318 lines
15 KiB
Plaintext
318 lines
15 KiB
Plaintext
From: ldoering@engin.umich.edu (Laurence Doering)
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Subject: Faces of Death! (long)
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Tired of endless bickering about whether 2000 will be a leap year or
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not? Nauseated by the cutesy net.kiddies and their snowball fight
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thread? Clearly, what AFU needs is a good discussion of snuff films.
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To start things off, here's my analysis of everybody's favorite snuff
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film wannabe, the immortal "Faces of Death." Since it's BANNED IN
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40 COUNTRIES, many of you will never have the chance to see it.
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Executive Summary
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"Faces of Death" is certainly not a snuff film according to the
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relatively strict official AFU definition. It purports to be
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a compilation of footage of death, collected by somebody named
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Doctor Gross [sheesh] as a result of his researches into the
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nature of death. There are only three sequences in the entire
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100 minutes that depict probably genuine deaths. One is news footage
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of what appears to be a political assassination at a French news
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conference, the second is a skydiver falling to his death at an
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airshow, and the third is a botched movie stunt. The famous
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alligator and bear attack scenes are staged, and neither scene
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actually shows the victim being chomped or mauled. The monkey
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brain dinner scene also is unconvincing.
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There are plenty of scenes showing people who died _before_
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appearing in the film, and a number of genuine animal slaughterings.
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Detailed Description
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Times are from the start of the movie.
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0:00:40 Surgery scene. Draped body, see only open chest cavity with
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beating heart.
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0:02:27 Opening credits. Shots of cadavers in body bags and on
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autopsy tables.
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0:03:20 Autopsy. Incision, open chest and abdominal cavity. Opening
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of cranium with bone saw. Removal of brain and internal organs.
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0:08:16 Guanajuato, Mexico. Exhumations of graves in town cemetary
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revealed extensive mineralization & mummification of corpses.
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Montage of adult and child mummies.
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0:09:30 Brief bullfight scene. No death. Pit bulls, dogfighting.
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One shot of bloody dead dog.
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0:11:10 Amazon jungle. Large spider w/ killed bird.
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0:11:46 Praying mantis kills cricket. [Yes, really.]
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0:12:15 Snake swimming in stream attacked by pirahnas. Underwater
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camera. No clear shots of fish and snake together. Ends
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with bloody water, shot of apparent chewed-up snake remains.
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0:13:15 Ibaro Indians shoot monkey in tree with blowgun. Woman roasts
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monkey over fire. Indians drinking, dancing. One shot of
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shrunken head.
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0:15:25 Africa. Masai tribesmen bleeding cattle, mixing blood and
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milk, butchering a cow.
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0:16:25 Farm scene. Woman catches chicken and beheads it with hatchet.
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Long scene of headless chicken flopping around.
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0:18:10 Cows and sheep in slaughterhouse.
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0:19:03 Shochet slaughtering cow in accordance with Jewish dietary law.
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[Cuts throat, cow bleeds to death.]
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0:19:45 Killing, skinning, and butchering cows and lambs in slaughterhouse.
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0:21:14 Intro to famous monkey brain scene. Belly dancer performs in
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"Al-Ahram" restaurant for 2 tourist couples out for an "unusual
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dining adventure." Waiter brings wine and "special dining implements."
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0:22:42 Waiter carries screaming monkey to table, puts it in hole in
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the center, clamped around the neck.
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0:23:10 Diners get their hammers ready. Long shot of table. Monkey's
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head is turning round and round. [Kind of like a fake monkey
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head on a turntable or something.]
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0:23:31 Diners hammer monkey. Most camera angles don't actually show
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monkey's head. 2 quick shots of hammers touching head, not
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hitting hard. One shot from under the table. [I'm sure
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the diners didn't mind having a cameraman under there.]
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0:23:45 Waiter cuts head open. [Probably fake - monkey's face looks
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like rubber.] Diners spoon out and eat monkey brain. [Well,
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something that looks like raw brain, anyway.]
