Faces of Death [VHS]

Faces of Death [VHS]

Faces of Death [VHS]

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Product details

Actor: Adolf Hitler, Michael Carr (II), Samuel Berkowitz, Thomas Noguchi
Edition: VHS Tape
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); German (Original Language)
Format: Color, NTSC
Running Time: 105 minutes
Release Date: 2000-10-01
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Publisher: Gorgon Video
Studio: Gorgon Video

VHS Movie Reviews of Faces of Death [VHS]

Movie Review: a piece of crap
Summary: 1 Stars

i started watching faces of death and cound not fathom this footage of brutality it stunk to high hell i look foreward to purchasing traces of death though

Movie Review: This was controversial?
Summary: 3 Stars

As of the past year or so I've been on a hunt to find and watch all of the so-called "video nasties" and "controversial" flicks of the 70s and 80s that pervaded the underground of cinema and coincided with the VHS revolution of the early 80s that allowed so many of these forgotten classics to be obtained and disseminated to a new audience.

'Faces of Death' is one that always seemed to have the worst reputation as a film to shock, horrify, turn stomachs, and overall make one's life experience much worse. But upon watching it, I felt less like I was watching a cinematic hellspawn and more like I was watching a National Geographic documentary on PBS....albeit one with a little more blood and guts. Seriously, with the soft spoken voice of "Dr. Francis Grose" the narrator and the footage that mainly consists of animals (slaughtered, as it is), the PBS documentary vibes are very strong, and very enjoyable for one who grew up watching that stuff like me! I will add that while the film didn't have much in terms of shock, it did strenghten my already strong views against aniaml cruelty and the death penalty, for although most of the scenes were fake they were still though-provoking in terms of what they suggested. The most affecting scene by far was the scene where the hardened criminal is executed by electric chair with a disturbingly-upbeat melody playing in the background. I'm strongly against capital punishment, but this scene, moving in its intensity and suggestion, strengthened that conviction even more, even though the scene is staged. This setpiece is the only real disturbing and gory one in the film, but it haunted and moved me more than it disturbed or entertained me. In fact, it concerns me that some reviews find the scene "funny". I've seen some hilarious cinema deaths in terms of ridiculousness like in 'The Toxic Avenger' movies but this is not one of them. It haunted me.

In terms of the violence of rest of the film, like I mentioned before it's a well-known fact that most of the actual human death footage is fake. How much (probably all of it) is unknown to me, but the snuff factor of this film is mostly counterfeit. Many of the animal slaughterings are real though and one who is of the vegan or PETA mindset might be offended by this flick, or perhaps turned homicidal.

In short, though, I didn't find this film particularly shocking or disturbing. This may speak to how desensitized I am by film violence or it may speak to how overrated and ultimately disappointing this film is in terms of "shock value"....probably a combination of both. I did enjoy it great though in terms of it having that old-school PBS documentary vibe...again, with bloodier visuals though. In short, recommended but don't expect to be shocked or disturbed. Rather, expect to be entertained if you like PBS documentaries and don't mind a little blood and guts.

Movie Review: Fake YES! False YES! Fantastic YES!!!!!!!!!!!!
Summary: 5 Stars

I remember renting this at the video store in 85 and going to my
friend NO LONGER DEVIL'S house and showing this to him and about
6 of his friends. They all hid their eyes and looked away. It
was a complete success for that is what I set out to do. I remember
even at that young age(15)thinking that what I was seeing was fake.
Still it is most entertaining and if you are looking for that uncomfortable
movie to sit with your friends and sweetie this is it! I have watched all
the Faces of Death while growing up and found those as well entertaining
though by parts 5 and 6 it was starting to get redundant. If you love
HORROR movies than by all means by the CLASSIC FACES OF DEATH! If you
are looking for the real thing than recommend Faces of Death 2 (which shows car crashes and shootings of prisoners) and also watching the
6 o'clock News. If you are looking to laugh at Bear attacks and a man
gurgling alka seltzer while being on the electric chair than buy
the CLASSIC FACES OF DEATH!

note: I was only disturbed by the monkey brain eating scene which was
real and I felt sorry for monkey(poor lil monk-monk)

Movie Review: Gross and FAKE!!
Summary: 1 Stars

There are several different versions of this video available, I can't imagine any one could be much worse or better than the others. "Faces of Death" received much word of mouth hype in the early 80's in the days way before the internet and before the prolifertaion of cable - media sources that could have easily quashed claims of the deaths on this film being genuine.

The setting is creepy, the Dr.Gross narrator self-righteously intellectualizes his collection of purported death scenes with faux introspection and sensistivity. The scenes besides an autopsy and crime scene mop up here and there however seem and are largely faked, probably for the betterment of society.

For those who insist "Faces of Death" is real, ask yourself why multi-camera shots are used and cutaways and edits occur during the crucial moments of death, the reason most are watching. The bear attack, the alligator attack, the electrocution can be easily dissected by most middle schoolers and dissmissed as baloney. The alleged political assasination of what appears to be a French Socialist (some may love to see that) and the subsequent interview with the assasin is an incident I personally have researched and can find nothing verifying any such event.

