This week marks the arrival of the new *Faces of Death* remake, starring Barbie Ferreira and Dacre Montgomery. It’s an interesting move—trying to bring back that specific brand of snuff-style horror in 2024. Seeing the posters pop up in theaters, I can smell the stale popcorn and heavy floor cleaner of my local multiplex, which is a weirdly grounding feeling compared to the carnage happening on screen. Misryoum takes a look back at the original *Faces of Death* and four other films that left audiences—and censors—deeply unsettled.
At the top of the list, or perhaps the bottom, is the 1978 original *Faces of Death*. It combined staged gore with actual archival slaughterhouse footage to trick people into thinking it was a documentary. It was banned everywhere from Germany to the U.K., where they labeled it a “video nasty.” One teacher even got dragged into a legal battle in 1985 for showing it to students, which honestly feels like a wild overreaction—or maybe not? It’s hard to tell where the line is when a movie is designed to be that traumatizing.
Then there’s *Cannibal Holocaust* (1980), which is infamous for the rumors that director Ruggero Deodato actually killed his cast. He didn’t, obviously, but the real animal killings on screen were enough to get it seized and the director charged with obscenity. It paved the way for *The Blair Witch Project*, though, despite the massive backlash.
*The Exorcist* (1973) had a rocky start too, with reports of people vomiting in the aisles. It was the first horror film to snag a Best Picture nomination, but that didn’t stop it from being banned in parts of the U.K. for decades. I remember reading that the trailers were even pulled in the U.S. because the strobe effects were making test audiences pass out. Wild.
Coming in at number two is *Possession* (1981), a movie about a divorce that devolves into something… well, much more surreal and violent. It’s been restored recently, which is great, but back in the day, the U.S. version was hacked to pieces—literally losing a third of its runtime. It’s a strange, disjointed watch even in its full form, actually. It just feels wrong, in the best way.
Finally, there’s *Martyrs* (2008). This one caused actual walkouts at the Marché du Film festival. It’s French, it’s intense, and Bob Weinstein was apparently so freaked out by it that he sent it straight to DVD in the States. It was never even given a proper theatrical release here. The whole “New French Extremity” movement really hit a wall with that one—or maybe it just went too deep, and honestly, who can blame the distributors for being scared to touch it?