I'm pretty sure that the makers of this film has seen the legendary 'Mondo Cane' at least once. And they liked it much! Why shouldn't they? Mondo Cane was the most controversial mockumentary of its time, and as a film, it had some real values, which still makes it remarkable. On the other hand, The staff behind 'Faces of death' didn't realize any of them. They just wanted to make their own version, built around one theme: DEATH. With both movies, we travel around the world, collecting scenes, for our theme. The only thing this one surpasses Mondo Cane is the consistence to it's theme. Mondo Cane didn't really had one. It just wanted to show, that people are total idiots, wherever you go on the globe. Contrarily, examining death could be a base to a very strong documentary theme. I mean everyone is interested in death, and this film promises us to fulfill our thirst for knowledge. Unfortunetley, it doesn't tell you anything new, if you're over 14 (or 12). All you can see is random death-scenes linked together with narration by the dumbest lobotomist ever (with a beautiful tone of voice). I Can't imagine that people back than could take this seriously. And I can't decide if the FILM takes itself seriously or not! That's the point I need to point out another similarity with Mondo Cane: the music. At some of the most "disturbing" scenes, you could hear a cheerful score of dixieland or something like it. At Mondo cane, it worked. Here, it feels totally inappropriate. Why, you ask? Well, Mondo Cane was a good movie. It has many scenes, that were so bizarre, it made you laugh. It told a story about dumbness around the world, with a HUGE dose of irony and sarcasm. The narration was cynical, and funny, and the music was awfully sentimental, but on a purpose. That film laughed even on itself. It was a sensationalist crap-pile, and they knew that while they were making it. And they've made it VERY well! Faces of Death is a different kind of cake. The narrator is philosophizing around death in the most redneck way ("... car accidents happen everyday. When I look at this horribly shattered body, it makes me change my view of life and death..." Congrats sherlock!), without a sense of it's own stupidity. It doesn't tries to be funny. It struggles to be clever, emotional, and strong, but it comes out as plain dumb. Feels like the crew wanted to outdo Mondo Cane's crew by making this film very gross, and disgusting. And this proves, that they really didn't understand anything from the previously noted one. About grossing us out: we might get sick of some stuff we find on the internet, but definitely NOT from this movie. It shows very little, and when it shows more, then most times, it's just make up, and bad special effects. Maybe it shocked the audience back then, but no way, to get anyone sick with this one. Faces of death is an amateurish attempt to make an American style of Mondo Cane, with both real, and obviously fake footages of death scenes, which fails to it's predecessor in every possible way. It even lacks the scene where I bore myself to death on this one.
Review of Faces of Death
