Faces of Gore (1999) User Reviews

Banned in 37 countries....

[MasterlordSWE · 5/10 · 16 December 2004]

Hmmm....i want you to think about some mistakes, that seems to been made here

Lets begin: Mistake number 1, The footage: According to the host Dr Van gore, the narrator and the entire film all footage are taken from Japan. WRONG! They're not from Japan, they're from Thailand! Why am i so sure about that? Well, i you look carefully at the police officers which pass by on and on throughout the film you can see Thailands flag on their uniforms. I've looked really, really carefully and yes it is Thailands flag. All the people we see look like they're from Thailand or at least some other country in South east Asia(Cambodja, Vietnam etc) Only two clips take place outside of Japan, one man that has been shot in a mall in central Bangkok, Thailand and one man that threw himself into a polluted river in Hong Kong. All other clips are "Japanese".

After the black-white clip with the polluted man from Hong Kong Dr Van Gore has something on his heart to tell us: "I filmed that scene personally and i was moved by this tragic event. My best wish is that i could erase that horrible picture from my mind forever. Or better.....if i had just bought some color-film for my camera".

And also the signs on the police cars. Believe me, i have only been on one trip to Asia( to Turkey) and I'm not an expert on Asian signs and alphabets, but ask an expert on Japanese to watch to tape. He will know that it ain't Japanese signs.

Mistake number 2, The Narrator: The director Todd Tjersland also serves as the narrator for this film( like Damon Fox in "Traces of death"). And they're very different narrators both of them. Damon Fox was almost just mumbling from the entire Traces, but mister Tjersland can never keep his mouth shut! And believe me, he sounds like a really really sick man.

Mr Tjersland is also a bit of a pig. In another scene we see the body of a young girl 19-22 years old who has hung herself with an electric cable in her apartment. Mr Tjersland starts babbling with an extremely cheesy Transylvanian-style dialect: " Neighbours had start complaining about a strange smell from one of their neighbours apartments. But it was not because this young woman had stopped BAAADDDIINNGGG! It was because she had stopped BRRIIIDIINNGGG!" God, he is such an dumb ass....

And then:" No crime scene investigation would be complete without looking at the dead girls breasts. And since she doesn't seem to complain, our lead investigator shall proceed".

We then watch of one of the crime scene guys cuts of the girls skirt and we see her breasts. And the narrator goes: "Ah, and here we have the vital information we needed. The victim died wearing a breast cup size 34 C". Jackass....

Another scene shows a young couple that has died in a car crash. This is what the narrator thinks about the girl:" You will note how good and well-treated female bodies are being taken care by our own Mr Sato from the Institute of gorenology. He will probably use this woman for his sick, necrophiliac experiments back at the Institute" And then they've added some cheesy jazz-music to make it worse! When the coroners pull her body away from the car when see that her entire body below the waist is blood-stenched.

Mister narrator:" Look at the woman, it appears she has menstruated all over herself. This rare occurrence is known as 'Himakosa menstruosa' and now her body can unfortunately not be used by the horny Mr Sato. Lets wish him better luck next time!"

And finally Mistake number 3, The "Hollywood" clip: At the end of the film we see a movie clip that according to our host Dr Van Gore is taken from a Hollywood film. It ain't. Anyone can see that it is an independent low-budget amateur film.

The clip is from a film called "the Necrofiles". About a cannibal rapist who is brought back to life by a satanic cult and then goes on a killing spree around town. In one scene we see how a bad guy is being shot by a FBI-agent. Play the scene in slow-motion on your DVD-player(which i did) and you can see the bad guys squib, how it explodes and how the fake-blood squirting.

Now we are at a cemetery where the satanic cult are performing a ritual by sacrificing a baby. I could clearly see that it was a doll already the first time watching this! Also, is it just me or is that cemetery the same cemetery that the crew used for Dr Van Gores scenes in Faces of gore where he walks around in the sunny afternoon? It looks familiar to me.

I'm not going to reveal any more now and the film has a wise moral piece at the end:" Is man a hungry savage beast longing for so much death?" Even though all these mistakes it is quite good. If you like Mondo and real death, the check this out!

Another one bites the dust

[KansaMS · 5/10 · 13 February 2006]

I ran across this film by accident on the internet and just had to buy it. After buying Faces of Death, I had to have Faces of Gore.

