Faces of Death

Before I get responses beginning with "you sick bugger", let me explain that this set of movies is the jewel of my collection strictly for it's cult status. I first saw FOD #1 when I was about 12yrs old in the extreme early 80's. The caption "Banned in 46 countries!" made this a compulsory rental for twisted little minds. During the first viewing however, I can remember distinguishing between the "real" and "fake" clips and thinking that the blood in "Dawn of the Dead" was far more realistic. Jump ahead about 20 yrs. I purchased the 6 video collection (with additional "Executions" video thrown in for good measure) in the late 90's. For those who have only seen clips or stopped after #1, the rest of the videos are pretty much the same (#2 is a lot of war atrocities, #3 has more nature/animal attacks, #4 should be called "Faces of Stupidity" due in part to the dumb ways people are getting killed, and #'s 5 & 6 are a best of compilation....the "real" 5 and 6 are German and Japanese releases that are fairly hard to get a hold of and rather expensive). I watched all of these videos, knowing that the majority of the clips are staged with bad SPFX and the real clips look as though they are unedited news footage, but It's "schlockiness" is mildly entertaining (Dr. Francis B. Gross hosting). The "Executions" tape I received as well however I have been unable to make it through in the past 6 years(everything on there is real and disturbing). I found that in my teens, this series was amateurish and only slightly interesting, but in my mid thirties it is much harder to watch and brings up morality questions that I didn't have when I a kid. The series definitely isn't for the faint of heart, but credit must be given for an unapologetic exploration (albeit 90% phony) of often taboo subjects.