FacesofDeath

Faces of Death (1978)

So just in case you have been locked in a closet or maybe spend the last thirty years in Utah let me explain to you what Faces of Death is. This is supposed to be a documentary about death and how we deal with it. Basically it is just an excuse to recycle nasty footage of bodies and slaughterhouses. So of course when I was 13 or 14 years old I just had to see this! I will never forget when my friend and I finally got our hands on a rented VHS and sat down to watch it. I won’t lie and say the movie didn’t freak me out, because it really did a job on my psyche. The funny thing is that now years later when I popped the DVD of the movie into the player I was disappointed. Now the autopsy stuff with the bodies still gets to me, but the rest of the movie looks fake. Since this movie doesn’t really have a narrative or plot I thought I would just split the review into three sections, the real, the fake and the silly.

Be warned this entire review is filled with spoilers. If you either haven’t seen the movie and don’t want it ruined for you or want to keep the illusion that certain scenes are real then stop reading. You have been warned.

So the first section is the real footage. This stuff got to me because it isn’t fake and shows the real suffering of human beings or animals. As I stated already the autopsy scenes get to me because those are real bodies on the table. Watching them remove the organs and poke at the brains knowing that was once a person is pretty damn freaky. We also get to see some mummified bodies, a brief (thankfully) dogfight, some archival footage of what I think is concentration camps, and some seals getting clubbed. Another highlight for many people are the scenes involving the slaughterhouses and the animals being butchered. Honestly I’ve seen worse on the PETA website.

Next up is the fake stuff. These are scenes that are phonier than a 3-dollar bill, but still look pretty damn good. The most famous of these scenes would have to be the monkey brains. I remember that this was the scene that everyone was talking about when I was a just a kid. Looking at it now as an adult it is clearly a latex head, but a very well done effect that I can appreciate. Other nifty effects shots include the beheading, which looks damn nice and the electric chair bit with the oozing eyeballs. Again while these aren’t real they are good special effects.

Now there are a couple of really dumb scenes that just too damn silly to take seriously. First up is the Alligator attack, which does have some good effects but is completely ruined by the terrible performances of the “re-enactors”. Also cheesy is the interview with the assassin that is goofy as hell, and the bit near the end with the ghost researchers. Finally the one thing that I never bought, even as an impressionable kid, was the whole cult sequence where they eat the organs of a corpse. The only thing that used to interest me in that sequence were all the naked girls, which just doesn’t do it for me anymore. Maybe I’m just getting old.

There are some nifty extras on the DVD that I really got a kick out of. The first is a nice feature with the special effects guys called The Death Makers. They not only explain how they did the special effects, but also have some funny stories from the set. I also got a kick out of how they have had arguments with people who assure them the scenes they worked on were real. I imagine there can’t be a much bigger compliment if you are the special effects man on a film. The other feature is a lengthy discussion with the editor of the movie. It was interesting to hear how the movie was put together, the initial reactions from the investors, and what they thought they were making.

Except for the autopsies Faces of Death comes off way cheesier than I remember it. Now I don’t know if that is because I’m older or more desensitized having seen a lot worse on the Internet. Still I can’t imagine a horror or exploitation fan could do without having Faces in their collection. Plus the extras are really cool and will hopefully set some arguments straight. I normally don’t separate my ratings like this, but this time I think I need to.

The movie alone:

2 ½ out of 4

This DVD with the movie and the killer extras

3 out of 4

reviewed by John Shatzer