Lots of overseas filming documenting the many ways to take the train off this planet. If this was the only death film you ever watched, you would think that Japan and Thailand were dying in record numbers.

The film is pretty good as far as clarity and sharpness, but I found it much easier to watch after I hit the mute button. The guy who narrates this is just sick and his comments make you want to turn it off.

If you like busted heads, motorcycle accidents, suicide and tragedy at its worst, then this is the film for you.

Sickest mondo of them all.

[jewbo23 · 4/10 · 14 September 2005]

How do you review this vile piece of trash. It is completely made up of aftermaths of crashes, suicides and murders all taken from police files. There scenes shown are at some points extremely gory and disgusting. Most notably a scene early on of a motorcycle crash where the riders smashed head has wedged its self between a lamp post and a mesh fence.

The film is introduced by Dr Vincent van Gore who tells us he is a professor or gorenology. He obviously reads his dumb and pointless introductions to each section from cue cards. The worst part of this film is the narration. It is given with complete disregard for human life and is extremely offensive. At one point a woman who has hung herself is striped off and the narrator comments on her breast size. It seems he may need a little mental help. The film gets extremely boring very fast as when you have seen one of these scenes you have pretty much seen them all. And after half an hour of the same stuff you become pretty tolerant of the gore and blood on screen. If you enjoy these mondo films then there are plenty more better ones out there. This one is just boring.

4/10

Wholesome family real-death fun.

[d1senior · 8 November 2003]

Ninety minutes' worth of crushed heads, charred flesh, and exposed entrails in a mondo movie to sate even the hardest, most unbalanced real-death enthusiast. This footage, originating from Asia, is genuinely nauseating stuff - with the exception of a clearly fake interview with a supposed Japanese hitman, and a selection of gore effects from The Necro Files, all images on show are authentic aftermaths of violent sloppy deaths. Only the most crimson-soaked gaping wounds have found their way onto this somewhat dubious collection. To avoid any confusion on the part of the viewer, the film is helpfully divided into three sections; crash, suicide, and murder.

If this all sounds gruellingly serious, well, think again; what makes this film truly shocking is not the footage on show, despite its intensity, but the outrageously juvenile approach to it all. The film's host, a Dr. Vincent Van Gore (sure thing, you guys), looking for all the world like Peter Fonda's bombed-out stoner cousin, is apparently a member of the Institute of Gorenology (!), who has returned from his studies in Japan into the 'Phenomena of Death' carrying his findings in what appears to be an old lady's shopping bag. The narration which plays over these images has to be heard to be believed; burn victims in a train wreck, for instance, would be better off dead as they now have to `live out their lives as badly deformed freaks who no-one would love.' Beavis and Butthead themselves couldn't have put it any better. A teenage boy, having hanged himself over poor marks at school, is referred to as a `self-defeatist who has taken the easy way out'; the narrator quips that, `if only the students in America were this conscientious about maintaining their grade-point averages, we'd have an epidemic of mass suicides on our hands.'

Not that we should take everything we are told here as gospel. A coroner, seen in one of the clips examining a newlywed couple killed in a car smash, is identified as one Mr Sato, a fellow member of the Institute of Goreology who just happens to be a practicing necrophiliac! If there was any remaining doubt over the true 'scientific' level at which Faces of Gore is operating, the narrator's gloating over a naked female corpse - even informing us of the unfortunate young woman's bra size - ought to dispel them at once. Faces of Gore's closest spiritual cousin, it quickly becomes apparent, is South Park: The Movie.

`We know only one thing for certain,' Dr Van Gore tells us, strolling through a cemetery on a sunny afternoon; and that is `that death will come, and whether it's suddenly in a car crash, or slowly from a painful, lingering cancer, it will matter not, for we shall never escape. We will all die, sooner or later.' Surprisingly for this film, never has a truer word been uttered; I guess the most any of us can hope for, then, is that when our time is up, our bodies don't find themselves being paraded and ridiculed on a tape like the Faces of Gore.

