Faces of Death is a curious viewing experience. The variety of emotions it triggers is unusual. From pure revulsion to unbridled laughter, this film certainly covers a lot of bases. Where the real material is genuinely disturbing, the faked stuff is often so poorly done it makes for unintentional comedy. At the very least, Faces of Death can certainly not be accused of being boring.
The credit sequence kicks in with scenes from open heart surgery and an autopsy. It's pretty grim stuff quite frankly and not exactly the kind of material you want to digest immediately after dinner. The early parts of FOD in general are more horrific; in particular, the slaughterhouse sequence. It's pure horror. If there is any positive legacy from this documentary then it must surely be that it's made a few more people aware of the terrible route some animals are forced to take on the way to our dinner plates. The treatment of the animals in this environment was nothing short of barbaric and very difficult to watch. After this opening bombardment I was actively hoping for some of the famed fake material and thankfully I didn't have long to wait. The political assassination and alligator attack were spliced into the flow, and both were incredibly unconvincing and silly but also a relief from the unremitting heaviness of the preceding material. Some view the fake material in FOD as a weakness, a reason to disparage it. I, on the other hand, thought it was a welcome change of tone and a bit of unexpected comedy relief. The combination of the ultra-grim with fake schlock was ultimately what made it palatable for me.
It has to be said though, that there is an undeniably fascinating aspect to much of the real atrocities on display. It is very exploitative but you do see things that you normally would never see, or perhaps wish to see. The footage of the aftermath of the aircraft crash was haunting and is something I will not forget; the autopsy scenes are grimly fascinating; the Liberian execution is a no-holds-barred presentation of capital punishment. While the scenes of animal cruelty do serve a purpose in that they confront the viewer with some very cruel practices and are legitimate in the sense that they expose some very terrible things that man does to other creatures on this planet; in addition to the aforementioned slaughterhouse scene, there is the extremely unpleasant footage of the seal cull. While stuff like this has been selected with exploitative purposes in mind it does make the viewer think about wider issues, which is certainly unexpected. Some of the most famous sequences turn out to be fake however, for example the monkey meal and the electric chair scene. Although these, along with the death cult section, are all pretty graphic none-the-less and operate successfully as tasteless exploitation fodder.
Overall, I found Faces of Death to be compelling. I was genuinely sickened in places, disturbed in others, fascinated at times and even enlightened here and there. I also was amused too by the more ridiculous fakery. It's a hell of a combination that some people will regard in highly dubious taste. Some of it SHOULD shock you and some parts of it will stay with you long after. It's not a film to sit down with the family after a good meal. But this shockumentary/mockumentary is certainly something to behold.
The credit sequence kicks in with scenes from open heart surgery and an autopsy. It's pretty grim stuff quite frankly and not exactly the kind of material you want to digest immediately after dinner. The early parts of FOD in general are more horrific; in particular, the slaughterhouse sequence. It's pure horror. If there is any positive legacy from this documentary then it must surely be that it's made a few more people aware of the terrible route some animals are forced to take on the way to our dinner plates. The treatment of the animals in this environment was nothing short of barbaric and very difficult to watch. After this opening bombardment I was actively hoping for some of the famed fake material and thankfully I didn't have long to wait. The political assassination and alligator attack were spliced into the flow, and both were incredibly unconvincing and silly but also a relief from the unremitting heaviness of the preceding material. Some view the fake material in FOD as a weakness, a reason to disparage it. I, on the other hand, thought it was a welcome change of tone and a bit of unexpected comedy relief. The combination of the ultra-grim with fake schlock was ultimately what made it palatable for me.
It has to be said though, that there is an undeniably fascinating aspect to much of the real atrocities on display. It is very exploitative but you do see things that you normally would never see, or perhaps wish to see. The footage of the aftermath of the aircraft crash was haunting and is something I will not forget; the autopsy scenes are grimly fascinating; the Liberian execution is a no-holds-barred presentation of capital punishment. While the scenes of animal cruelty do serve a purpose in that they confront the viewer with some very cruel practices and are legitimate in the sense that they expose some very terrible things that man does to other creatures on this planet; in addition to the aforementioned slaughterhouse scene, there is the extremely unpleasant footage of the seal cull. While stuff like this has been selected with exploitative purposes in mind it does make the viewer think about wider issues, which is certainly unexpected. Some of the most famous sequences turn out to be fake however, for example the monkey meal and the electric chair scene. Although these, along with the death cult section, are all pretty graphic none-the-less and operate successfully as tasteless exploitation fodder.
Overall, I found Faces of Death to be compelling. I was genuinely sickened in places, disturbed in others, fascinated at times and even enlightened here and there. I also was amused too by the more ridiculous fakery. It's a hell of a combination that some people will regard in highly dubious taste. Some of it SHOULD shock you and some parts of it will stay with you long after. It's not a film to sit down with the family after a good meal. But this shockumentary/mockumentary is certainly something to behold.