Face à la mort III

The "Faces of Death" series nearly bottoms out here, with nothing more than one video-taped reenactment after another. The original film dealt with various cultures preparing for death. Part II dealt primarily with stunts gone wrong. This film focuses largely on serial killers, or mock serial killers. A lengthy sequence involving a supposed killer on the loose in what was called 'a major city in the United States' goes on forever and is obviously fake - why don't they ever mention where this crime supposedly took place?

I don't think that any of this footage is real, except for the scenes in the slaughterhouse, but you can watch the first movie to see that. The sequence allegedly depicting the serial killer/ rapist (played by the writer/ director John Alan Schwartz) looks like it was filmed in someone's garage, and it probably was. The tired, sickly looking narrator only appears on screen for a few minutes in the entire movie, and his scenes look like they were shot on a camcorder.

The German version of this one includes a couple of sequences not shown in the US version: a guy in an ape costume is supposed to be Bigfoot, "proving his existence". A clergyman, possibly played by writer/ director John Alan Schwartz's brother, James, in a ridiculous looking beard, driving and speaking German poorly, on his way to perform an exorcism, in the following scene. After the suicide jumper's death, police speak to his wife, before putting her in a squad car (with absolutely no identifying markings or names, pretty much showing us that the sequence is faked)

Faces of Death 3 (1985) D: Conan le Cilaire (John Alan Schwartz). Michael Carr, John Alan Schwartz. Incredibly fake third entry in the FACES OF DEATH series is nothing more than a collection of re-enactments and cheesy acting in supposed `death footage.' The piece on `serial killer' Michael Lorenzo (played by director John Alan Schwartz, credited here as Conan le Cilaire) is especially dumb (and badly acted). What's worse is the budget looks larger this time around, proving that you don't have to be low budget to create cinematic trash (if you even want to describe this monstrosity as `cinematic'). Being a subject in a death clip (being burned alive or hell, why not getting my throat slashed) would be preferable to having to sit through this junk. RATING: 1 out of 10. Not Rated (MATURE AUDIENCES ONLY).

I thought that Faces of Death III was a terrible horror movie compared to the first film, which continued in the same way as the other Faces of Death films. Which Featured Death, Animal Deaths and other disturbing senses of home made video footage. I feel that The Faces of Death horror movies are quite disturbing exploitation in the way that they aim to shock the viewer with what is being shown on screen. Althoght i do seem to find them interesting to watch as i have the whole set of four films on DVD. I have managed to get through the four films without feeling too bad. I think that there is a lot of film footage in the film that some people may find it too much much for them to be able to take in without feeling ill. 2/10

...I, however, went into "Faces of Death III" (on loan from a friend) not being exposed to any previous or subsequent entries in the long-running DTV series and came out rather amused. This collection of supposedly authentic footage of murder and mayhem has the appeal of a traffic accident (ironically, one of the first 'faces of death' displayed here)...depicting shark attacks, (real) animal slaughter, executions et. al. While the various sequences are stitched together as loosely as Frankenstein's monster, the real incentive for viewing comes in the form of 'creative consultant/narrator' "Doctor" Francis B. Gross' commentary on them...absolutely hilarious, pseudo-philosophical rubbish that will have you rolling on floor. For an accurate look at REAL faces of death, log on to Rotten dot com; for chuckles and a funky '70s look, have a ball with "Faces of Death III."

Faces of Death III (1985)

1/2 (out of 4)

The third entry in the series is without a question the worst and what makes it so bad is the fact that the filmmaking is just embarrassing. There's only one "real" bit of footage here and that's a brief sequence inside a chicken slaughterhouse. Outside of that everything here is poorly re-enacted sequences that actually try to pass themselves off as being real.

FACES OF DEATH was a success because it tried to claim it was 100% real but it did a very good job for the most part and the viewer couldn't tell what was real or fake. It's sequel was poorly made but had a few interesting clips throughout. FACES OF DEATH III is about as poor as you can get because of how poorly filmed these re-enactments are. I mean, did John Alan Schwartz really expect people to believe what they were seeing was real? The only thing that saves this from a BOMB rating is that some of it is so bad that you can't help but laugh. Check out the guy cracked out on PCP who doctors try to force medicine into.

The most memorable sequence here is one where a parachute jumper accidentally lands in a crocodile pit. This sequence is once again poorly filmed but there seemed to be a bit more attempt at doing something real. Other sequences like the police shoot outs and a really bad bomb explosion are just downright embarrassing. FACES OF DEATH III might appeal to bad movie lovers but everyone else should just stay clear.