Faces of Death
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
|
Related e |
|
Wikipedia
Featured: A Scheme for abolishing all Words is one of the wittiest and smartest comments on semantics. (Illustration: extreme close-up from the movie "The Big Swallow" (1901), produced and directed by James Williamson (1855-1933) |
Faces of Death, also released under the title The Original Faces of Death, is a 1978 mondo film, lasting roughly 105 minutes, which guides viewers through explicit scenes depicting a variety of ways to die and violent acts. It is often billed as Banned in 40 Countries, with that number varying with the years. The film has, in fact, been banned (at least temporarily) in New Zealand, Australia, Norway and Finland. The film was written and directed by John Alan Schwartz (credited as "Conan le Cilaire" for directing and "Alan Black" for writing). Schwartz was also the second unit director, credited this time as "Johnny Getyerkokov". He also appears in one of the segments in this film, as the leader of the alleged flesh eating cult in San Francisco area, and puts in cameo appearances in several other films in this series. This film stars Michael Carr as the narrator, and 'creative consultant' called "Dr. Francis B. Gröss". John Alan Schwartz has gone on record as saying this film's budget was $450,000 and there are estimates that it has grossed more than $35 million worldwide in theatrical releases, not including rentals. It was ranked #50 on Entertainment Weekly's "Top 50 Cult Films of All-Time" in 2000.
