Most every person born in the 70’s and 80’s will remember seeing at least one of the ‘Faces of Death’ films. It was kind of a rite of passage. In 1983, Gordon Video released the film with the banner, “Banned! In 46 Countries!” with promises of torture, executions, murders and freak accidents. It became an underground hit, pulling in over $35 million and spawning several sequels.
First released back in 1978, ‘Faces of Death’ “supposedly” contained scenes of real people’s deaths caught on film and hosted by Dr. Francis B. Gross, a pathologist. But were the gruesome deaths actually real?
For the 30th anniversary of ‘Faces of Death’, Gorgon released a documentary titled ‘The Death Makers’ that revealed many of the secrets behind the videos, including that most of the scenes were completely fake. The monkey meal never happened. The prop monkey’s head was filled with cauliflower and sauce. The dog fight, fake. The Canines were in reality covered in jelly not blood (thankfully), though I never could watch that scene. The execution, nope, not real either. However, most of the morgue and dead body segments were actually real as was a few of the suicides.
While I was a bit miffed to find out the scenes were mostly fake, it did make me feel better about myself. It meant I wasn’t quite as twisted as I thought I was for watching (and owning) the films. Okay, who am I kidding, I am twisted.
You can watch the full ‘Faces of Death’ and the documentary ‘The Death Makers’ below. We do warn you, the film is gory and gruesome. Viewer discretion is advised!
