Dark Sky Films Dark Sky Films has announced that they are bringing the legendary gore documentary 'Faces of Death' to Blu-ray on October 7th, day-and-date with the DVD re-release. A brand new high definition transfer was created for this release from extremely rare vault material and will be accompanied by a 5.1 soundtrack.

Extras for this release include:

* Feature-length documentary with director Conan Le Cilaire
* "Choice Cuts with editor Glenn Gurner" featurette
* "The Death Makers with Special Make-Up FX Creators Allan A. Apone and Douglas J. White" featurette
* Trailers
* Outtakes
* Deleted Scenes

http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=1423

I can honestly say I don't think I need to see HD Faces of Death.

I think I'll pass on this one, no matter how good the video rating may be.

Exactly, I'll watch fake gore anyday, whoever gets enjoyment from watching real people die needs help.

Well, I'll be honest, I've seen too much of this series then I care to remember, I was young (But old enough to know better oddly). Most of the source footage is very poor cannot see how they can make it look any better... needless to say, I know I don't need to watch this stuff ever again.

Most of it is fake. Why else would there be a special makeup effects person? :D

FOD may be too out there for me as well, however a BD release of the Mondo Cane Collection (from Blue Underground) may be a lot more interesting.....

Yep, I almost had to do a triple take when I heard the name.
Someone is still trying to sell this stuff? I thought it was exposed as fake a long time ago.
Talk about something that wouldn't existed if YouTube was around at the time.

Still, I think, I am not sure, they have the video of the Senator who blows his head off in front of everybody at a press conference. He should have at least told those in the front row they were in the "splash zone"!

Most of it is fake. Why else would there be a special makeup effects person? :D

Key word being 'most', however, there is some real stock footage.

I still have 1 and 2 on beta:p I'll grab it if I have extra cash since it's something I watched alot as a kid along with slasher and Troma films.

Yep, I almost had to do a triple take when I heard the name.
Someone is still trying to sell this stuff? I thought it was exposed as fake a long time ago.
Talk about something that wouldn't existed if YouTube was around at the time.

Still, I think, I am not sure, they have the video of the Senator who blows his head off in front of everybody at a press conference. He should have at least told those in the front row they were in the "splash zone"!

That one just freaks me out and I don't like thinking about it, I think it's the way blood gushes out of his nose and mouth as he slumps down against the wall. *shudder* :(

Actually most of it is real.

There was various volumes and the latter ones contained questionable material, but the original version along with the first couple of follow ups were real.

Just death caught on tape.

I watched the boat load of them as a youngster, some of it was really tough to watch, but kids will be kids and I sat throug it all.

I don't think I could watch it again now though, my better understanding and view of mortality at the age of 30 will definitely keep me from watching this.


Definiteyl a classic though, LOL.

They are fake. Completely fake.

And badly shot/filmed too.

They are fake. Completely fake.

And badly shot/filmed too.

Yep the vast vast majority of footage on all the faces of death volumes are completely fake.

The Banned from TV series has a lot more actual death footage.

What is the doctor's name that hosted the original trilogy? I remember going to the video store when I was a teenager with friends and we believed it was all real.

My understanding was, as Elite Pro-FHD1 said, it was mostly real for the first movie at least... there's some followups that include a lot of faked material.

Cool when I was a teenager, could care less now:(

Why the f__Kwould I want to watch this on Blu Ray. I can imagine this being of interest for only the young newcomer. I wasway into it whenI was but a young lad in Chicago. 32 year old Henri will not be watching this again though. Ok, maybe I will.

incredibly enough, when i saw this as a youngster the most shocking part to me was seeing the kids play with a dog and the the father kills it and they eat it.

No amount of HD quality will make me look at this crap again.

Jorge

thanks got it pre-ordered.

Can't wait to invite the neighbors for a "Faces of Death" movie night.

they are filmed using poor quality VHS, why even bother/

traces of death was much better but to each his own. either way, its still quite disturbing whether in SD or HD

thanks got it pre-ordered.

