Faces of Gore

I ran across this film by accident on the internet and just had to buy it. After buying Faces of Death, I had to have Faces of Gore.

Lots of overseas filming documenting the many ways to take the train off this planet. If this was the only death film you ever watched, you would think that Japan and Thailand were dying in record numbers.

The film is pretty good as far as clarity and sharpness, but I found it much easier to watch after I hit the mute button. The guy who narrates this is just sick and his comments make you want to turn it off.

If you like busted heads, motorcycle accidents, suicide and tragedy at its worst, then this is the film for you.

Unlike it's counterpart Traces of Death, this does not contain actual footage of death, but rather is a collection of gruesome "Aftermath" footage, mainly imported from Japan. A showcase of mangled accident and murder victims and suicides, it's very graphic and gory, but the novelty wears off rather quickly. Some humor is added by the goofy narrator, who makes inappropriate comments about the victims, and by the addition of ridiculous "Squishy" sound effects whenever a body is moved. For only the most die hard Real Death fans.

Yet another film with images of dead people? Yes, but this one makes efforts to differentiate itself and embraces its disrespectful, schoolboy, voyeuristic, and entertaining side.

Firstly, I liked the fact that this "documentary" was written (even if it was at a minimum). We have a main character, Dr. Van Gore, played by an actor, a voice which tells us the events, transitions which seem to come out of Carmageddon, and various more or less false information. At least they're not just stolen videos put together.

Secondly, the thing is intended to be a bit satirical. They wrote jokes, clashes, etc.

Finally, the shocking dimension of this footage lies as much in its complete disrespect for the victims (through "shocking sentences"), as in the images which are divided into segments (depending on the drama). Having a questionable sense of humor, I laughed at one or two passages, as the discrepancy between the images and the cheerful tone of voice made the whole thing absurd (especially the famous "two for the price of one" scene). Life is absurd with Faces of Gore, and so is death.

So yeah, it's reprehensible, maybe stupid, but it's not malicious in my opinion, rather nice (in the sense of innocent). There are a lot of shocking images, clichés, disrespect, in short: it was still quite original in idea, I really liked confronting this "gore" of human life.

I might just be a good student of "Gorenology".

Ninety minutes' worth of crushed heads, charred flesh, and exposed entrails in a mondo movie to sate even the hardest, most unbalanced real-death enthusiast. This footage, originating from Asia, is genuinely nauseating stuff - with the exception of a clearly fake interview with a supposed Japanese hitman, and a selection of gore effects from The Necro Files, all images on show are authentic aftermaths of violent sloppy deaths. Only the most crimson-soaked gaping wounds have found their way onto this somewhat dubious collection. To avoid any confusion on the part of the viewer, the film is helpfully divided into three sections; crash, suicide, and murder.

If this all sounds gruellingly serious, well, think again; what makes this film truly shocking is not the footage on show, despite its intensity, but the outrageously juvenile approach to it all. The film's host, a Dr. Vincent Van Gore (sure thing, you guys), looking for all the world like Peter Fonda's bombed-out stoner cousin, is apparently a member of the Institute of Gorenology (!), who has returned from his studies in Japan into the 'Phenomena of Death' carrying his findings in what appears to be an old lady's shopping bag. The narration which plays over these images has to be heard to be believed; burn victims in a train wreck, for instance, would be better off dead as they now have to `live out their lives as badly deformed freaks who no-one would love.' Beavis and Butthead themselves couldn't have put it any better. A teenage boy, having hanged himself over poor marks at school, is referred to as a `self-defeatist who has taken the easy way out'; the narrator quips that, `if only the students in America were this conscientious about maintaining their grade-point averages, we'd have an epidemic of mass suicides on our hands.'

Not that we should take everything we are told here as gospel. A coroner, seen in one of the clips examining a newlywed couple killed in a car smash, is identified as one Mr Sato, a fellow member of the Institute of Goreology who just happens to be a practicing necrophiliac! If there was any remaining doubt over the true 'scientific' level at which Faces of Gore is operating, the narrator's gloating over a naked female corpse - even informing us of the unfortunate young woman's bra size - ought to dispel them at once. Faces of Gore's closest spiritual cousin, it quickly becomes apparent, is South Park: The Movie.

`We know only one thing for certain,' Dr Van Gore tells us, strolling through a cemetery on a sunny afternoon; and that is `that death will come, and whether it's suddenly in a car crash, or slowly from a painful, lingering cancer, it will matter not, for we shall never escape. We will all die, sooner or later.' Surprisingly for this film, never has a truer word been uttered; I guess the most any of us can hope for, then, is that when our time is up, our bodies don't find themselves being paraded and ridiculed on a tape like the Faces of Gore.

I know that the opening spiel said that they made up the stories and changed the names, but come on. Every story apparently takes place in Japan, and all the names are Japanese. Well, even a moron can tell that these are NOT from Japan.

The people don't look Japanese, the writing on the uniforms is definitely not Japanese, and the way that the police wrap up bodies in butcher paper and touch bits of internal organs with non-gloved hands suggests these clips originate in a third-world country.

I'm no expert on asian languages and alphabets, but I'll hazard an informed guess that these clips are from the area of Thailand, Vietnam, and Cambodia.

Putting all of that aside, the movie is pointless. Many people say it's a gorefest, but I just found it boring. Once you've seen a couple of car accidents and suicides, you've seen them all. Don't waste your time with this cheap ripoff of Faces of Death.