Face à la mort 4

After a graphic opening during the main credits we are introduced to Dr Louise Flellis. A Neurosurgeon who has taken over from Dr Francis B Gross from the first 3 films. Who sadly died but forgot to film it so not in this latest gathering of real and fake (mostly fake footage). Although like the previous entries, the fake stuff is a laugh, but while your chuckling you suddenly get the real footage and it soon wipes the smile off your face, unless you have a cast iron stomach of course. The most memorable is the scenes with the Indonesian family eating puppies, fortunately its only a teddy bear used and looks like one too. Also the bunji jumping students, that jump off a 12 storey building that use a cord thats too long as "there was no 12 floor".

The only FOD entry to be released uncut in the UK and probably one of the worst in the series, along with part 3. FOD 1 & 2 are the best in the series by a mile.

James B. Schwartz is the latest actor to pretend to be a Doctor in this, after Michael Carr (a cameraman) pretended to be a similar Consultant in the earlier films. Obviously to gain some authenticity. Schwartz is the Directors brother (John alias Conan Le Cilaire) The cast were anonymous for years but after the film gained a massive cult following, they all came out the woodwork a few years ago. Worst of Faces of Death and FOD fact or fiction were also made as extras for the DVD which was made before the makers came out. The recent region 1 Blu-ray has the real cast in interviews and audio commentaries. The films made a lot of money so what can you say. The end song is a lot of fun in a cheesy way.

As many should know by now, most of the things that are shown in these movies (at least, in the first four) are either staged or dull news footage. That said, there are so many mixed feelings I have about this one. I liked the darkly humorous narration of "Dr. Louis Flellis", and some of the nasty stuff was kind of neat (almost all of which was faked, I can guarantee). It wasn't nearly as shocking or effective as I'd hoped, but I suppose that that's a good thing in some scenes (puppy that's really a plush doll getting disemboweled, anyone?). I do like a lot of the no-nonsense political and social commentary the narrator makes, but sometimes it is very dishonest, like when we see the slaughterhouse footage and the narrator goes beyond the educational aspects of that scene's dialogue and panders to sick people's desire to enjoy pain and suffering of an animal. I do eat meat, and that includes pork, but some of the comments seem as if they're made simply to enhance entertainment value of real pigs having the blood drained from their throats. Even if I'm not a vegetarian, I do believe that more respect should be had for an animal instead of just regarding it as something that landed on your plate, as well as a realization that that animal died to help you survive. Also, there is some dialogue in the narration that seems outright right-wing. I don't go for the right or left wings, but that also means that some of the snotty dialogue in this grates on me a bit at times. Otherwise, this is a pretty diverting time-waster for people who might be interested in this sort of thing. I just don't understand what the big deal is when all those series out there that rip off these mostly fake "Faces of Death" movies are usually more real and disturbing than almost any of the things shown here. (Please note: The original "Faces of Death" is very different and it is actually a GOOD movie, even if it's by far more disturbing, as well as nearly as faked. See that one, for sure, no matter what you've heard, for it may surprise you.)

Mindless direct-to-video continuation of the "Faces of Death" series, basically this is just a remake of the highlights from the first movie, but this time there is a new narrator in the bald, bug eyed "Dr. Louis Flellis" talking about his obsession with death and the afterlife all the while sitting in front of a bright glowing lava lamp(!). Did the original narrator really die, like it says in this movie? Or did he just not want to do another sequel and this is just part of the story? The guy in the auto yard that supposedly had his leg severed when a car fell on him doesn't make any sense: wouldn't the car have fallen on top of him, crushing his entire body, not just his leg? I also liked the mental patient that was wearing a bright yellow jumpsuit with the word "FELON" clearly written on the back of it.

Curiously, the thief that was locked in the airtight bank vault for over 40 hours and supposedly suffocated also looked strangely like this series' writer/ director/ producer etc. John Alan Schwartz. Can it be another one of his cameos? Who knows?

I Had never even seen Faces of Death until I went to my local video store and rented it. At first I thought it was fantastic until they showed the chinese people cutting up that cute little puppy and eating it. But other than that Faces of Death 4 is without a doubt the best in the series. SO FAR

This movie is a perfect example of where curiosity leads us in life. Faces Of Death 4, like the previous films, dares to shock us with more violent images of (supposed) true life horror. It did it for me.....and will forever leave an impression on my mind that I'd rather not have.