Face your fears. Body horror , whether it’s a David Cronenberg movie or an infamous torture flick like The Human Centipede and Hostel , often gives a film a reputation for being nothing but gore for the sake of gore. Sometimes this is fair and sometimes it isn’t, but the most infamous example of the genre went a step further by claiming to show real death up close and personal.
While the veracity of these claims is complicated, its place in horror movie history is irrefutable. And now you can stream Faces of Death for yourself if you want to experience a movie that bragged about being “banned in 46 countries.” Faces of Death’s faux-documentary framing made it infamous.
Horror movie streamer Shudder recently added the 1978 movie, which claimed to show the “graphic reality of death, close-up.” The film is presented as a collection of clips of people really dying, using the guise of a documentary study of death to justify the gruesomeness. Its infamously sleazy approach earned it a reputation as a “snuff film” that was discussed in whispers by suburban teens, although the claim is only partially true.
While there are some brutal clips in the film, including real footage of concentration camps and slaughterhouses, most of the scenes, like a man being executed via electric chair, are accompanied by re-enacted footage. The special effects are often cheap, but juxtaposing the real aftermath of a plane crash or media footage of a horrific accident with exploitative .