Faces of Death (lost original version of mondo film; 1978)

This article has been tagged as NSFL due to its disturbing subject matter/visuals.

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Theatrical poster for Faces of Death.

Status: Lost

Faces of Death is a mondo film series. The first in the series was released in 1978, which showcased the multitude of ways humans and animals can perish, including from horrific accidents, murder and executions. While the film does contain legitimate videos of fatalities and aftermath scenes, a considerable proportion of the "deaths" were ultimately staged. However, according to editor Glenn Turner, the original version of Faces of Death consisted exclusively of graphic aftermath newsreel footage. For legal reasons, some legitimate clips were also pulled from the final cut.

Background

The film was conceptualised by John Alan Schwartz, a producer for his father's film company that specialised in nature documentaries. However, Schwartz became intrigued by mondo films like Mondo Cane, exploitation works that typically showcased the taboo and often graphic nature of human and animal culture. When a representative from a Japanese film company (sources suggest either Tohokushinsha or Shochiku) approached him with Ultime Grida Dalla Savana, which documented various animal fatalities, Schwartz offered to produce a counterpart which would also include human deaths. A sizzle reel he established received acclaim from the company, which subsequently gave him financial backing and full creative input to produce a film intended for the fledgling Japanese VHS market. The Japanese organisation believed Schwartz could achieve this as they felt this project was not too dissimilar in presentation when compared to his nature works. The work's objective was to provide "visual depth" regarding death as a subject matter, hence the name Faces of Death.

Schwartz then hired Glenn Turner as the film's editor, the pair having been childhood friends and had previously worked together on other documentaries. The film's original premise was very simple: obtain a large amount of stock footage and edit it into a compelling package. Such videos could be obtained from local news stations, which during the 1960s and 1970s would frequently travel alongside emergency crews to capture often disturbing scenes. Naturally, only a few highlights could be considered safe for television, though the full uncut tapes would still be stored at the stations. Capitalising on this, Schwartz purchased a large bulk of unused newsreel footage at exceptionally cheap prices. He, Turner and others then assessed hours of the most grotesque footage that had ever been captured, a process Turner described as tedious and harrowing during his Faces of Death: 30th Anniversary Edition interview. Turner admitted that some of the worst footage triggered nightmares, which made him contemplate quitting the project. However, he decided to continue until the film's completion because removing sensitive content would defeat the film's purpose.

Among the footage Schwartz obtained included the suicide of a woman who leapt from an apartment building, as well as a "body parts" montage. In his book My Faces of Death, Schwartz stated most clips were obtained in Germany, while the "body parts" tape came from California. Some footage was obtained from private collectors; his connection with a doctor meant Schwartz also gained access to the L.A. County Morgue, where he could observe autopsies and later film one of them. The collection of such material has provoked controversy, as those acquainted with the dead were typically not informed the footage was being considered for the film. Nevertheless, a rough cut was established for the Japanese investors. Originally, the film's unique selling point was that, in an era before YouTube and other online video-sharing platforms, seeing legitimate scenes of death was a rare sight. Historical material including from World War 2 was publicly available, but very little else was shown on films and television broadcasts subject to strict regulations.

Change of Direction

Turner described the original cut as "very difficult to watch". Upon presenting the film to the Japanese investors, Schwartz and Turner were surprised to learn the company wanted "more death". By this, they meant a proper narrative structure to document each fatality. As Turner explained, the investors did not want to simply witness a woman jumping out of a building, they also demanded to see aftermath content and a background of those who witnessed and recorded it. Often, aftermath footage alone could not provide sufficient context, leading instead to the idea of re-enacting the death scenes with actors and essentially "finishing" the stories. An interesting aspect is that most actors requested not to be properly credited, as they did not want to be permanently associated with the film. Schwartz himself hid his name from the credits, instead opting to place "Alan Black" as the director and "Conan Le Cilaire" as the writer. Meanwhile, Turner (who also portrayed a police officer and a serial killer in the work) was credited as "James Roy". To this day, Schwartz has respected the anonymity of those who worked on the project and even insists that he be called Le Cilaire in interviews.

Re-enactments, including of a fatal train crash, painstakingly replicated the lighting and camera shots of the original footage. The blood, gore and other necessary special effects were provided by a company led by Allan Apone and Douglas White. Like Turner, they observed many hours of graphic newsreel footage so that they could realistically replicate the horrific scenes. For instance, the infamous "monkey brains" scene harnessed a trained monkey being "attacked" by rubber mallets while placed on a specialised dining table. After it was supposedly "killed", the monkey was replaced with a skull model which contained cauliflower to mimic brain matter and blood. The re-enacted scenes were realistic enough to be considered real snuff footage by many viewers. Amazingly, the cult sacrifice scene received an FBI investigation, because it ended up being split away from Faces of Death and featured in numerous low-quality VHS tapes purporting the footage to be real. Other scenes have since been debunked following the release of the 1999 film Faces of Death: Fact or Fiction?. This included a dogfight, which Schwartz recalled consisted of two pitbulls that really did have beef with each other, but was mainly faked thanks to the usage of theatrical blood. It should be noted that one pitbull nearly passed away from this due to exhaustion, though the fight was stopped before a fatality occurred. The dog's collapse was used to claim that a "victor" had emerged from this duel of death.