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[Looks to me like the famous monkey scene is faked. There are several
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cuts between the time the waiter puts a live monkey in the table and
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the hammering. Several camera angles are used, with two close-up shots
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during hammering. This would be difficult to do without interrupting
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the action, or a second cameraman appearing in the long shots.]
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0:25:50 Man with AR-15 apparently shoots at sea otters. Actually
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shooting a shark. Shark fishing.
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0:26:50 Pribilof Islands. Men clubbing and skinning fur seals.
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Shot of field full of skinned seal carcasses.
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0:28:40 Alleged alligator poachers. [Yeah, I'm sure illegal hunters
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don't mind being filmed.] Shot of skinned gator.
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0:29:30 Alligator farm. Gators eating raw meat.
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0:29:50 Intro to alligator attack scene. Apparent TV news reporter
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doing a standup report. Bad actors worried about a 15-foot
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alligator in a lake.
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0:30:45 Game wardens arrive in a boat. They're going to try to catch
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the gator.
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0:32:07 Man in boat throws lasso into weeds. Suddenly yanked out of
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the boat. Cameraman runs closer. Confused struggle seen,
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with what looks like a 3 or 4 foot alligator when run frame-by-frame.
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Many crowd reaction shots. Several shots of alleged TV cameraman.
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We never actually see the alligator biting the man.
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0:32:57 Luckless game warden pulled ashore. Limp, bloody, shirt torn.
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He's covered with a blanket.
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[This sequence is laughably ungenuine. It is allegedly filmed by a TV news
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crew. Where did the second camera come from? How on earth did the TV
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cameraman manage to position himself to get close-up crowd reaction shots
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at the same time as he filmed the "attack"? How did he get the extreme
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close-up shots of the man struggling with the gator?]
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0:33:16 Assassination at a news conference in "La Salle, France, 1968."
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Jean Voisier [sp?], head of what sounds like the Partie Socialist
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Populaire, stands at podium speaking. Suddenly shot in the chest,
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from behind the cameraman's POV. Shirt and tie move at moment
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of impact. Slumps over podium as sounds of audience
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reaction are heard.
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[This could be genuine. If it were faked, they'd probably have used a
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blood bag under his shirt and it would have been more visually impressive.
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I have no idea if this assassination actually happened. Anybody?]
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0:34:05 Interview with the alleged assassin, Francois Gordon.
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Distorted voice, ski mask. Shoots watermelons with AR-15,
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says he's a professional assasssin who kills because he likes it.
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0:35:51 Murder scene with cops and bystanders. Interior shot of house
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with body outlines in tape and bloodstains on the carpet.
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0:36:21 Police surround gunman in house. Supposed to be "Mike Lawrence",
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on July 10, 1973. No location given. Cops shoot at house,
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SWAT team moves in. Lawrence driven out of house with tear
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gas, shot on front porch by police.
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0:37:50 Interior. 3 bodies on kitchen floor, Lawrence's family.
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Cop in gas mask orders cameraman out.
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[This is probably a re-enactment of an actual situation. The police
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assault on the house is shown with a large number of camera angles.
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Mike Lawrence's death looks staged, and there are a couple of close-up
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shots of him at a window shooting back at the police.]
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0:39:20 Interview of Thomas Noguchi, celebrity coroner of Los Angeles
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County.
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0:40:10 LA County Morgue. Man moves corpse from gurney to autopsy table.
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0:41:32 Close-up of cadaver.
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0:41:50 Autopsy - open chest cavity and cranium.
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0:42:25 More autopsies. Cadaver with apparent broken leg (foot twisted
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around backwards.) Autopsy tools, buckets of bloody garbage.
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0:44:15 Embalming at morgue. Refrigerated room with 40 ? covered
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cadavers. Shots of toe tags.
