Faces of Death (1978)
Faces of Death is an American mondo horror film from 1978 written and directed by John Alan Schwartz, credited under the pseudonyms “Conan Le Cilaire” and “Alan Black” respectively.
Plot
The film, shown in a documentary-like style, centers on pathologist Francis B. Gröss, played by actor Michael Carr who performs an open heart surgery. 
The narrator presents the viewer with a variety of footage showing different gruesome ways of dying from a variety of sources. 
Some of the most iconic scenes were faked for the film, while most of the film is preexisting video footage of real deaths or aftermath of death.
Notable scenes
the monkey 
and the electric chair scene. (Both fake)
There’s a Satanic cult who cut open and start eating a dead human. 
It is fake, you can clearly see the corpse breathing. Then it descends into a sexual orgy.
Making of Faces of Death
Ditector Alan Schwartz also appears in one of the segments of the film, as the leader of the alleged flesh eating cult in San Francisco and has brief appearances in several other movies of this series.
Alan Schwartz said that the movie’s budget was $450,000 and there are estimates that it has grossed more than $35 million worldwide in theatrical releases, not including rentals.
In their book Killing for Culture, authors David Kerekes and David Slater note that the nadir of the movie is the inclusion of an extreme fatal accident; “the shattered remains of a cyclist are seen under a semi-tractor trailer. The camera pans long enough to capture paramedics scooping up blood clots, brain matter, and clumps of hair from the tarmac – this incident is authentic. According to the DVD Commentary, the creators were eventually brought to light the victim was actually a man, not a woman as described in the film.
The scene in the film wherein a murderer is executed by electric chair was achieved with the use of a fake chair built in a friend’s loft and toothpaste to emulate saliva. Electric zapping sounds were added in post-production. He was inspired to make the scene after reading about a recent execution by electric chair and was surprised to find it still in practice.
The infamous Flight 182 crash happened no less than 2 weeks before the film’s release, and graphic footage depicting the crash aftermath, destroyed houses and scattered body parts were included into the film near the climax. Still images and air traffic audio were used for the crash itself, because no actual footage is known to exist.
Our view on Faces of Death
Faces of Death is one of the best known mondo / shockumentaries around. For a strong stomach. With autopsies, animal slaughter, capital punishment, humans being killed by animals, suicides, accidents, war, concentration camps, disease etc. Much of the footage is fake but well made so shocking if you don’t know.
Faces of Death was one of the more notorious Video Nasties in Britain in the 80‘s. If you want to see one Mondo it has to be this one or the original Mondo Cane. Exploitflix can‘t unsee.
