These days bootleg video means something downloaded off a torrent site, but you had to really go out of your way in the VHS days, whether it meant driving across state lines to a video store that actually carried something, or trusting some other horror fan with five dollars shipping and handling.
There isn’t a whole lot I can say about Faces of Death from a genuinely critical point of view, because the film is its notoriety, rather than the sum of its parts. Faces of Death isn’t a good movie or a particularly horrifying one. The mockumentary style is so ingrained in the culture at this point that it’s hard to naturally acknowledge the film’s biggest contribution, but it should be noted that despite a lot of corn and cheese the filmmakers do effectively recreate the look of amateur filmmaking. The make-up effects don’t stand up all that well, but have the benefit of being framed among real gore, which usually creates a more convincing illusion.
Structurally speaking Faces of Death is one of the best Mondo films, simply because it’s structure has actually been thought out. The footage is divided into thematic sections, and utilizes some reasonably effective segues. The editing could use a tweak, though. I’m sad to say that my attention span can only take about ninety minutes of shockumentary before I get bored.
Video
There is something inherently wrong about Faces of Death on Blu-ray, especially considering the age of the format, but this is really just another step on the ladder to maintaining the film’s status as the ultimate and enduring exploitation movie. And all us old school horror fans will probably grin at the Gorgon logo in hi-def.
Really, though, there’s no cause for alarm, this disc doesn’t exactly look like Planet Earth. The print is still thoroughly worn, displaying regular and chunky flecks of film artefacts, uneven colours within the frame, some minor frame shifts, and a whole freakin’ lot of grain. The majority of the film is made up of 16mm footage, either culled from libraries dated from the ‘50s, or filmed in the late ‘70s. The film is old, and 16mm isn’t going to work fully in HD. These are just the facts. The transfer’s details are pushed to their breaking point, which in this case isn’t too far, and compression noise is prevalent throughout.
However, there aren’t many obvious compression artefacts. More or less all the problems with the print are clearly the cause of the original material’s shortcomings. The transfer works because it turns your high definition television into a relatively clean screen in someone’s basement. It really does look like a really good 16mm print, and the problem with even the best DVD remaster is that the digital compression artefacts are something that aren’t going to appear on a projected print. The new DVD release probably features just as many vibrant colours and deep blacks, but you’re probably going to notice the digital blow-up. Short of buying an actual print for your projector, this is the closest you’re going to get to experiencing the film as audiences did in 1979.
And I should probably warn fans that this is, in fact, the Japanese version of the film, which is uncut except for optically blurred genitals.
Audio
There’s no reason for this disc to feature anything but mono sound, but we get a choice of 5.1 or 2.0 surround. The 5.1 track isn’t the total waste I’d assumed it would be, as the producers have managed to actually separate some of on screen sound, and there is a sort of vague sense of spatial soundscape (the cop shoot out scene actually features many front to back gunshot effects). The 5.1 tracks advantage over the 2.0 track is the true centring of the narrative track. I don’t know the film well enough to say if any of the sound effects have been augmented with new ones, but many of the stereo and surround effects are made from easily recreated sounds. The original score was probably originally recorded as a stereo track, so it’s pretty well separated throughout the channels, though the sound quality doesn’t match. The clarity of the track is a bit muddled, but this mostly just adds to the charm (the narration sounds as if it were recorded on a ‘70s 8-track and presented as a book-on-tape via cassette Walkman), and is almost always clear enough to understand, though the on-screen dialogue is sometimes lost.
Extras
This isn’t quite the amazingly detailed special edition I was expecting from the original press release, but I think the fans will still definitely want to pick up even the DVD release. This is the first time in thirty years that the filmmakers have officially described exactly how the film was made, including admittance of all the fakery. Things begin with a commentary with director (real director) Conan LeCilaire and moderator Michael Felcher, and all the facts come right out. LeCilaire freely and articulately runs things down scene by scene. The director also happens to be an affectingly charming guy, who offers up plenty of personal slant. He’s also proud of himself without ever coming off as even a little conceited. The track does demystify the film quite a bit, but I also find myself respecting the craft of the film, which was a genuine trailblazer for mockumentary filmmaking.