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0:47:33 Prison, gas chamber. Unnamed criminal is about to be executed.
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0:48:51 Door closed. Camera looks thru observation window in chamber
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as the prisoner convulses and dies.
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[Staged. No witnesses to the execution except the cameraman. Sound
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of prisoner coughing is clearly audible, even though he's in a sealed
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chamber.]
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0:50:00 Execution of Larry DeSilva, convicted in 1974 of rape and murder.
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Scene of him smoking last cigarette in cell.
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0:52:02 DeSilva is strapped to electric chair. Eyes are bandaged
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"to prevent them from popping out of their sockets." [Yeah, right.]
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0:53:45 Switch thrown. Dramatic electrical buzzing sound effects.
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DeSilva convulses and drools. Head moves around as if the
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chair's cap isn't secured. Close-up of blood oozing out from
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bandages over his eyes.
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[Same as above. No witnesses. Business about eyes popping out seems
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unlikely.]
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0:55:26 Beheading, allegedly shot by Canadian tourist in Middle East.
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Many camera angles, reaction shots. Cut between shot of
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man being led to the block and actual beheading.
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[Again, staged. Actual beheading is seen from a distance, from the
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direction of the top of the victim's head. If they didn't mind this
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tourist filming in the first place, why not let him get a close-up?
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Did they wait for the tourist to finish filming village children
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looking frightened?]
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0:56:59 Alleged cult ceremony "on the outskirts of San Francisco."
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Cheesy cult ritual - hippies chanting and taking some kind
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of pills, sitar music. Cult leader sacrifices a man, lying
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on the floor. Close-up of incision as he cuts chest open.
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Removes heart immediately. [Gee, where did the victim's
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sternum and ribcage go?] Topless babes eat raw meat and
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smear blood on their breasts.
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[Oh, please. This one has lots of shots of recognizeable faces, including
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the cult leader who performs the sacrifice. Oops, maybe they're part
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of the Satanic Ritual Conspiracy and just DON'T CARE!]
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1:02:45 Kentucky hills. Snake handler cult members speak in tongues
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and wave snakes around. Nobody gets killed.
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1:04:38 April 22, 1977. Mary Allen Brighton commits suicide by jumping
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from a building. Shots of her falling, lying on pavement.
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Moment of impact not seen, though.
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[Probably genuine. Too poorly filmed to be a reenactment. Dubbing
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Dixieland jazz in the background during this sequence was a nice
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tasteless touch, though.]
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1:05:56 Body of Samuel Berkowitz is prepared for cryonic suspension.
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Shots of body in bandages. [Wait - maybe it's really - nahhh.]
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1:07:51 Corpses of two drowning victims. Convincingly bloated and ugly.
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1:08:04 Drowned man in surf, bystanders watch as he's pulled out and
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put in body bag.
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1:09:20 Cave entrance. Sheriffs go in to retrieve man who fell down
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shaft. Shot of man's body at bottom.
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[Probably reenacted, unless the rescuers really had some guy rappel down
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the shaft with them carrying a camera.]
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1:12:52 Bear attack. 2 cars with tourists. Man gets out of one car
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to film as woman throws bread to the bear. Dialogue ("Be
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careful, Bob. Bob, be careful.") is recorded across a cut
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from Bob's camera to the one in the other car. Bear rears
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up over Bob. Woman screams "Oh my God!", and car horn blows,
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all recorded by other camera 50 or 60 feet away. Bob's-eye view
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of bear's face in extreme close-up. No shot of bear actually
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mauling Bob, just eating some raw meat. Jumpy shot of bear
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leaving with unidentifiable object in mouth.
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[Staged. This time, though, the camera angles are actually consistent
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with two cameras in or near the cars, with one exception. To get
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the shot of the bear eating, the other cameraman (not Bob) would have
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had to get out of his car and move closer. Not real likely, given
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what he'd just supposedly seen.]
