Faces of Death (later re-released as The Original Faces of Death) is a 1978 American mondo horror film written and directed by John Alan Schwartz, credited under the pseudonyms "Conan Le Cilaire" and "Alan Black" respectively.
The film, presented as if it were an actual documentary, centers on pathologist Francis B. Gröss, played by actor Michael Carr, who presents the viewer with footage showing different gruesome ways of dying from a variety of sources. Many scenes were faked for the film, but most portions include pre-existing video footage of real deaths and their aftermath.
Faces of Death received generally negative reviews from critics but was a success at the box office, reportedly grossing over $35 million worldwide. It gained a cult following and spawned several sequels, the first of which, Faces of Death II, was released in 1981.
Plot After performing an autopsy, pathologist Francis B. Gröss tells the viewer that he is interested in the transitional periods of life and death thanks to a recurring dream. At the same time, his experience as a pathologist has desensitized him to grotesque deaths. He has compiled footage to understand the many "faces of death."
Footage is played of various deaths, including a man killed by an alligator, which Gröss calls a "violent retaliation from a creature who has suffered continued abuse from mankind". Gröss next narrates over recordings of assassinations, stating that humans are the only species to kill for greed. Assassin François Jordan is interviewed and admits that he kills solely for payment, not for political or social value. If there were a case on which he had thoughts, he would immediately, but respectfully, decline the mission. Gröss introduces another type of killer, "the one who kills for no apparent reason." A gunfight ensues between a SWAT team and an armed murderer. During the gunfight, the SWAT team throws tear gas into the house of the murderer, who is later shot, after which the team enters the killer's house to find his family stabbed to death; Gröss questions whether the man's actions were caused by society. As criminal Larry DeSilva is executed by electric chair, Gröss questions "if two wrongs make a right."
Gröss visits the Los Angeles County coroner's office, where Dr. Thomas Noguchi is embalming multiple corpses after their autopsies. One cadaver is a horrifically bloated drowned woman; the other is a decapitated man whose skin is peeled off his skull for examination. Gröss asks Noguchi for his thoughts on his own embalming process after he dies, to which he replies: "life is purely a transitory state."
One man, Samuel Berkowitz, has his body subjected to cryopreservation after death; his bodily fluids are replaced with a liquid with a low freezing point, then he is stored in a freezer to preserve his body for future science to revive him. The "theater of preservation" transitions to a brief discussion on suicide with footage of a woman jumping from a building; Gröss admits this was "a face of death he wishes never to face again."
The next segment displays war and atrocities in history, including the Holocaust. Footage of German forces slaughtering enemy forces is shown, as they were becoming more desperate in the latter years of the war. The segment ends with footage of Nazis being obliterated in battle and symbols of Nazism destroyed, with Gröss saying that Hitler "lost control not only of his army but of his mind."
Footage of animals dying due to litter and pollution is shown, followed by sick children in impoverished villages. Nature is examined with footage of a search party finding a body in a cave, a drowned man recovered at a beach, and footage of a bear mauling irresponsible campers. More of the "horrific nature of man" is examined with footage of a venomous snake cult in Louisville, Kentucky, killing a handler and a cannibalistic cult eating a cadaver stolen from a morgue before partaking in an orgy.
Footage of several more tragic accidents is shown, culminating in a scene of a person attempting a parachute jump but dying after the parachute fails to open correctly. Gröss disputes the notion that this death was quick and painless, as he would have been conscious and aware of the entire fall to the ground. The segment ends with a section on PSA Flight 182 and its grisly aftermath, featuring photographs of the accident, excerpts of audio from air traffic control, and footage of scattered body parts and destroyed houses at the crash site in San Diego. Numerous witnesses are seen, including horrified people from the neighborhood and disgusted first responders. Gröss states the neighborhood smells like "rotting bodies and jet fuel" and that a mutilated body with only its torso and right hand "is the worst face of death."
Gröss introduces his next topic, the role of supernatural forces in death. He meets with architect Joseph Binder, whose wife and son both died under tragic circumstances. Binder confides to the viewer that he believes his family remains as ghosts in his house, attempting to communicate with him. To verify this, Gröss enlists the services of parapsychologists. The team takes photographs of footprints and two apparitions. Binder communicates with his family's spirits through a medium, seemingly confirming the existence of life after death.
After studying Binder's case, Gröss concludes that "when we die, it isn't the end" as "the soul in each of us remains a traveler forever." Gröss questions whether death is "the end of the beginning or the beginning of the end" and leaves the footage he has shown to the viewer's interpretation. The film ends with peaceful music, footage of a baby's birth, and photos of the child and its mother being together and happy.