Can't wait to invite the neighbors for a "Faces of Death" movie night.

LMAO, I can only imagine that conversation.:D

Actually most of it is real.

There was various volumes and the latter ones contained questionable material, but the original version along with the first couple of follow ups were real.

Just death caught on tape.

I watched the boat load of them as a youngster, some of it was really tough to watch, but kids will be kids and I sat throug it all.

I don't think I could watch it again now though, my better understanding and view of mortality at the age of 30 will definitely keep me from watching this.


Definiteyl a classic though, LOL.

All of these movies (including the original) are mostly fake. Basically it's a bunch of quasi-scripted bad acting supplemented by stock news footage. if you rewatch them as an adult it's very obvious. Here's a story that might interest you:

http://www.sptimes.com/News/102600/Weekend/Lifting_the_mask_from.shtml

And:

http://www.tribemagazine.com/board/showthread.php?t=145876

What is the doctor's name that hosted the original trilogy?

Dr. Francis B. Gross. :D

thanks got it pre-ordered.

Can't wait to invite the neighbors for a "Faces of Death" movie night.


Will you be serving monkey brain? ;)

damn iI feel jipped. I've always thought these vids were all real. :(

Dr. Francis B. Gross. :D

LMAO!!! Thanks, that does bring back memories:D

Will you be serving monkey brain? ;)

Wouldn't that be for an Indiana Jones movie night? Lol! Actually Temple Of Doom is pretty scary. I don't mean the monkey brains bit but when they actually find the underground temple. I'm not really scared by movies but I hadn't seen it for ages and it got a bit tense when Indy went to get the stones as I couldn't remember what happened and how he got caught. And the scene with him in the trance was pretty creepy even though I obviously knew that Willie wasn't going to die as I'd seen it loads of times before. (Although I hadn't seen it for like 10+ years.) The heart ripping scene is always a classic. :D

Will you be serving monkey brain? ;)

If you survive the heart extraction...yes.

Wouldn't that be for an Indiana Jones movie night? Lol! Actually Temple Of Doom is pretty scary. I don't mean the monkey brains bit but when they actually find the underground temple. I'm not really scared by movies but I hadn't seen it for ages and it got a bit tense when Indy went to get the stones as I couldn't remember what happened and how he got caught. And the scene with him in the trance was pretty creepy even though I obviously knew that Willie wasn't going to die as I'd seen it loads of times before. (Although I hadn't seen it for like 10+ years.) The heart ripping scene is always a classic. :D

Yeah he was just joking about it, because I am Indian, if you couldn't guess by my name. Temple of Doom created a horrible stereotype though - i'm sure that there are people out there who believe indian people eat snakes, monkey brains and do voodoo/black magic and rip people's hearts out...

Yeah he was just joking about it, because I am Indian, if you couldn't guess by my name. Temple of Doom created a horrible stereotype though - i'm sure that there are people out there who believe indian people eat snakes, monkey brains and do voodoo/black magic and rip people's hearts out...

To be fair most of that stuff was done by the bad guys. :D

That one just freaks me out and I don't like thinking about it, I think it's the way blood gushes out of his nose and mouth as he slumps down against the wall. *shudder* :(I was reading wikipedia's "the history of television 1987" one night and this event is listed with a link to the youtube video. I couldn't help myself and it's highly disturbing. His name was Budd Dwyer, a Pennsylvania politician.

I watched these movies as a kid, but like someone said, age has made my mortality more evident and I can't watch that stuff again.

Faces of Death was released in 1978, theatrically. No way in hell it was shot on VHS. Faces of Death 3+, that's another matter entirely.

Faces of Death 2 was mostly made up of authentic footage. Faces of Death 3 has some genuine crematorium footage and the like, I guess, but is mostly really, really awful re-enactments that are so phony that they're hilarious. I've only seen parts 1, 3 and 4, though I don't remember much from 4, which likely says how little of an impression it made on me: neither overly gristly nor unintentionally hilarious, I guess?

