Faces of Death (also released as
The Original Faces of Death) is a 1978
mondo film which guides viewers through explicit scenes depicting a variety of ways to die and violent acts.
[2]
It is often billed as
Banned in 40+ Countries. The film has been banned (at least temporarily) in
Australia,
Norway,
Finland,
New Zealand, and the
United Kingdom.
Although several of the "human death" scenes are obvious fakes (with Allan A. Apone, make-up and special effects artists for the film saying that about 40% of it is fake),[3] some of the footage is genuine. Famous scenes of death from the media are included, such as stock footage of a napalm bombing in Vietnam, various newsreel footage, and wartime footage of Adolf Hitler. Also featured are the actual on-camera deaths of a variety of animals, including
seals being clubbed to death and animals being killed on the
slaughterhouse line. The
nadir of the film 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.