Faces of Death 4K Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		4.5
Overall		4.5

Faces of Death 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Brian Orndorf April 30, 2026

1978’s “Faces of Death” is one of the most notorious cult films around. While it enjoyed a theatrical life during its initial release around the world, the endeavor really exploded when it hit home video, allowing renters to enjoy a strange intimacy with a documentary that explores death. The original feature became secret handshake cinema, notably with younger viewers, who treated the picture with caution, testing personal bravery to sit through an endeavor specifically designed for maximum grisliness. The reputation of “Faces of Death” was positively nuclear, but the reality of actually sitting through the offering is another story. While a documentary aiming to inspire horror and reflection on inhumanity, the viewing experience gets old quite fast, with director “Conan Le Cilaire” (a pseudonym for John Alan Schwartz) making a shapeless slog at times, especially when the novelty of the premise wears off.

Dr. Francis B. Gross (Michael Carr) is the host of “Faces of Death,” with the pathologist sharing his interest in the ways of expiration. He’s offering a “tour” of his encounters, looking to deliver the realities of death through footage from his experiences. What’s actually present here is a mix of news footage and recreations that jump around the world, exploring the many ways of death, with Dr. Gross providing interpretation and explanation as the endeavor tours finality. “Faces of Death” isn’t messing around, opening with a display of open heart surgery before detailing the particulars of an autopsy, delivering incredibly graphic imagery to snap viewers to attention, giving them a taste of what’s to come.

What eventually follows is a fairly random assortment of scenes in “Faces of Death,” which initially works with news footage, exploring a dog fight, tribal activity in South America and Africa, and there’s an extended visit to an American slaughterhouse. The carnage contained within these walls is enough to turn Dr. Gross into a vegetarian. Reality is a major component of the documentary, and there are stretches of real-world horror, including the beating and skinning of seals in Alaska (animal fans, this isn’t the movie for you). Soon enough, “Faces of Death” starts to add recreations and staged scenes to the mix, blurring the lines of authenticity in some ways. A sequence involving a middle eastern restaurant that permits customers to bludgeon their own monkey and eat their brain is about as close to competent trickery as the production gets, using decent special effects to sell an evening of culinary viciousness. Other attempts to pass off extraordinary danger as the real thing tend to fail, especially moments when animals attack humans. And a trip to the electric chair for a prison execution brings amateur acting into the film, which kills the illusion.

Faces of Death 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The image presentation for "Faces of Death" is listed as "presented in Dolby Vision HDR and newly scanned and restored from its 35mm and 16mm original camera elements." While never a pretty film to begin with, "Faces of Death" is successfully refreshed for its 4K debut, delivering a good amount of detail, always reaching as far at the original cinematography allows. Textures are everywhere in the movie, especially with loving close-ups of dead things, and gory events are preserved. Footage shot for the production looks the best, delivering reasonably deep backgrounds, and Dr. Gross's office is dimensional. Color is vivid at times, with rich red blood the dominant hue throughout most of the feature. Greenery is also a major element, and looks quite nice. Skin tones are natural. Blacks are deep. Highlights are tasteful. Grain is nicely resolved. Source is in decent shape, but elements of damage are found along the way. And there's some blue discoloration on the right side of the frame during the desert beheading sequence.

Faces of Death 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The 2.0 DTS-HD MA provides a straightforward listening experience for "Faces of Death." Narration carries throughout the picture, and varies in quality, with age noticeable. However, intelligibility is never threatened. Scoring supports with basic instrumentation and dramatic support. A few soundtrack selections are encountered along the way, offering fresher vocals. Sound effects are basic in design.

Faces of Death 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Commentary features director "Conan Le Cilaire."

• Isolated music track is provided.

• "Choice Cuts" (16:14, SD) is a 2008 interview with editor Glenn Turner, who began his career in documentaries, receiving an opportunity to work with director Conan Le Cilaire, who wanted to go "way beyond" other films on the subject of death. The interviewee recalls the intensity of the news footage acquired for "Faces of Death," trying to satisfy Japanese investors, who wanted to make sure the picture would be as graphic as possible. This required a plan of recreations to expand on the footage, with Turner even appearing in a few sequences, pulled into the action by Le Cilaire. Technical achievements are highlighted, and personal stamina is recalled, with the footage becoming too much for the editor, who considered leaving the project. Turner also reflects on actor Michael Carr, who enjoyed his association with the franchise.

• "The Death Makers" (21:56, SD) is a 2008 interview with makeup FX artists Allan A. Apone and Douglas J. White, who were hired to join a highly unusual project, handed newsreel footage to help study authentic death to aid in their efforts to recreate such horrors. The interviewees detail work on several sequences in the picture, putting in a major effort to sell extremity, sharing mistakes, oddity, and anecdotes encountered during the shoot. Apone and White also offer memories of a real dead body discovered on a beach during the shoot.

• "Buried Footage" (13:54, HD) is a collection of outtakes from "Faces of Death," and the footage here provides valuable insight into the creative process as the production team labored to generate "real" grisly moments. Included are clips from a bear attack sequence and an alligator encounter, with the beast chained up and pulled into its "victim." There's more with the infamous monkey brains sequence as well.

• "Archival Outtakes" (11:23, HD) provides more blood and guts from the "Faces of Death" shoot.

• "Many Faces of Death" (19:57, HD) is an appreciation piece, featuring interviews with various fans of the "Faces of Death" series.

• And a Trailer (2:42, HD) is included.

Faces of Death 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

"Faces of Death" is all over the place (even surveying the supernatural), and not in a compelling way. The picture merely touches on subjects, grabbing graphic content when possible, and moves on quickly, which leads to a fatiguing viewing experience. It's pure exploitation, but Schwartz attempts to attach some meaning to the endeavor, using the character of Dr. Gross to make things clinical and even a bit philosophical, as the doctor muses that death is "one reality we can't avoid." Of course, this isn't an educational film, but a B-movie made during an era when audiences were drawn to exploitative, unchallenged documentaries, believing anything they watched. In 2026, there's much easier access to the true barbarity of humanity, with the internet experience making Schwartz's offering quaint by comparison. It's easy to respect the exhibition and distribution power of the title (and its eventual sequels), and there's retro appeal in its delivery of taboo material, looking to shock with its content, tempting the curious with P.T. Barnum- inspired salesmanship. However, "Faces of Death" isn't particularly well-crafted or focused, and while it does supply access to grim events, most of the feature is fairly goofy, giving its audience a frustratingly messy, and eventually life-affirming (inspiring unintended laughs), sit.