Faces of Death 5 and 6 were produced in Germany, and are supposedly all authentic and include stuff like the Bud Dwyer suicide video. Never seen them personally, but they're supposed to be pretty gruesome.

It was the end of the "Mondo" cycle started in the mid 1960s as a form of shocking but educational documentaries, bringing the strange and shocking into theaters around the world for the first time. The genre started with Mondo Cane (hence the subgenre's name - it's just Italian for 'World', with Mondo Cane being "A Dog's World"), which in and of itself was roughly half-genuine, half-recreation, but it didn't bother telling audiences which was what. (Nowadays the sight of the giant rubber shark is laughable after a decade or two of the Discovery channel showing us what a real big fish looks like.)

I'd defend the artistic and historic merits of films like Men Behind the Sun, Cannibal Holocaust, Africa Addio, and even stuff like Nekromantik and Snuff before I'd stick up for Faces of Death. That said, I'd stick up for Faces of Death long before I'd stick up for Orozco the Embalmer or Amazing Shocking Asia, which - while the former perhaps had good intentions - literally are nothing more than a glorification of the demise of living things. Yes, I've watched them. No, I'm not sure if I'm proud of it. But I did, and would again if the possibility were offered to me. If it's sick, then I'm sick, and I promise you I'm not alone in wanting to face my fear of the uncertainty of death by staring it in the face from the comfort of my living room.

Before anyone thinks they're any different: think about what runs through your head when you see a car chase on TV. Is the first thing that pops into your mind "Oh no, I hope that escaping felon turns out all right!" or "Cool, they're gonna' ram him off the bridge! The van might explode!" I'm just sayin'... ;)

Faces of Death (possibly!) includes a hand-full of genuine corpses and some incredibly poorly photographed sequences that, for all I know, are genuine. The vast majority of it is blatantly fake, with poor special effects and a laughable presentation that drains its' credibility to zero. The monkey brains scene looks like they're scooping jell-o out of a muppet, and even the BBFC admits the scene is clearly fake (but still cut portions of a real monkey 'in distress' prior to the eating). For crying out loud, even the scene involving piranhas eating a roden is fake, as anyone who's watched Planet Earth could tell you.

There are probably a couple real corpses strewn about the film. I can't remember. I was too busy laughing at the phony looking special effects and hackneyed performances in between gross set pieces. It was a really awful attempt at shocking the mainstream and keeping such a straight face that people believed it. The urban legend is far more shocking than the reality on celluloid, is all I can say.

There's plenty of far more heinous films out there - heck, I think Men Behind the Sun and Cannibal Holocaust feature more genuine corpses than Faces of Death did. Faces of Death is at least a competent psuedo-documentary... like Spinal Tap for horror fans, except they weren't trying to be funny. It's a historical cinematic milestone, but it's neither a "real" snuff movie, nor particularly good.

That said, cult film is advancing into Blu-Ray quite nicely... I doubt I'd ever watch the stupid thing, but I almost want it on my shelf in 1080p solely out of principle. :)

Wasn't there a "puppies" scene on one of the faces of death tapes? That's all I really remember about faces of death, and it was so freaking fake. One minute, you see a bunch of cute puppies running around, and the next minute, you see a lady sizzling up some meat on the skillet. It was so bogus.

traces of death was much better but to each his own. either way, its still quite disturbing whether in SD or HD

Traces of Death was very disturbing...

I've never seen Faces of Death...but I'm ashamed to say that too many years of films such as Hostel, Saw etc...have probably jaded me to the point where it wouldn't faze me much if at all. Having said that..I'll probably pass on this one.;)

This is one of the last movies I would expect on BD. I guess once niche stuff like FOD and classics like Metropolis start hitting, the format is 'Official'.

I guess they're releasing this to promote the new one(I think it's a series reboot). Although I'm not sure when that one is due. I see the point of the series in 70's but I bet you find stuff like that on the net now if you know where to look. It kind of looses its gimmick.

