Quartile rating: 4/10 · 1 rating
A face-to-face confrontation with Guerrilla death squads in El Salvador, napalm bombings in Vietnam, the drugging of a monkey, a dolphin slaughter, a train disaster in India, Cambodian lepers, a death museum, a driver high on PCP and a boxer going down for his “final” count.
Faces of Death II is a largely fabricated mondo-style shock compilation with minimal narrative structure, amateur staged sequences, and no meaningful dramatic arc. The plot is essentially nonexistent — just a loose assemblage of real and fake footage strung together for visceral impact. Acting in the staged scenes is laughably poor, with the Dr. Francis B. Gross wraparound segments being particularly wooden. Cinematography is inconsistently mediocre, mixing genuine archival footage of varying quality with cheaply produced fake segments. Novelty is marginal — the first film had a certain infamous cultural impact, but this sequel is largely retreading the same formula without adding anything distinctive. The ending offers no resolution or meaningful conclusion, simply stopping after another shock segment. A deeply cynical and artistically bankrupt production that earns its low reputation.