Not worth even thinking about

[paulgeaf · 1/10 · 19 December 2003]

***SOME SPOILERS CONTAINED HEREIN***

This so called 'shockumentary' is sick and obviously written by a very unwell person. The movie is presented by 'Dr gore' who, as he tries his best to read from some autocue and make it sound convincing, narrates us through scenes of recently dead victims of crashes, suicides and murders. If this is what you want, I presume it is or you wouldnt be here right? then that is fine. This movie probably delivers in every way for you. Graphic, Bloody and definitely Gory. The problem I have (apart from the fact that seeing this has made me realise I must have grown up from since when I used to go to rotten.com and impress my mates with just how sick a video or image I could find and mail them!) is that Dr Gore makes some rather pathetic comments along the way in this 'movie'. The worst of which being when we see the result of a train crash and the charred bodies are taken out one by one. One body is that of a pregnant woman. The heat was so intense as to have made a hole in her stomach, revealing the embryonic foetus inside. At this point the good Dr Gore starts a tirade of NONSENSE about -Unmarried mothers being worthless and useless to society and we are better off that this happened to her. Then he just finishes me off with the line 'This is probably one of the most popular and best of our faces of gore. This way we get two for the price of one.'

He is joking about a dead unborn baby. Hmm. I shouldn't have watched this utter trash. To top it all, he then 'introduces' some 'great hollywood special effects' to compare for us, with what we have just seen. Note that the 'great hollywood movie' is actually a film made by the same company which then leads me to the train of thought.. This trash is being used as some kind of advertising platform for a cr4p movie?! (believe me, the movie clip they show is unbelievably amatuer and very stupid!!) Ok thats enough. If you get a chance to see this...well... if you are a teenager..if its a sick evening and a bit of a party then I'm sure it would be fun. Possibly. If you are a bit older perhaps or just value your stomach contents, dont watch this ;) If you are considering PAYING ANY CASH to see or rent this - DONT. These people are unwell. They dont deserve a cent for making this.

Failed attempt at being edgy

[aarongrierson-79741 · 1/10 · 20 August 2019]

I have a very strong stomach and I have a very twisted mindset, which led me to this video. Unfortunately, the film was one of the most annoying films I have ever seen. Yes, it's extremely gory, but two major things really highlight this video's problem.

First off, the narrator. Dr Vincent tries extremely hard at being edgy without ever succeeding. He mocks the dead and has a laugh at the family's expense. For example, we see a father after he died in a car crash, with the narrator saying he was going home to celebrate his 9-year-old daughter's birthday. Then the narrator has the sick audacity to say something like "The father wanted to see his girl unwrap the gifts. Now the only thing the girl is unwrapping is her father's body bag." The insensitivity is shocking, and that's not even the worst! During a scene where we see a woman after she hung herself, the narrator is more interested in her breast size! There is a difference between being dark humoured and having a mental disorder.

The other problem is the misleading fact that all these videos are from Japan. I doubt one of them is actually from Japan. We clearly see Thai language on the police officer's uniform and the language heard doesn't sound Japanese. We also get an interview with a hitman, and in a despairing attempt to pretend it's from Japan, the hitman and interviewer's Thai dialogue is dubbed over poorly in Japanese with English subtitles! The only time a story is credited as being in Thailand is when we see a sign saying "Bangkok Tattoo Parlour" (I guess the producers thought we weren't that dumb).

If you're a big fan of gore, mute this video. You'll get what you want without the insensitive commentary and unnecessary sound effects.

"Trashumentary" film starring a bunch of nasty corpses

[chribren · 4/10 · 31 August 2013]

"Faces of Gore" is a so-called 'shockumantary' film, made by Todd Tjersland who also directed the other two films in this same film series.

However, this isn't a movie at once, just a collection of nasty, but real videos showing us ugly-looking corpses caused by traffic accidents, suicides and murders. In-between each of the said so-called 'segments', Dr. Vincent van Gore faces the camera and is babbling something about death and so on. And then these nasty videos comes up, with director Todd Tjersland ridiculing every of the videos/corpses throughout.

Most of the footages shown here are from Japan, right? THAT'S WRONG, FOLKS! They aren't from Japan. You can tell that by looking carefully on the people's appearance, clothing and whatever, you can even tell that by looking on the writings on said clothing. Most of those footages are either from Thailand, Vietnam or some other Asian countries.

Just to conclude it all, there is basically nothing to see, unless you're a gorehound (like me just to admit it) and just want to watch some real gore footages. But if you really want to see this anyway, please DON'T watch it for the sake of entertainment, because there is nothing entertaining with this 'film'.