Wonderful!
This will be a excellent X-mas present this year :D

"Merry Christmas, Grandma!" :D
"What the...AAAAGGGHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

mohahahahaahahaahaaaaahh :D

Finally something different on the format than just Hollywood mainstream fluff.

I was reading wikipedia's "the history of television 1987" one night and this event is listed with a link to the youtube video. I couldn't help myself and it's highly disturbing. His name was Budd Dwyer, a Pennsylvania politician.

I watched these movies as a kid, but like someone said, age has made my mortality more evident and I can't watch that stuff again.

Yup...pretty disturbing. Filter's "Hey Man, Nice Shot" was written about this incident (not Kurt Cobain, as many speculated).

Boy I was just thinking how much I would like to see some good carnage in HD. And what do you know my dream will come true!

I actually really was looking forward to seeing this!

I remember seeing the Budd Dwyer video on the news when it happened. I was really young back then but I remember him taking the gun out of the box and then they cut away. Funny how those things stick in your mind.

I remember seeing the Budd Dwyer video on the news when it happened. I was really young back then but I remember him taking the gun out of the box and then they cut away. Funny how those things stick in your mind.

I remember one of the NYC papers (I think it was the Post) showed stills of what happened. They showed Dwyer with the gun in his hand, then a shot of Dwyer's face just as he fired the shot and then a pic of the aftermath with Dwyer's body slumped over blood coming out of his face. I was kinda surprised at the time that a newspaper would show that much.

real...fake...over 30 years later the debate goes on....ha hah...

So how many people are going to complain about the grainy look? :D

real...fake...over 30 years later the debate goes on....ha hah...

On the DVD for the original film, there is a documentary called "Faces Of Death: Fact Or Fiction" where they explain that many of the scenes were reenactments of real events. Of course there is some real footage, but probably half of it was fake.

real...fake...over 30 years later the debate goes on....ha hah...If I recall correctly...some of the footage is real (such as the Saudi princess beheading) and some was staged. Of course only the filmakers know for sure exactly which ones are in each category;)

I´ve been reading about this release all over the web and it´s incredible how many people out there in diffrent forums are AGAINST this movie being released on Blu-Ray.

If crap like "Fool´s gold" and "High School Musical" can get Blu-Ray releases why can´t obscure cult movies like "Faces of Death" without some people complaining about waste of discs??

Blu-Ray NEEDS stuff like this to widen the genres and not only offer mainstream Hollywood crap. Even though it often ENTERTAINING crap, but still... ;)

And that´s why I also STILL watch DVD everyday just as much as before since most genre movies are YEARS away from a Blu-Ray release.

The grindhouse/exploitation/gorehound also need their fix in HD ;)

And I welcome the releases of filthy movies like "Faces of Death" with open arms. I just made space for the movie in my collection and can´t wait for the release :)

This one, Texas Chainsaw and the Blue-Underground releases is making this the best Fall ever :D

I have only a vague recollection of the FoD series (thankfully), but one sequence that still sticks in my head is the guy being drawn and quartered. I have no idea if that was fake but in my mind's eye it still disturbs me.

Incredibly gruesome clips from Faces of Death:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dtbY1KB64c

:D

It is interesting to me how many people out there would never watch something like this if it shows human death (or even if it is fake) as it is "disturbing" but many/most of these same people have no problem watching nature shows that constantly show animals being killed. Take planet earth- every damn episode shows one animal hunting another. Why do I need to see this crap? I know animal X hunts and eats animal Y. Why do people want to see that? The only thing I can think of is humans for the most part need to see death and this satisfies that desire in a more "socially acceptable" way.

For me, I don't care to see either forms of death (but if i had to choose I'd ratehr see humans die since other animals are innocent to me while the human species is not) but I do know if it is ok to show animal deaths then it should be no different to show human death and those who are fine with other animal death should be fine with human death since humans are animals and as much as many humans want to act like they are above all other species they are not. Just because a person is part of the species doesn't make them any better than anything else especially since on a purely natural level humans are one of the weakest species on the planet since almost every other species can kill a person.

