Since the original Faces of Death was a hit with audiences, a handful of imitators followed in line. The most popular approach was to use footage from other mondo films. Sometimes, the film was entirely composed of previous mondo movies. They include:
The Traces of Death Series (1993-2000)
There were five parts to this mondo series that Damon Fox directed. This ‘shockumentary’ went straight to video and included stock footage of real death scenes and acts of violence. The series differed from Faces of Death because the majority of the footage that appears in the films showed real death and injury. Some of the filming included unlicensed footage from other films.
The Traces of Death Series was banned in the United Kingdom by the BBFC who felt that the content did not offer any journalistic, educational, or other significance. Footage on the film shows the suicide of R. Budd Dwyer, who committed suicide in front of shocked onlookers. The death of Vic Morrow, an actor who died while filming ‘Twilight Zone: The Movie’ is also included. Other disturbing scenes found in the film includes a bicyclist flattened by an overturned bus, the Sarajevo marketplace bombing that took the lives of nearly 100 people, montages of dead babies and children, and the death of Pit Dernitz who was eaten by lion in front of his family , a scene that originally appeared in the 1975 film Ultime grida dalla savana.
After the first Traces of Death, the films used death metal and grindcore music to add more intensity to the scene. Sometimes, the feel of the scenes were even more bizarre, which differed from the original keyboard music that gave it a spooky feeling.
The Faces of Gore Series (1999-2000)
In this three part series, Todd Tjersland directed scenes that differed from other mondo films because they did not show any actual scenes of death, but focused on the cleaning up or the aftermath of an incident. Some of the graphic footage shows bloody, mangled bodies. The video is separated into three different parts: Crash, Suicide and Murder. Fatal and disturbing car accidents are shown in the Crash section. People who have committed suicide are shown in the Suicide section, while murdered victims are on display in the Murder section.
While banned in Germany, the movie advertises on its packaging to have been ‘banned in 37 countries’ , a claim that has yet to be verified.
The Best of Faces of Gore (2000) , Todd Tjersland also created a compilation video of the Faces of Gore series that showed a variety of murder, death, and accident scenes.