The director of this video who is hardly worth naming was very cunning in that he later released a "Faces of Death:Fact or Fiction" crapfest repackaging of much the old footage, admission of some fakery, and more clever obfuscation and non-answers about the others, all why drawing out his sentences and the Q&A sequence as long as possible to lengthen up the video!He probably owns a nice boat and a couple of houses from the profit he made from this overrated and overhyped dud.

Movie Review: Is it real or is it Memorex?
Summary: 3 Stars

Look at that lurid DVD cover art! How could anyone take this movie--a movie that purported to show dozens of real life deaths caught on camera--seriously after looking at that cartoonish image? Nonetheless, millions of impressionable dupes bought into "Faces of Death" for all it was worth. I was one of them, of course, scurrying about town back in the late 1980s trying to track down a copy of this elusive film. I actually had to sign up for a membership at some dinky mom & pop videostore just to rent this sucker. That the store wasn't located within the city limits only heightened my anticipation. "Surely," I thought to myself at the time as I drove home with the precious cargo sitting on the seat next to me, "the fact that I had to leave the city means that this movie is real, that the prominently displayed "Banned in 46 countries!" sticker on the video box must really mean something! Wow! Am I gonna have fun or what?" Uh huh. Needless to say, "Faces of Death" fell short in several areas. The cheesy narration from "Dr. Francis Gross" (Michael Carr) didn't seem to fit with a death flick, and a lot of the scenes looked staged for the camera.

I recently decided to revisit this old "classic" when I noticed I could rent it online for a song. Funny how times change, isn't it? I had to storm the gates of heaven to find a copy less than twenty years ago, and now the same movie is everywhere. That's one good thing about the decline of Western Civilization, I guess--depravity is only a click away. Anyway, I tossed the DVD into the player when the disc arrived and set down for a couple of hours of pure schlock. I wasn't disappointed. In fact, I'm surprised I remembered many of the film's "shocking" segments. It's important to remember that almost everything you see in the movie is staged. That electric chair execution? Phonier than a three dollar bill. Remember the infamous "monkey brain" scene? Fake! What about the poor sap trying to catch that crocodile out in the lake? Fake, although it might actually be stock footage of a real event if you use your imagination. Unfortunately, it isn't real. Almost nothing we see here is. If you watch "Faces of Death" with an open mind and open eyes, you'll likely notice that most of what's going on looks mighty suspicious.

Of course, there is real death in "Faces of Death". The problem with this is that most of it consists of stock footage of non-human atrocities. Expect to see a lot of animal killings in this film. Sick sequences include scenes inside a slaughterhouse, animal attacks, and a disturbing look at seal hunting. These clips are doubtless real, and they do disturb on many levels, but we're not exactly renting/buying this movie for animals, are we? It's the human stuff we want to see. An assassination in France looks absolutely ridiculous in its execution (pun intended). A bear attack on some poor sap, complete with background voices saying things like, "Be careful" and shaky camera work, initially looks intriguing but ultimately proves obviously false on a second viewing. A lady doing a header out of a high-rise building, I thought, must surely be real. Maybe the police standoff with a disgruntled man, which results in a hail of gunfire, is also real. Or how about the protestor self-immolating outside of a nuclear power plant? Is it real or is it Memorex? I quickly wearied of trying to figure out what was real and what was a sham.

The ultimate problem with "Faces of Death" is actually a simple one. In this day and age, with atrocity becoming the norm in the media and on the Internet, this movie comes off as almost prissy in its look at death. I'm serious. Considering the explosion of "real death" documentaries and DVDs that clog the market, along with an exponential increase in violence even on public television, "Faces of Death" just isn't that interesting when you can check out the real thing on the Internet or at the local videostore. I'm not even going to get into the media and their morbid fascination with all things dead and dying. The evening news often touches on events that overshadow most of what we see in "Faces of Death". If you want uncut, nauseating scenes of real death and destruction, pick up "Traces of Death" or one of the other documentaries that doesn't flinch when showing us real world carnage. Forget "Faces of Death". This film is only worth watching if you're taking a trip down memory lane, like I did, or if you want to scare the pants off of a stuffy friend. Go elsewhere to feed your cravings for blood and guts.

The DVD version of "Faces of Death" is an intriguing one. Not because of improved picture quality (the movie looks worse here than on the old video tape I watched it on back in the 1980s) but because we get a very cheesy faux documentary called "Faces of Death: Fact or Fiction?" included as an extra on the disc. According to this documentary, the original narrator Dr. Francis Gross has passed away. Don't know what that means, but in his place we get some hammy actor calling himself Dr. Louis Flellis talking to a reporter about his fascination with death. We also see the director of the film, Conan Le Cilaire, talking about the trials and travails inherent in any quest to bring real death to a film audience. The fact that he hides his face behind a hat and sunglasses, and even disguises his voice with some sort of sound effect, only adds an extra layer of ridiculousness to the proceedings. Let's give "Faces of Death" three stars just for old time's sake, eh?

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