To each their own though. I'll continue to fast forward through the hunting scenes on nature shows and others can pass on seeing politicians blow themselves away or any other human death scene. I however will never understand how a guy shooting himself is so disturbing/horrible but seeing a deer get ripped into pieces by some lions is interesting and neat to see.

1) For starters, most people attach a greater sense of morality to the killing of humans than to the killing of animals. Whether this is right or wrong is something we could debate, but either way, most people are going to tell you that murdering a 4 year old human child with a steak knife is a lot worse than purposefully running over a turtle with your car.

2) When one animal consumes another in order to survive, it is amoral, just necessary behavior, and thus its observation is merely one of nature. When one man kills another man, morality (in one form or another) is attached to it, even in the case of suicide. Again, we could debate right or wrong, but that's how most people feel.

3) Of all the behaviors that lions are likely to exhibit in front of cameras, hunting is probably the most interesting, certainly the most dramatic. Most of a lion's life is spent asleep. And animal sex just isn't enough to fill an entire film unless you're watching a whole different type of movie.

As to the question of why people "like" to see animals hunting, I don't think it's simply because man wants to witness "death." I think the causes are more complex than that. For starters, human beings are biologically hardwired to pay attention to things that could be harmful to them (which is why the evening news leads with stories of murder and there are so many films on MEGA DISASTERS on Discovery.) Also, animals like big cats are essentially killing machines, beautiful and powerful and built from the ground up to consume prey animals. Watching them work is like watching a perfect piece of engineering.

Honestly, I don't like all the blood and guts myself, but the hunt is often exciting. I often find myself rooting for the prey animal! Run antelope run!!!

So how many people are going to complain about the grainy look? :D

:D

It's probably been DNR'd.

http://ec2.images-amazon.com/images/I/51CujktnwzL._SS500_.jpg

Man, this is one I won't be putting on my 'Essential HD' list.. :)

Seriously I remember back when I was 16 and a friend described some of the scenes in this film.. Just from the descriptions I was very disturbed (probably quite sensitive back then).. I can still remember the images my mind created back then.. At the time I thought the whole thing was real so it had a much more profound effect on me.. I imagine if I had seen it the effect on me would have been much less.. Weird huh..

This stuff is sick. Real-life death is not entertainment. Integrity FTMFW.

I have a challenge for all you sick bastards who love real stuff like Traces of Death. Search google for BME Pain Olympics and watch it if you feel "MAN" enough. I GUARANTEE that you will never be the same person again. Feel free to curse me for subjecting you to such a sick and twisted video.:eek:

I have a challenge for all you sick bastards who love real stuff like Traces of Death. Search google for BME Pain Olympics and watch it if you feel "MAN" enough. I GUARANTEE that you will never be the same person again. Feel free to curse me for subjecting you to such a sick and twisted video.:eek:

While it's certainly not my cup of tea (neither is Faces of Death), that video was nothing.

No Faces of Death for me, all grown up now, thanks anyway.

I have a challenge for all you sick bastards who love real stuff like Traces of Death. Search google for BME Pain Olympics and watch it if you feel "MAN" enough. I GUARANTEE that you will never be the same person again. Feel free to curse me for subjecting you to such a sick and twisted video.:eek:

Its a pretty hot video. That coupled with 2 Girls 1 Cup....nice!

Its a pretty hot video. That coupled with 2 Girls 1 Cup....nice!

Yeah, that's a good video to go with it. I'd recommend either video to be shown on a constant loop for visiting family or guests to enjoy.

Its a pretty hot video. That coupled with 2 Girls 1 Cup....nice!

Pff I was told about BME pain olympics right after 2g1c but its an entirely different experience. If you like those two, I suggest eggchute and cakefarts. Both are a google search away.

I have only a vague recollection of the FoD series (thankfully), but one sequence that still sticks in my head is the guy being drawn and quartered. I have no idea if that was fake but in my mind's eye it still disturbs me.