Despite the recreations, around 30-60% of the final cut still consisted of legitimate death footage, including from the Holocaust and the gruesome aftermath of a collision between a lorry and a cyclist. One real scene arose completely by chance; as the film crew were filming footage of the work's end sequence, they were shocked to discover a dead body had washed ashore. It was later revealed the man was a surfer, who had accidentally fallen into the water after taking LSD and subsequently drowned. Footage of the deceased man was included in the final version. Schwartz also recalled that during the film's "dream sequence", the decision was made to place an office secretary in a coffin. This almost ended in disaster as the woman fell unconscious inside the closed coffin, having been deprived of oxygen. The film was narrated by Dr. Francis B. Gröss, portrayed by Michael Carr. Throughout it, he analyses the deaths and provides philosophical reflections regarding this taboo subject matter. His character was based on Dr Nills Hellstrom of the 1971 mockumentary The Hellstrom Chronicle. Despite the costs involved for the staged scenes, the film was reportedly completed on a mere $450,000 budget.

Originally released in Japan as Junk, it became a major hit in the country in cinemas and on the VHS market, with Schwartz even claiming it outperformed Star Wars in some areas. Its impact was especially noted in Hong Kong, having reportedly become among the country's top 20 highest-grossing works. Though it was only released in underground theatres across the United States starting in Los Angeles in 1980, it became a highly popular "video nasty" across western society by challenging those to bear its horrific content. Although not actually banned in 46 countries as its marketing claimed, Faces of Death was certainly blacklisted in places like the United Kingdom and Australia, which clamped down on video nasties in the 1980s. Despite this, punk subculture relished the film among other extreme recordings. Thus, Faces of Death reportedly made between $35-40 million at the box office, inspiring the release of three sequels. Its distribution was handled by Telecas Japan and Gorgon Video, the latter's 1982 establishment having occurred so that it could capitalise on the film's home video potential. Despite being a key name involved in the project, Schwartz claimed that he only received $15,000 for his work, with the majority of profits instead being split among the distribution companies.

Several gathered sources contained recollections of individuals exposed to the film's contents at a young age, with the majority being equally traumatised and enthralled by it. It also allegedly inspired a murder carried out by Rod Matthews on 20th November 1986. Bootleg releases supposedly inspired two murders in Australia by February 1988, leading to calls for stricter censorship on extreme videos. While Faces of Death has since been described as "hokey", even by Turner, the film was considered a revolutionary product for its time, with its staged scenes being just as memorable if not more so than the authentic ones. It has since been declared a cult classic.

Availability

Faces of Death can be easily viewed online or via home media. However, the original rough cut prior to re-enactments being recorded remains an obscure piece of the franchise's history. Based on Turner's comments, the film would have originally harnessed a "tremendous" extent of the acquired aftermath newsreel footage, with commentary provided by Dr. Gröss. This henceforth meant the film would become "a long reel of dead bodies" as Looper put it. While it is possible some videos eventually surfaced on Faces of Death's sequel films, it is also likely that others never appeared anywhere else for being too graphic for television and other documentaries. The original Faces of Death concept was ultimately harnessed for franchises inspired by it, most notably Traces of Death. But ultimately, the newsreel-exclusive cut that was "very difficult to watch" and described as a "pilot" by Schwartz has yet to publicly resurface.

During the commentary track for Faces of Death: 30th Anniversary, Schwartz discussed with Michael Felsher how he obtained stock footage from various stations. He claimed the majority of real content was properly cleared, but one infamous scene provoked controversy after it was viewed by the victim's sister. The footage in question showed the horrific aftermath of a cyclist being crushed to death under the wheels of a lorry. Clips are shown of the mangled victim, as well as the extremely graphic clean-up process that included retrieving brain matter and clumps of hair from the pavement. This footage is interspersed with clips of a devastated girl, whom Schwartz implied was the victim's sister. However, Schwartz stated in the commentary that the video shown was taken out of context. He claims the victim shown was female but that the sister was actually reacting to her brother's passing. If this is true, then Schwartz had obtained tapes of two similar fatal motoring accidents, which were accidentally spliced together. The full uncut tapes of both incidents have not publicly emerged.

In fact, the accident has become a mystery in itself as nobody has been able to explain its context. It raised a discussion on r/MondoGore, where users forlornjackalope and Standard_Job6038 deduced the footage most likely originated in California. This is because Schwartz wrote in My Faces of Death that the "body parts" tape contained graphic footage taken from a California news station, including the aftermath of PSA Flight 182 and, crucially, the cyclist scenes. Because Flight 182's crash occurred in San Diego on 25th September 1978, it raised speculation that all other obtained footage was also sourced from the city. However, the video's lack of context and the absence of newspaper reports currently make the accident's location and the unfortunate victim's identity impossible to verify. Since Flight 182 footage was included in the same set of stock footage, the cyclist's accident might have occurred in roughly the same period.

Finally, in the same commentary track, Schwartz stated that several appointed attorneys conducted a review process of the film before its release. As a result of this, a few scenes were highlighted as being problematic legally. This notably had nothing to do with the deceased victims' relatives, as one cannot sue on behalf of a dead individual. Though it was possible that rescuers and anyone else situated in the footage could have taken legal action, the majority of legitimate videos passed the legal checks. However, Schwartz claimed a few clips were ultimately pulled from the final cut, though he did not elaborate on what these were. For the 30th Anniversary release, some outtakes are included, like extended coverage of the surfer death, more slaughterhouse clips and filming of the staged scenes. It also included a staged gas chamber execution contained only in the home media releases and thus is classified as a "deleted scene". But such content is unlikely to have caused legal concern that would have warranted their original removal, especially those that were re-enacted. To date, the status of the missing scenes removed on legal grounds remains unconfirmed.

External Links

• IMDB page for Faces of Death.