Faces of Death IV

Every once in a while I google Faces of Death just to see what's out there, and I found this site. I was working one of the god-awfullest jobs in my EMT career in NYC one morning in 1988 at around 6:30 when we got the call for a "space case" in the subway at W. 66 and Broadway. This poor unfortunate trying to cross from the Uptown side to the Downtown side via the tracks, and didn't quite scramble up to the platform quickly enough before the train rolled in. Well, it was rush hour, and we were surrounded by freelance photographers and videographers trying to catch their last footage of the night (or first of the day) for the TV news, and our "patient" was still alive, although unconscious, so we had to offer advanced life support and remove him with the help of ESU. Apparently whoever took this footage couldn't sell it to the news in time, so he sold it instead to this monster who does the Faces of Death videos. You know, this was a serious call. I had the smell of that victim on me for days. But it was a public place, blah blah blah...fair game. P.S. He lived long enough to make it to the ER where he hung on even longer. Jesus, his torso was so twisted around, how did he last as long as he did!!!? It was grueling for us all the way to the bitter end. Oh, by the way, one of those paramedics working with me on the subway platform is Joe Connelly who wrote the book (which became a movie) Bringing out the Dead.

You said it has to be real, otherwise why is it banned everywhere including the U.S.

Ummm.... I've lived in three different states in the U.S. and it was widely available to rent on video in all three. Now maybe I just "coincidentally" happened to live in the three states where they allow it, but I doubt it.

You see, they put that it's been "banned" in so many places to make it sound cooler so people will rent it. It's a lie you buffoon.

Yes, most of the scenes are fake. But it was still pretty fun to watch back in the day.

I thought that Faces of Death 4 was quite a bad horror film. It Follows the same pattern of the other Faces of Death movies. In this one there are many staged and unstaged looking deaths ranging from bungee jumping accidents and magic tricks which have gone bad. It was mostly the same type of video footage as in the the other films, although this copy that i own is an uncut version. I found this one to be a much better film than the last one as it contained a bit more interesting footage in it. I would not recommend these film to a lot of people as they contain quite graphic images that some viewers may not be able to watch. 3/10

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.

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.