Directed by:
John Alan SchwartzScreenplay:
John Alan SchwartzComposer:
Gene KauerCast:
Michael Carr, Thomas Noguchi, John Alan Schwartz, Adolf Hitler (a.f.), Benito Mussolini (a.f.)Plots(1)
Volume I features a vicious pit bull fight, the clubbing of baby seals, monkey brains, a man setting himself on fire, an electrocution, San Francisco cultists dining on human organs, a suicidal jumper taking his final leap, a visit to the slaughterhouse, an alligator attack and a visit to an autopsy room. (official distributor synopsis)
Reviews (2)
Faces of Death is clearly a controversial film, and it's incredibly easy to condemn it. But I would avoid making such an easy judgment. Yes, the creators may have been purely aiming for controversy. On the other hand, it does highlight things that people actually do, whether to animals or themselves. For me, some of the human behaviors shown were truly eye-opening, so I think the film deserves attention for that reason alone.
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This time I must object to the cheap labels like "perverse, primitive or disgusting" that this peculiar work often receives. Unlike the more recent Traces of Death, which is just a haphazard sequence of brutal events, Faces of Death has a much more complex documentary feel to me, the commentary didn't sound so unbearably sarcastic, and most importantly, I saw a hint of an idea in it: to point out how thin the line between life and death can be, even if it's all wrapped up in an exaggerated and inexplicable fascination with painful death and human atrocity – but that's part of life, unfortunately.
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