Most human beings look at death with a sense of fear, but also of great interest, and this film caters to that interest. It speaks to the side of you that pays close attention when passing car accidents on the highway in the hopes of seeing as much as you can, that side of you that has always wondered what the process of an autopsy looks like, or what really happens in a gender-reassignment surgery. This film shows it all, and in gruesome, no-holds-barred detail. It showcases countless individuals' final moments, as well as freak accidents, among other things that can't really even be mentioned here.
This film is ultimately nothing more than a compilation of footage from external sources. There's no plot; just a series of grotesque images and scenes playing out with a narration that tries too hard to be frightening. It is, without question, one of the most exploitative pieces of entertainment ever made in the sense that it makes a spectacle (even editing footage of a man shooting himself into the kind of early, pre-meme style editing you would see in the beginning days on YouTube) of other people's deaths, suffering and medical procedures.
That being said, the medical procedures themselves are highly interesting, and feel a lot less exploitative. They take up a large chunk of the film, with music playing behind the procedures. Again, it speaks to that part of you that wants to wander behind closed doors and see exactly what happens. It satisfied a long-running curiosity, but at what cost?
This is not a film that can really be recommended to anyone. In fact, it's best left forgotten as a product of its time, not given the time of day (I say as I sit here writing a review about it). It's blatant disrespect for the dead, and it's presented as one would expect a mockumentary of false events of peril to be presented; the entire film, while gravely serious in content, isn't particularly concerned with maintaining seriousness for the dead. It downplays the true tragedy of the loss of human life and, in turn, presents a message that "the reaper" is waiting for you and, one day, he's gonna catch you and you'll wind up like the people that were shown in the film. While that may technically be true, it's a tasteless message to drop in a film showcasing actual tragedies.
Having watched everything they crammed into that 75-odd minute film, it does present an interesting perspective on mortality, and it's something that no modern horror film would ever give you (my thoughts immediately went to the recent, horrendous Stephen King adaptations that come a dime a dozen from the Warner Bros. and Netflix machines in these past few years... can we stop with those already?). This goes where traditional film refuses to go, and it feels as cheap as it is. On an estimated budget of only $18 (the footage must've all been public domain, so the budget was probably used to pay the voice actor for the 10 minutes or so of awful narration involved in the thing).
One of the things that I cannot stomach in film, however, what needs to be talked about here, is animal cruelty. This film makes the ever-notorious Cannibal Holocaust look like a Disney film by comparison to this. At least in Cannibal Holocaust, the kills were relatively quick, according to animal rights reports. This has a too-long scene of a bound-up pig being torched alive. It has nothing to do with anything else you see on the screen; it comes out of nowhere, and it goes away with no purpose. It was one of the most uncomfortable scenes I've ever had the displeasure of sitting through, and something I can only pray to never have exposure to again.
Overall, this film is for the morbidly curious. It's sad in the sense that there have been VHS and DVD releases of this film that have been fairly successful, and that people have these tasteless exploitations of death proudly on their shelves. It's not something anybody can really enjoy. If anything, it's a harsh wake-up call to the realities of life. Part of life is death, and this film showcases that in a brutally blunt manner. It's something that's important to think about, but only the truly insane would dwell upon the content of this film, let alone suffer a second viewing and beyond. It's a one-and-done deal kind of movie.
I will not be viewing any of the subsequent entries into this "series."
