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'Banned in 46 countries' – is Faces of Death the most shocking film ever?

It is regarded as one of the most depraved films ever – a ‘shockumentary’ full of autopsies, plane crashes and executions. Why was Faces of Death so influential? And does its director have any regrets?

The year is 1985 and two California schoolgirls called Diane Feese and Sherry Forget are watching uncomfortably as their teacher wheels out a TV on a stand. Lessons are meant to be over for the day but, rather than let his students go home, Mr Schwartz is insisting the teenagers watch a movie. He pops a tape into the VCR.

What follows is a parade of grotesque images. Dead bodies are sliced open in an autopsy, people at an occult orgy smear themselves in human blood, a man is electrocuted, sheep writhe on meathooks and there is an awful scene at a restaurant involving a monkey.

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