3. Traces of Death (1993)
Mondo movies, shockumentaries, death films - call them what you will: the question is: does watching them make you a sicko? The innocence of the progenitor of the Mondo movie - Mondo Cane - is laughable now yet shocked audiences with its antics in the 1960s. The genre has since deteriorated into a succession of 'Death Movies' - films that feature footage of people dead or dying (mainly faked but some films have a high proportion of genuine footage). The rot began with the notorious Faces of Death in 1978 with its silly so called expert narrator - Dr Gross - leading the viewer on a 'journey' around the world of (mainly simulated) death footage. Made for the gore hungry Japanese market, the film was a sensation and claimed to be banned in 40 countries, and it sure got the UK censors' knickers in a knot. Sequels popped up as well as imitations including possibly the most graphic of all the death movies - Traces of Death. This film is banned in the UK for not having any educational or journalistic content and for once I agree with the censors: Traces of Death is nothing more than a litany of harrowing footage and images that only exist to titilate the gorehounds of the world. Roll right on up and watch the infamous live on air suicide of Pennsylvania State Treasurer R Budd Dwyer. Gawp at Vic Morrow being decapitated by a helicopter in an on set pyrotechnics fiasco in the making of Twilight Zone: The Movie. Stare in awe at a bicyclist flattened by a bus. Goggle at picture after picture of dead babies and children. Does this sound exciting? No I didn't think so...