A few other similar so-called 'movies' (or to be more right 'trashumentaries') include the "Traces of Death"-series and the UK-banned film "Terrorists, Killers & Middle-East Wackos".

Rather Routine

[GathofBaal · 6/10 · 5 December 2002]

Unlike it's counterpart Traces of Death, this does not contain actual footage of death, but rather is a collection of gruesome "Aftermath" footage, mainly imported from Japan. A showcase of mangled accident and murder victims and suicides, it's very graphic and gory, but the novelty wears off rather quickly. Some humor is added by the goofy narrator, who makes inappropriate comments about the victims, and by the addition of ridiculous "Squishy" sound effects whenever a body is moved. For only the most die hard Real Death fans.

Sad That This Is a Parody.

[DarkSpotOn · 6/10 · 24 February 2022]

As a fan of Faces of Death, Traces of Death and Orozco, i always wondered what Faces of Gore has to offer. Well, i have to be honest the gore in this film the footage is very disturbing, there were a few scenes that really made me feel horrible. The suicide with a gun and the pregnant woman scenes are 100% the worst. The film recorders recorded the victims faces the whole time, which makes this whole film even harder to swallow.

We got the Gore Doctor that introduces us to every segment, which in my opinion was pretty decent, he did a decent job, obviously inspired by Faces of Death doctor(s), but it works. The only real negative i have to give for this is the narrator that makes jokes about necrophilia, and other stupid comments, which just makes this film lose it's impact. I honestly really dislike that this film is supposed to be a Parody to Traces of Death and Faces of Death, because the footage in this film is really brutal. It's a pitty that the narration had to be forced in this project.

Without narration i'm sure that this film could of been way better and the film is very repetitive, too many scenes that depict nearly the same tragic events. It could of been more various like Faces of Death and Traces of Death.

Oh My ....!!!!

[roneg · 5 May 2000]

This is DEFINITELY the most disgusting thing I've ever seen. It's not just the footage, the comments made by the narrator compound just gory footage and it becomes a truly sick joke- how much more vile could you be? Laughing and joking about mutilated bodies and burnt up corpses? If you think you've seen anything in this class (like Fakes of Death or Traces of Entertainment) you are DEAD wrong. This one tops them all. The end credits suggest a sequel, Faces of Gore 2, I say BRING IT ON!

It Isn't Japanese

[dasbub · 21 January 2004]

I know that the opening spiel said that they made up the stories and changed the names, but come on. Every story apparently takes place in Japan, and all the names are Japanese. Well, even a moron can tell that these are NOT from Japan.

The people don't look Japanese, the writing on the uniforms is definitely not Japanese, and the way that the police wrap up bodies in butcher paper and touch bits of internal organs with non-gloved hands suggests these clips originate in a third-world country.

I'm no expert on asian languages and alphabets, but I'll hazard an informed guess that these clips are from the area of Thailand, Vietnam, and Cambodia.

Putting all of that aside, the movie is pointless. Many people say it's a gorefest, but I just found it boring. Once you've seen a couple of car accidents and suicides, you've seen them all. Don't waste your time with this cheap ripoff of Faces of Death.

It's insolent, but not vain.

[CarLIokffgE · 18 October 2023]

Yet another film with images of dead people? Yes, but this one makes efforts to differentiate itself and embraces its disrespectful, schoolboy, voyeuristic, and entertaining side.

Firstly, I liked the fact that this "documentary" was written (even if it was at a minimum). We have a main character, Dr. Van Gore, played by an actor, a voice which tells us the events, transitions which seem to come out of Carmageddon, and various more or less false information. At least they're not just stolen videos put together.

Secondly, the thing is intended to be a bit satirical. They wrote jokes, clashes, etc.

Finally, the shocking dimension of this footage lies as much in its complete disrespect for the victims (through "shocking sentences"), as in the images which are divided into segments (depending on the drama). Having a questionable sense of humor, I laughed at one or two passages, as the discrepancy between the images and the cheerful tone of voice made the whole thing absurd (especially the famous "two for the price of one" scene). Life is absurd with Faces of Gore, and so is death.

So yeah, it's reprehensible, maybe stupid, but it's not malicious in my opinion, rather nice (in the sense of innocent). There are a lot of shocking images, clichés, disrespect, in short: it was still quite original in idea, I really liked confronting this "gore" of human life.

I might just be a good student of "Gorenology".