Fake as all hell. Sure, a Soviet TV news crew has a cameraman in the guy's house the whole time so they can get an angle of the door getting dramatically kicked in just right. ;)

(I remember the scene too, but nor for the reasons you seem to... :D )

I have a challenge for all you sick bastards who love real stuff like Traces of Death. Search google for BME Pain Olympics and watch it if you feel "MAN" enough. I GUARANTEE that you will never be the same person again. Feel free to curse me for subjecting you to such a sick and twisted video.:eek:

Its a pretty hot video. That coupled with 2 Girls 1 Cup....nice!church of fudge 4TMFW! you can thank me later, or not;)

church of fudge 4TMFW! you can thank me later, or not;)

Funniest S.H.I.T. ;) I´ve ever seen. Gotta love those germans ;)

This stuff is sick. Real-life death is not entertainment. Integrity FTMFW.


I hope you know its fake?

Its a pretty hot video. That coupled with 2 Girls 1 Cup....nice!

I still don't know what that is and I don't think I want to know after just seeing the reactions of people watching it on Youtube videos, lol!

they are filmed using poor quality VHS, why even bother/

exactltly what I was thinking. How good of quality could this be if most, if not all, videos are shot on old school video cameras.

Has anyone received this Blu-ray yet?

Has anyone received this Blu-ray yet?

And why would anyone actually "receive" this Blu-ray? :confused:

I received mine yesterday.....I was looking at this thread to hear thoughts on the pq and the film itself..... but since no one has posted any I'm gonna watch it tonight and see for myself

I rented this from Netflix the other day. I had never seen it before but I was not expecting much after some of the reviews I had read. That being said, I was thoroughly disappointed.

I thought that some or maybe most of the clips would be re-enactments. Instead they ALL are reenactments and poor ones at that. This movie was worthless! However, the transfer to Blu-ray was pretty good. The original film was not of high quality so it wasn’t transformers or anything but it looked decent for 20+ year old film.

Bottom Line: Don’t ever rent this movie! You will be disappointed even if you like this type of movie.

Not a favorite movie but I think I will get the BD anyway. I want more cult movies on BD.

However, the transfer to Blu-ray was pretty good... but it looked decent for 20+ year old film.

Bottom Line: Don’t ever rent this movie! You will be disappointed even if you like this type of movie.

Well I don't want to thread kidnap, so real quickly, and I can't believe I'm asking this... so what are good recommendations of this type of movie?

I just finished watching FOD on BR & I have to say that it was very different from watching it as a teenager...

As far as the video & audio quality, I thought it was pretty good, considering the age of the actual footage...No real issues to complain about there.

In terms of the movie itself, holy crap this is weird stuff to watch...If you've never seen these movies, this one is pretty intense...

Well I don't want to thread kidnap, so real quickly, and I can't believe I'm asking this... so what are good recommendations of this type of movie?

Best recommendation I can give is "Orozco the Embalmer", a documentary shot in Columbia. It accomplishes what Faces of Death fails to do by being a provocative and unforgettable documentary about the fear and reality of death, being simultaneously fascinating and absolutely disgusting. Sadly, the only legitimate release is an independent Japanese DVD, so it's VERY difficult to get a copy.

As for vintage "Mondo" shockumentaries in a similar vein, try out Shocking Asia, Mondo Cane, and Africa Addio. All are better films than Faces of Death, and often combine enough graphic footage with more farcical scenes to keep them engaging versus just depressing. Try to get the limited Mondo Cane box for the best effect, as it includes the uncensored versions of Africa Addio and Goodbye Uncle Tom (but that's another matter...) :)

If you're willing to import, check out Savage Man Savage Beast, and The Killing of America. Avoid Inhumanities, which tried to capture the essentials of its' predecessors but failed pretty miserably.

If you just want footage of corpses, the Traces of Death and Faces of Gore videos seem to be the "standard", for whatever that's worth. I'm much less interested in these direct to video clip-shows with little to no narration or context, so I can't much give recommendations other than to say that Death Scenes (hosted by none other than Antione LeVay) was at least a charming and dedicated effort to host an introduction to the destruction of the human body, rather than just a gruesome full-length music video.