Faces of Death – Blu-ray Disc Review
October 28, 2008 – 4:25 PM --- by: Danielle ByingtonTags: Gene Kauer, Gorgon Video, John Alan Schwartz, Michael Carr
has an average rating of 3.3 on IMDb
1080p in VC-1 on a 25gb disc
Dolby Digital 5.1 & Stereo
include interviews with the crew & outtakes
– 
– 1978
– 105 minutes
– Gorgon Video
– 
Overall Verdict – Great For Fans of Mondo Films
Buy it for $19.95 @ Amazon.com
— Review written by: Danielle Byington —
The Movie Itself is written/directed by John Alan Schwartz and narrated by Michael Carr. Because he wanted to prevent any bias that could complicate his other film-related jobs (being a writer for shows such as “Night Rider” at the time of the film’s release), John Alan Schwartz is actually credited in the film under two different names, “Conan le Cilaire” and “Alan Black”. Chances are you’ve at the very least heard of the title and what its contents showcase—a spectacle of collected scenes consisting of multiple ways of death and violence. Viewers are presented with 105 minutes of documentary-esque footage involving for example, sheep being skinned alive, an individual jumping from the top of a building (without the Hollywood-edit when they impact the sidewalk, supposedly), a cannibalistic-orgy, and footage of violent historic events such as battlegrounds of the Vietnam war, and Hitler’s reign. The film uses the tagline “Banned In 46 Countries”, however, that number has varied from release to release (for example the Blu-ray release states “43 Countries”) over the years.
All in all, “Faces Of Death” is widely known for its cheesy, disgusting, authenticity-questionable gore; and speaking of authenticity, a majority of sources and interviews with John Alan Schwartz, claim that only 30-40 percent of the footage is real, leaving only some of the news broadcasted footage to be sincere. John Alan Schwartz has admitted in interviews to being an actor in a couple of scenes, such as the leader of the flesh-eating cult, so hopefully if you weren’t already aware of the faux nature of this mondo film I didn’t just rain on your parade. However, the audience shouldn’t be so obsessed with whether what they are seeing is real or not, but just appreciate the ideas and efforts of film-making put forth by the crew. In closing, such a film is both taboo and silly to an extent but, one really can’t deny how widely heard of it actually is, leaving its ridiculous legacy to be the primary element earning it credit, receiving a “2.5 Star Rating“.
Video Quality on this release is 1080p in VC-1 on a BD-25 (25 gigabyte Blu-ray Disc) and presented in the 1.85:1 aspect ratio. As far as grading this release’s video quality goes, viewers really have to take into consideration this film’s content containing video sources of multiple degrees, from super-8 and random news footage, and its age, ranging from the faux-scenes created for the 1978 release, to footage much older than that; thus, the quality of what this codec offers varies widely. There is of course moderate to heavy film grain depending on the lighting conditions and age of each scene (some of the poorly lit scenes are reminiscent to “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre“), and scenes that hold more age bare a deal of artifacts. Overall, fleshtones bare that pinkish/reddish essence seen in most releases from the 1970’s-1980’s time frame, and the color palette is fairly vivid at times, again depending on the source/age/lighting of each sequence. The first time I personally watched this film was about 9 years ago, and I do have to admit that its transfer to Hi-Def is more detailed, at least to the degree of what this “documentary” styled film and its array of random video sources can offer, receiving a “3 Star Rating“.
Audio Quality on this release is in Dolby Digital 5.1 @448kbps and Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo. The two subjects most dominant as far as audio goes for this release are the narration by Michael Carr, and the score composed by Gene Kauer. First, the narration is heard from the front center channel, and presented in a subdued P.A. speaker fashion; however, don’t get me wrong, the words are distinguishable and can be heard clearly. The second topic, the score, can be heard from multiple speakers at times, even using the left and right rear channels. The score is actually comical at times, most notably the rendition of “Ol’ McDonald Had a Farm” playfully presented as the audience is shown a rooster being beheaded as the film begins its sequence of animals being brutally cut-throated, and skinned alive in a slaughterhouse. The film actually has a a few moments of a nice audio mix in the soundscape, notably an underwater scene involving animals of prey, and a scene involving paranormal investigation. As far as random/ambient sounds go (such as gunshots), they are left in a field of mediocre, though one shouldn’t expect to be blown away by this format, and it would have honestly been overkill to a degree for a film of this nature. In consideration of what the film is, its age, and its budget at the time, the Dolby Digital 5.1 format does the film suitable justice, receiving a “3 Star Rating“.
Bonus Materials are presented in Standard Definition using Dolby Digital 2.0.
- “Choice Cuts” (16 minutes) interviews editor Glenn Turner (credited as James Roy in the film) as he discusses putting together the footage in the film. This particular bonus feature is especially interesting as Glenn turner explains how in the 1970’s, hours of footage collected from news organizations’ “ambulance chasers” could be openly purchased in boxed collections by individuals for about $150. So originally, the first cut was authentic, however when the Japanese company funding the production viewed this version, they demanded “more death”; thus, the fake scenes along with recreated scenes of actual incidents came to be.
- “The Death Makers” (22 minutes) interviews Allan A. Apone and Douglas J. White, of the make-up and special effects department, as they discuss being given photographs of murdered victims to study and recreate the elements for the film.
- Trailer (3 minutes)
- Deleted Scene (4 minutes) consists of another capital punishment scene involving a gas chamber.
- “Outtakes” (11 minutes) is basically extended versions of scenes that are in the film.
- “Feature Commentary“
Overall, the bonus materials are not intensively long, but what the audience is offered is rather intriguing for fans of the cult-classic.
