Movies - Faces of Death

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	Movies - Faces of Death

: This article is about Faces of Death, the film. For the rap album by the same name, see Faces of Death (album).

Faces of Death, also released under the title The Original Faces of Death, is a 1979 mondo film, lasting roughly 85 minutes, that takes on a "documentary" appearance as it guides viewers through explicit scenes depicting a variety of ways to die. It is often billed as Banned in 40 Countries, with that number varying with the years. The film was written and directed by John Alan Schwartz (credited as "Conan le Cilaire" for directing and "Alan Black" for writing), who also appears in one of the segments in this film, and stars Michael Carr as the narrator, "Dr. Francis B. Gröss".

Although several of the "human death" scenes are very obviously faked, some of the footage is genuine. Famous scenes of death from the media are included, such as Nguyen Ngoc Loan's execution of a Vietnamese communist. Also featured are the actual on-camera deaths of a variety of animals, including seals being clubbed to death and animals being killed on the slaughterhouse line.

A noted scene includes the killing of a live monkey, which is then prepared and served to patrons of a gourmet restaurant. This scene, like many others, was faked.

A number of Faces of Death sequels were made, each with a lower budget and production quality than the last. The first four films and Faces of Death: Fact or Fiction? (a "documentary" on the making of the series) were at least partially directed and written by Schwartz; the last two were made up entirely of highlights from the first four films, with no new footage at all. The first three starred Carr as "Dr. Gröss", although The Worst of Faces of Death (consisting of highlights from the first three installments) instead featured Schwartz's brother, James Schwartz, as "Dr. Louis Flellis". Flellis explains that he accidentally killed "Dr. Gröss" while operating on him the prior week. However, in Faces of Death IV, Flellis explains the absence of Dr. Gröss by stating that he had taken his own life, having been driven insane as a result of witnessing so much death. This clearly contradicts Flellis' previous assertion.

The films in the series were:

Faces of Death (1979
)
Faces of Death 2 (1981
)
Faces of Death 3 (1985
)

:Co-written by Veronica Lakewood

The Worst of Faces of Death (1987)

:A highlight of the goriest scenes from the first three films

Faces of Death 4 (1990
)

:Co-directed by Susumu Saegusa and Andrew Theopolis

Faces of Death 5 (1995
)

:Released in Germany, consists of footage recycled from previous Faces of Death films as well as other mondo films

Faces of Death 6 (1996
)

:Released in Germany, consists of footage recycled from previous Faces of Death films as well as other mondo films

Faces of Death: Fact or Fiction? (1999
)

:Mockumentary about the purported legend of Faces of Death, consisting of new interviews and footage from the previous Faces of Death films

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Faces of Death ]

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Movies - Faces of Death

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