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1:14:53 Stock footage of volcanoes, flooded town, a tornado, burning
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buildings. One shot of man's body in wreckage following a
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tornado.
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1:17:05 High rise building fire. 2 shots of victims trying to escape
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and falling from windows, with dubbed screams. Woman's body
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on pavement in the street.
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1:17:40 Trash, landfills, air pollution. Sappy song ("Jesus Doesn't
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Live Here Any More"). Shot of what looks like an oil refinery,
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with anti-nuke protestors marching around. Allegedly at
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Three Mile Island, though the protesters are nowhere near a
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nuclear power plant and the vegetation looks a lot more like
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California than Pennsylvania. One protester douses himself
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with gasoline and sets self on fire at the gate.
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[Staged. Too many camera angles and reaction shots of a blond woman
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in hotpants screaming prettily. Several shots from opposite side
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of man on fire. No other cameraman is visible.]
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1:20:03 Stock World War II footage. Naval gunfire, bombers, artillery
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firing, infantry in combat, corpsmen carrying casualties.
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1:21:10 Nuclear test. Bikini? Johnson Island? Bunch of ships moored
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near ground zero.
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1:21:27 Stock footage of Nazi rallies. Aerial footage of bombers,
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bombs hitting target. Stukas diving, street scene in burning
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city with troops running around.
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1:22:20 Night incendiary bombing footage.
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1:22:37 Concentration camps. Mass graves, emaciated corpses, more
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mass graves.
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1:23:50 Bubonic plague, rats, rabid vampire bats. Narrator claims
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rabies victims eventually "choke to death on their own saliva."
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1:24:20 Cholera epidemic in India. Sick people, none dead.
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1:25:01 Malnourished Biafran children.
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1:25:29 Surgery on dog at UCLA laboratory for cancer research.
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1:28:22 Airshow. Real-time and slow-motion footage of a skydiver
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falling under a partially opened parachute. Dubbed thump
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when he hits the ground.
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1:29:46 Movie location. Preparation for shooting scene 47B of some
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movie called "Hell Raisers." On first take, a car stunt
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is botched - car drives off low bluff into shallow stream,
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but hits opposite bank. Close up of unconscious driver.
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1:31:45 Film of freight train derailing. Could be from some other movie.
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1:31:50 News footage of passenger train wreck. One face, several hands
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seen in wreckage. Body under blanket.
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1:33:04 Still photos of car wrecks. News footage of female bicyclist
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who was run over by semi.
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1:34:05 News footage of plane crash. Unidentifiable light plane.
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2 bodies, one decapitated, pulled from wreckage.
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1:35:32 Cockpit shots of Cessna and Boeing 727. Air traffic control tape
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of the September 1978 midair between a Cessna 182 and a PSA 727
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over San Diego plays in background.
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1:36:24 Two still photos of 727 going down. Film of distant column of
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smoke and fires on the ground, probably from either news media
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or police video.
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Aerial view of crash site, ground shots of wreckage. Emergency
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crews fighting fires. Sheet-covered bodies in street.
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Shot of bloody splash mark on house, men on roof covering
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a corpse. Crews removing bagged bodies.
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2 shots of body parts in street.
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Woman's torso w/ head and one arm, hand outstretched, in street.
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1:39:15 Haunted house story. Joseph Binder, architect, claims his house
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is haunted by ghosts of his wife and 5-year-old son. Paranormal
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investigators fiddle with "sensitive instruments", then spread
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flour on floor to detect ghost footprints. [Snicker.]
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1:42:15 Narrator pontificates about life after death. Shot of woman
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in labor. Closing song, "Life", begins.
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1:43:30 Closing credits over scenes of woman playing with newborn baby,
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walking by ocean, et cetera.
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The closing credits list the name of the actor who played Dr. Gross,
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and conclude with the statement "Exiguous scenes in this film were
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re-enacted."
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Larry "THIS oughta get me in the FAQ list - wait, I'm already in it" Doering
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