As an exploitation fan that has learned to accept the brutality of wholesale animal slaughter in my most violent Italian Mondo and cannibal flicks, but LeCilaire reveals that even the majority of the animal death has been either faked, collected from stock footage from the late 1950s, or simply slaughterhouse footage (which is gross and uncomfortable viewing, but not really very shocking). Of course this does have an effect on the film’s already diminished ability to shock, and just makes the Italian’s seem that much more hard core (or evil, depending on your position). Another interesting revel from the track concerns the notorious monkey brain eating scene (faked), which was contextually changed at the behest of the Japanese producers, who didn’t want to be perceived as monkey brains eaters (even though it actually happens there), so they asked that the setting of the scene be changed to an unnamed Middle Eastern country (where monkey brains are not eaten). The biggest shock of the entire commentary track is the one ‘face of death’ that is actually real. I won’t spoil that one.
Next are the first two honest making-of documentary about the film. 1999’s DVD doc, ‘Faces of Death: Fact or Fiction’ was mostly a mockumentary about a mockumentary. ‘Choice Cuts’ is a sixteen minute discussion with editor Glenn Turner, who offers his take on the making of the entire film, not just the editing phase. There’s quite a bit here that isn’t in the commentary, including more specific descriptions of the early production of the film, including the fact that the re-enactment footage was mostly suggested by the Japanese producers who weren’t quite happy with a bunch of context-less death. We also learn a bit more about actor Michael Carr, who portrayed Dr. Francis B. Gröss.‘The Death Makers’ concerns FX artists Akan A. Apone and Douglas J. White. For about twenty-two minutes the guys run down three of their more spectacular sequences, the one real body filmed just for the movie, and offer up a few thoughts on the production overall.
The extras are completed by a single deleted scene, culled from a video master (but looking pretty good anyway), eleven and a half minutes of outtakes, and a trailer. The deleted scene was obviously removed for its pacing issues rather than its shock value, and concerns a gas chamber death (an obvious re-enactment).
Overall
If you’re like me and don’t actually like watching Mondo films, but find them fascinating from a historical and intellectual point of view, you might actually want to catch this new release. The commentary track alone is worth a viewing. Fans in love with watching the film in pristine 1080p are going to be disappointed, because it still looks like a cheap 16mm documentary, but the extras should make for happy Death-Heads. If you’re interested in continuing your Mondo education I recommend getting your hands on ‘Killing for Culture’ by David Kerekes and David Slater, which has everything, including a chapter that reveals the fakery of various Mondo films.
Review by Gabriel Powers
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the-gr8shag wrote: I rememeber seeing this back in early 1988 & I just thought this was disgusting. I wasn't impressed with this at all & neither were the ten other people that watched it with me. I don't care if the deaths were real or faked, the bottom line is, for me, there is no entertainment value in this film. Zero.
I know a lot of people on this site have not watched this, but I really don't recommend this movie because it is a sucky a**, toilet stain, excuse of a movie. I'm the guy thats all for the slasher/horror genre, but, this was where I drew the line. I don't want to sound like an enraged soccer milf but I feel sorry for the person that pisses there twenty plus dollars away on this turd. Buy "Iron Man" instead.
I already have Iron Man. And Transformers. And I will be getting The Incredible Hulk next Tuesday. I still want this though.
I know a lot of people on this site have not watched this, but I really don't recommend this movie because it is a sucky a**, toilet stain, excuse of a movie. I'm the guy thats all for the slasher/horror genre, but, this was where I drew the line. I don't want to sound like an enraged soccer milf but I feel sorry for the person that pisses there twenty plus dollars away on this turd. Buy "Iron Man" instead.
