A Morbid Curiosity You Won’t Soon Forget

Read Time:5 Minute, 29 Second

MOVIE REVIEW
Faces of Death (Blu-ray Collector’s Edition Steelcase)
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Genre: Horror, Pseudo-Documentary
Year Released: 1978, Dark Sky Selects Blu-ray 2025
Runtime: 1h 45m
Director(s): John Alan Schwartz (as Conan Le Cilaire)
Writer(s): John Alan Schwartz
Cast: Michael Carr, Samuel Berkowitz, Mary Ellen Brighton, Thomas Noguchi, John Alan Schwartz (uncredited), archival footage including Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini
Where to Watch: available now, order your copy here: www.darkskyfilms.com

RAVING REVIEW: Few titles in home video history have conjured up as much infamy as FACES OF DEATH. Released in 1978 and marketed as a shocking documentary that captures death in its rawest form, the film has earned notoriety less for its artistic merit and more for the myth surrounding it. Teenagers dared each other to watch it. Parents tried to ban it. And now, with a new Blu-ray Steelcase edition from Dark Sky Selects, the film returns for a generation raised on YouTube reaction videos and Reddit gore threads. Does it still hold power? That depends on your threshold—and your expectations.

Framed as an educational exposé narrated by Dr. Francis B. Gröss (played straight by Michael Carr), the film presents itself as a globe-trotting examination of death in all its forms: natural, accidental, ritualistic, and often deeply exploitative. But it doesn’t take long for the viewer to realize that much of what’s presented is staged, and that’s where the ethical lines start to blur—not just in the content, but in how the content is presented. As time has revealed, many of the most grotesque or shocking sequences (including the infamous monkey brain scene) were fabricated using prosthetics, actors, and, in one case, rancid cauliflower masquerading as brain matter.

That fakery doesn’t let the film off the hook, though. Even in its illusions, FACES OF DEATH seeks to provoke and unsettle. The mix of real and simulated footage—autopsies, animal cruelty, executions, and violent accidents—becomes a test of endurance, one whose value is debatable even within the realm of horror. For every moment that feels like legitimate documentation, there are several that feel like cruel performance, aiming to interest under the guise of reflection.

Yet that very tension is part of what has secured its place in media history. It was never about authenticity—it was about reaction. By claiming to be banned in 46 countries (an unverified but oft-repeated line), the marketing framed it as forbidden fruit. Watching it was less an experience and more a rite of passage, especially in the pre-Internet era when access to this kind of material wasn’t just a click away. In that context, its existence feels oddly tame now, even as its content remains ethically murky.

The new Blu-ray release doesn’t shy away from the film’s legacy. Rather than repackaging it as a forgotten gem, Dark Sky Selects leans into its controversial status. Special features include a new retrospective (“Many Faces of Death”), a commentary track from Schwartz himself (under his pseudonym Conan Le Cilaire), and behind-the-scenes featurettes that lift the veil on the film’s most notorious segments. These inclusions serve to reframe the film not as a shocking exposé, but as a piece of exploitation history—one that’s more about illusion than information.

Visually, the film shows its age, but it retains a gritty VHS charm in its structure. It’s more patchwork than polish. The footage jumps around with minimal transition—one moment you’re watching a ritual sacrifice, the next a tragic accident or a war crime. The randomness is part of the discomfort, but also contributes to its lack of cohesion. That narration is, for many, the hardest part to take seriously. Carr’s delivery straddles the line between scientific detachment and pseudo-philosophical rumination. He questions the meaning of life and mortality in between sequences that are designed to shock.

But parody wasn’t the point—at least not originally. FACES OF DEATH was meant to disturb. And for many who saw it in the ‘70s and ‘80s, it did. The impact was both psychological and visual. Watching it felt transgressive, like crossing a line into the unspeakable. And that’s the odd success of the film: even if much of it is fake, the experience of watching it still feels wrong.

Revisiting it now, it’s clear that FACES OF DEATH is less a film and more a cultural relic. It inspired sequels, parodies, and a genre of shock videos long before the internet made those commonplace. As a piece of horror history, it deserves its place on collector shelves. As a film? There’s a reason this release is being marketed as a “milestone taboo film.” It’s taboo in the way morbid curiosity always is. You don’t watch it because you expect insight. You watch it because someone told you not to.

For those curious about the evolution of exploitation and the boundaries of taste in genre filmmaking, this release might warrant a visit. FACES OF DEATH remains what it always was: a haunting sideshow act. You won't be proud you watched it—but you might not forget it either.

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[photo courtesy of DARK SKY SELECTS]

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