Faces of Death - (1979)

This is the most infamous of all Mondo Movies and with out a doubt the most vicious exploitation title ever filmed. This pseudo documentary features the aptly titled Dr. Frances B. Gross, as he studies death and how fragile live can be. The film opens with scenes of a catacomb in Mexico where we see mummified corpses, all of this is genuine and pretty much benign. We then proceed to a slaughterhouse where we witness animals prepared for our dinner table(Yum!). We then witness one of the most infamous scenes in the film, a group of restaurant patrons are seated, entertained with music and alcohol and then are given a monkey to bash with a mallet. Afterward they eat the brains and the look on the patrons face's shows they are not quite happy with their meal (Maybe it should have been chilled). The films also features animal attacks on people and in many cases these are quite laughable, one worth noting has a stupid couple feeding a bear, an adjacent vehicle records the grim results of the subsequent attack by the bear on the stupid man. For the rest of the film what we end up with is a mix of stock footage from accidents and disasters which were real and a small number of staged incidents which give the film its infamous reputation. The film is supposedly banned in over 40 countries.

Faces of Death 2 - (1981)

It is almost inevitable that such an infamously successful title like Faces of Death would spawn a sequel and in a rare case this one is actually much better then the first. The movie begins with our favorite pseudo Dr. explaining how he felt he needed to further explore the issues of death, contradicting his statements from the first film but enough of that for now. The second FOD movie differs greatly from the first in that this film does feature actual footage and only a few staged scenes. The film goes on to show animal testing, poachers killing animals, scenes from human autopsies, more slaughterhouse footage and some scenes of executions in Africa. We then view war atrocities, most from the fighting in Vietnam and Lebanon. The film ends with the infamous death of boxer Johnny Owen as the annoying music closes out this film. It is undeniable that FOD 2 is better made then the first, and with its genuine footage it is more truthful then any other FOD film.

Faces of Death 3 - (1985)

Opening with European car crashes the third film of the FOD series pretty much follows the same pattern of the earlier films. A number of the first segments feature police reports, the style of work seems way to close to those COP's style shows and when one thinks about the crud they show on TV it is little wonder how too close these films are to the portrayals they are making. One well known and significant moment features a bomb squad preparing to defuse a bomb, a makeshift blast shield is erected to allow the camera to witness this tricky procedure. As the police man slowly pulls the fuse it explodes killing him instantly. This same film was shown in many other similar titles so don't be surprised if I mention it later. We also witness a suicide in grim detail, complete with gawking witnesses. As with many of the FOD titles this one boasts an infamous scene which gives this film its highlight, in this case we witness an auto lot security camera capturing a pair of car thieves in the act. As the camera pans left to right we see the dogs taking down one of the bad guys and ripping him to pieces. As stated this FOD adventure plays more like a COP's Really Uncut video and with its fabricated scenes mixed with accident footage we get a collection of films more entertaining then any episode of COP's, cut or uncut.

Faces of Death 4 - (1990)

This was the first FOD film I ever rented and it is also one of the most blatantly vile and expletive. The film opens with a crematorium and a body being burned, the narrator begins by saying that the original host Dr. Gross had passed on and was being given his funeral rite. The narrator this time is Dr. Louis Flellis, a neuro surgeon who is more creepy then some of the stiffs he showcases. We begin with an obviously faked hostage situation, this is followed with the usual genuine accident footage, auto crashes, plane wrecks and random terrorist explosions. The usual recreations abound and with the very intense drama one would shriek if it were not for the very hokey acting. The highlights: a man gets his leg caught under a car wreck at an auto junk yard, a nasty accident involving a magician and a botched escape trick is worth noting as well. The psycho Dr. then goes into a morality play by stressing the perils of alcohol and the mishaps it leads to with underage drinkers. The bungee jumping death of a coed is quite amusing. We also witness a boating mishap involving a pretty girl who is cut to pieces by a drunken boat operator. As with all the above movies we get so called smuggled video of dubious third world punishment, an eastern European man is drawn and quartered before his horrified wife, of course because he failed to pay his taxes fully! The usual animal slaughter scenes abound, this time we even have a nice Indonesian family preparing a meal with a puppy as the main course. The film ends with a pair of nasty tales, the first involving a mega leech which attached to a poor swimmer and the last one featuring an FBI raid on a suspected drug house which yields a satanic cult complete with snuff film and a blood filled flask. Of all the films this is the most blatantly expletive and it shows without any sense of restraint or moral overtone. The narrator even brings out a guitar and sings a hokey tribute song, you have to hear the goofy lyrics to believe it! Even for an FOD film this is one very vile collection.

Faces of Death 5 & 6

FOD 5 consists mostly of stock footage from the earlier films and comes across as a poor copy of its more infamous predecessors. If it were simply a Best of FOD that would be all right, yet there was a Best of Collection, actually it was titled Worst of FOD and it was basically the same film minus a few scenes from FOD 4 and with a better look and feel. The only worthwhile scene is that of the actual on air suicide of Pennsylvania State Treasurer R Budd Dwyer, played in full color detail. This incident was well covered in the media and is not faked in any way.

Also Contains Shocking Footage of:

- Opening of cranium with bone saw. Removal of brain and internal organs.
- Woman catches chicken and beheads it with hatchet. Long scene of headless chicken flopping around.
- Killing, skinning, and butchering cows and lambs in slaughterhouse.
- Alligator farm. Gators eating raw meat.
- Corpses of two drowning victims. Convincingly bloated and ugly.
- Drowned man in surf, bystanders watch as he's pulled out and put in body bag.
- Stock World War II footage.
- Stock footage of Nazi rallies.
- Concentration camps. Mass graves, emaciated corpses, more mass graves.
- Still photos of car wrecks. News footage of female bicyclist who was run over by semi.

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