I already have Iron Man. And Transformers. And I will be getting The Incredible Hulk next Tuesday. I still want this though.
Hamisht wrote: If its the Japanese release, does that mean it has Japanese voice over?
Now, the audio is all English, it's just the video.
Now, the audio is all English, it's just the video.
I rememeber seeing this back in early 1988 & I just thought this was disgusting. I wasn't impressed with this at all & neither were the ten other people that watched it with me. I don't care if the deaths were real or faked, the bottom line is, for me, there is no entertainment value in this film. Zero.
I know a lot of people on this site have not watched this, but I really don't recommend this movie because it is a sucky a**, toilet stain, excuse of a movie. I'm the guy thats all for the slasher/horror genre, but, this was where I drew the line. I don't want to sound like an enraged soccer milf but I feel sorry for the person that pisses there twenty plus dollars away on this turd. Buy "Iron Man" instead.
I know a lot of people on this site have not watched this, but I really don't recommend this movie because it is a sucky a**, toilet stain, excuse of a movie. I'm the guy thats all for the slasher/horror genre, but, this was where I drew the line. I don't want to sound like an enraged soccer milf but I feel sorry for the person that pisses there twenty plus dollars away on this turd. Buy "Iron Man" instead.
faces blu ray
I can get this on blu-ray at my local movie stop. I dont remember what the price is but its not too much $20 i think. If your still interested let me know.
I'm picking this Blu-ray release up. I can't find it anywhere though. I know it is probably too much to expect stores like Target or Walmart to carry it but Best Buy doesn't even have it. The only places I can find it are online and I don't have the means to buy it. I usually ask my mom to buy DVDs online with her credit card but she saw this movie in the late 80's and was appalled by it so she refuses to buy it for me. If anyone knows of a store that has it please let me know. I might have to check out a local video store.
I wasn't able to get any stills off the disc because I don't have a Blu-ray player on my computer, and the only stuff I could find on the web was way to gross for the site.
I was not impressed or entertained by this guys, sorry. Back in the day my cousin and I snuck this movie past our Grandma at Blockbuster and put it in the VCR in her basement like it was a forbidden treasure. After watching about 10 minutes we turned it off and watched a basketball game instead.
Since then I have seen parts of it here and there. Usually around 2am someone will put this on at a party saying: "You gotta watch this! It's frickin brutal!" And shortly after that is when they realize that everyone has either passed out or left the party.
Since then I have seen parts of it here and there. Usually around 2am someone will put this on at a party saying: "You gotta watch this! It's frickin brutal!" And shortly after that is when they realize that everyone has either passed out or left the party.
Great review, Gabe.
Ah, Faces of Death. It will always hold a special place in my heart for nostalgia purposes. I remember growing up there were only maybe two video stores in the county that carried it, only one of which was accessible by youthful means of transportation. Blockbuster was the reigning video chain in the area, with everything there being watered down and safe, and the smaller video store in the area carried movies like Face of Death, but it was largely unavailable to us for the purposes that it was X-Rated and kept in a dirty alcove of the store along with porno and, unfortunately, every other great horror film that was released on VHS as X-Rated or Unrated, such as Dawn of the Dead. I remember as a boy of about 10 or so, my friends and I would sneak into the back part of the store just to look at the boxes of the videos, which were all broken down and kept in a binder, along with the porno boxes, each sleeve bearing a number so a person wouldn't have to carry an armful of XXX boxes to the front of the store when they were ready to rent. I remember distinctly that my friends and I weren't the least bit impressed with the porno boxes, it was the boxes of the other films, like Faces, Dawn, Cannibal Holocaust, etc, that REALLY intrigued us. We wanted to know what was so bad (but sexually neutral perhaps), that we weren't allowed to see. Of course, by the time we were 13 or so, we all had at least one older friend that could get us access, but that feeling of mystery over something supposedly taboo was powerful in itself, almost like a rite of passage. We used to go into that store a million times, rent the same movies over and over, but always stealing glances at that alcove in the store, thinking, one day, I'll be old enough, and then I will KNOW.