Cast Michael Carr as Francis B. Gröss Samuel Berkowitz as Victim (uncredited) Mary Ellen Brighton as Suicide Victim (uncredited) Thomas Noguchi as Chief Medical Examiner Coroner (uncredited) John Alan Schwartz as Cult Leader (uncredited) Vern Stierman as Narrator (uncredited)
Production The film was written and directed by John Alan Schwartz (credited as "Alan Black" for writing and as "Conan Le Cilaire" for directing). Schwartz also took credit as second unit director, this time as "Johnny Getyerkokov". He also appears in one of the film's segments as the leader of the alleged flesh-eating cult in San Francisco, and has brief appearances in several other movies in this series. Schwartz wanted to depict very real death with "an analytical view, rather than a purely exploitive purpose", but the film's inclusion of fake scenes makes this debatable. The movie features Michael Carr as the narrator, and 'creative consultant' called "Dr. Francis B. Gröss", whose voice is reminiscent of Leonard Nimoy in the popular TV show In Search of... (which Schwartz worked on). Schwartz states that the movie's budget was $450,000, and there are estimates that it has grossed more than $35 million worldwide in theatrical releases, not including rentals.
Approximately 60% of the film was real footage purchased from news stations, medical researchers, witnesses to the Flight 182 crash, graphic war footage, graphic autopsies, deleted footage from other documentaries, and/or footage filmed by the actual crew in morgues or on a beach.
Many sequences in the film were recreations of news footage; special effects artist Douglas White stated the producers watched hundreds of hours of news footage and studied crime scene photos to determine whether their effects looked realistic. Editor Glenn Turner stated the initial version of the movie consisted of gruesome newsreel footage bought and compiled, but the lack of narrative made it "difficult to watch", leading to the decision to recreate some of the footage instead.
With the exception of the slaughterhouse sequence (which uses methods of killing that are long outdated), chicken beheading and African tribe butchering a cow, several scenes of animals were inauthentic: a seal clubbing which featured choreographed clubbing to avoid harming the seals, and a "violent dog fight" that was simply two dogs covered in theater blood playing with dramatic editing and music, whilst a scene showing a monkey being "killed and having its brains eaten" used cauliflower and theater blood for "brains".
The electric chair execution was achieved by building a fake chair, using toothpaste to emulate saliva, and adding electricity sounds in post-production. Schwartz was inspired to make the scene after reading about electric execution in the southern USA, and was surprised to find it still in practice. He wanted to find a way to film a real chair execution, but none were available during production.
The only "real, unscripted" part of the film features the body of a dead surfer who had washed up on shore as filmmakers were filming B-roll of litter for the pollution sequence nearby, and beachgoers started a commotion.
White and Allen Apone's newly formed special effects company had been given no details about the film upon being hired; they conceived the police shootout, the alligator attack, the monkey-brain dinner, the decapitation sequence, and the cannibalistic cult scene, with Schwartz himself playing the leader.
The morgue, suicide jumper, parachute jumper, snake cult, war, and Holocaust footage, and some of the vehicular accidents were authentic. The snake cult footage was later used in Michael Bolton's music video "Everybody's Crazy", without the handler dying of a snake bite. The WWII footage was also used, with the exception of the Holocaust and graphic battle footage. In their book Killing for Culture, authors David Kerekes and David Slater note that the nadir of the movie is the inclusion of an extreme fatal accident; "the shattered remains of a cyclist are seen under a semi-tractor trailer. The camera pans long enough to capture paramedics scooping up blood clots, brain matter, and clumps of hair from the tarmac; this incident is authentic and culled from newsreels." The train derailment footage was authentic, but the grisly aftermath was faked.
The PSA Flight 182 crash happened less than 2 months before the film's release, and graphic footage depicting the crash aftermath, destroyed houses, and scattered body parts were included in the film near the climax. Still images and air traffic audio were used to simulate the crash itself, because no actual footage is known to exist. According to Schwartz, the film was largely completed but reworked immediately after the crash.
One sequence involves cryogenic patient Samuel Berkowitz, who was frozen in July 1978 and stored in Northern California. The relatives who were funding the suspension began to lose interest and wherewithal, and an offer was made to continue the suspension as a neuro (head-only) free of charge, but was turned down. Instead, in October 1983, they had Berkowitz thawed, submerged in formaldehyde, given a proper funeral, and buried. No attempt was made to preserve the brain.
Censorship