Faces of Death II
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Faces of Death II is a 1981 mondo horror sequel that compiles real and staged death footage from around the world.[1] The theatrical debut of "Faces of Death II" occurred in late 1981, and the film became available on VHS and Betamax formats starting May 22, 1985.[1]
Making and release
The film contains real footage of a dead body pulled from under a pier, guerrilla death squads in El Salvador, napalm bombings in Vietnam, and Buddhist self-immolations.[1] It also includes footage of a drugged monkey, a dolphin slaughter, a train disaster in India, and Cambodian leprosy patients.[1] A death museum segment features Joaquin Murrieta's preserved head.[1] The film shows a driver high on PCP and boxer Johnny Owen going down for his final count.[1]
The VHS and Betamax release followed on May 22, 1985.[1] The film was part of a franchise that was briefly discontinued in 1987 by MPI Home Video due to controversy.[2] The series was later rereleased in the early 1990s by Gorgon Video.[2]
What the cited sources add
The Grindhouse Database notes that the monkey-brain eating scene in the first film was staged using a Moroccan restaurant in the US, foam mallets, and a model monkey.[3] Editor Glenn Turner explained that Japanese investors demanded more plot for the random death footage.[4] The "Death Makers" featurette discusses how FX creators Apone and White produced scenes like the monkey brain dining and the cannibalistic cult.[4] Schwartz stated that about half of the original film's material was his own fabrication.[5]
The film's budget was $450,000, and it grossed over $35 million worldwide.[6] Schwartz said the Japanese investors approached his family film company wanting a movie about death.[7]
References
- Wikipedia, "Faces of Death" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "'Faces of Death' films become hot items in video rental market", Tri-City Herald, 2 August 1985, p. 49 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Faces of Death" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "'Faces of Death' series discontinued", News-Journal, 4 October 1987, p. 26; "Violent 'Death' video is returning to stores", Detroit Free Press, 18 January 1990, p. 35 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- "Faces of Death/Fun Facts", Grindhouse Database, July 11, 2016. facts only, no text reused. grindhousedatabase.com
- Siebalt, "Faces of Death", Dread Central, October 2, 2008. facts only, no text reused. dreadcentral.com
- Hickey, "Cut Back To A Wide Shot. Open The Skull": The Faces Of Death Guy Looks Back", Deadspin, February 2, 2012. facts only, no text reused. deadspin.com
- Wikipedia, "Faces of Death" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Hickey, "Cut Back To A Wide Shot. Open The Skull": The Faces Of Death Guy Looks Back", Deadspin, February 2, 2012; "Faces of Death: How the 'gore porn' sensation became the original viral video and gripped the world", The Independent, August 17, 2018 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Szabo, "The Untold Truth Of Faces Of Death", Looper, 2017-09-21. facts only, no text reused. looper.com
Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Faces of Death (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.
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Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: Faces of Death (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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