As I grew older, I found there really were very few walls that stayed up, so far as shock value, and it was harder to find a line that one might find uncrossable. I've long been a fan of exploitation, shockumentary, mondo, and always looked for that line that shouldn't be crossed. The only thing I've really laid eyes on that genuinely upset me were the Iraqi beheading videos. That was the line, finally drawn. The animal abuse I'd seen in certain films had come close, but those beheading videos let me know that my desensitization was never to be complete, and for that I'm glad. I think there are some things that should remain ever-shocking and too disturbing to watch.
Ah, Faces of Death. It will always hold a special place in my heart for nostalgia purposes. I remember growing up there were only maybe two video stores in the county that carried it, only one of which was accessible by youthful means of transportation. Blockbuster was the reigning video chain in the area, with everything there being watered down and safe, and the smaller video store in the area carried movies like Face of Death, but it was largely unavailable to us for the purposes that it was X-Rated and kept in a dirty alcove of the store along with porno and, unfortunately, every other great horror film that was released on VHS as X-Rated or Unrated, such as Dawn of the Dead. I remember as a boy of about 10 or so, my friends and I would sneak into the back part of the store just to look at the boxes of the videos, which were all broken down and kept in a binder, along with the porno boxes, each sleeve bearing a number so a person wouldn't have to carry an armful of XXX boxes to the front of the store when they were ready to rent. I remember distinctly that my friends and I weren't the least bit impressed with the porno boxes, it was the boxes of the other films, like Faces, Dawn, Cannibal Holocaust, etc, that REALLY intrigued us. We wanted to know what was so bad (but sexually neutral perhaps), that we weren't allowed to see. Of course, by the time we were 13 or so, we all had at least one older friend that could get us access, but that feeling of mystery over something supposedly taboo was powerful in itself, almost like a rite of passage. We used to go into that store a million times, rent the same movies over and over, but always stealing glances at that alcove in the store, thinking, one day, I'll be old enough, and then I will KNOW.
As I grew older, I found there really were very few walls that stayed up, so far as shock value, and it was harder to find a line that one might find uncrossable. I've long been a fan of exploitation, shockumentary, mondo, and always looked for that line that shouldn't be crossed. The only thing I've really laid eyes on that genuinely upset me were the Iraqi beheading videos. That was the line, finally drawn. The animal abuse I'd seen in certain films had come close, but those beheading videos let me know that my desensitization was never to be complete, and for that I'm glad. I think there are some things that should remain ever-shocking and too disturbing to watch.
If its the Japanese release, does that mean it has Japanese voice over?
I remember watching this for the first time like it was yesterday. I was the little kid, annoying his older "cool" cousin, and he decided to let me watch a rental copy of it with him to see what my reaction would be.
I'm still not over it, lol.
Great review man
I'm still not over it, lol.
Great review man
You know, I was kinda hoping for stills as well... But I can understand why there would be none.
while i'm sure i know why you didnt, was sorta hoping for some stills. because i'm one of those few who's never seen this..sure i've heard and known about it forever but yeah.
wonder if Rogers video would carry that..lol
wonder if Rogers video would carry that..lol


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Disc Details
Release Date:
7th October 2008
Discs:
1
Disc Type:
Blu-ray Disc
RCE:
No
Video:
1080p
Aspect:
1.85:1
Anamorphic:
No
Colour:
Yes
Audio:
Dolby Digital 5.1 English, Dolby Digital 2.0 English
Subtitles:
English
Extras:
Director Commentary, 'Choice Cuts', 'The Deathmakers', Trailers, Deleted Scene, Outtakes
Easter Egg:
No
Feature Details
Director:
Conan Lecilaire
Cast:
Dr. Francis B. Gröss, Dead People, Dead Animals
Length:
105 minutes
Ratings
Amazon.com
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