Faces of Death IV (1990) on Netflix

Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Faces of Death IV (1990)

Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.

• With the exception of a slaughterhouse and chicken-beheading scene, several animal scenes were faked: the seal clubbing was choreographed so the seals weren't harmed, the "violent dog fight" was two dogs covered in theater blood with dramatic editing, and a monkey's "brains" were cauliflower and theater blood.
• The electric chair execution was faked with a built chair, toothpaste standing in for saliva and electricity sounds added in post-production; John Alan Schwartz wanted to film a real chair execution but none was available during production.
• The PSA Flight 182 crash happened less than two months before the film's release, and its graphic aftermath was worked into the film's climax; the film was largely completed but was reworked immediately after the crash.
• The only "real, unscripted" part of the film came when filmmakers shooting B-roll of litter for the pollution sequence found a dead surfer who had washed up on shore, and beachgoers started a commotion.
• The claim that the film was "Banned in 46 Countries" was exaggerated for marketing, but the UK did prosecute it and add it to the "video nasty" list for violating the Obscene Publications Act 1959; its 2003 DVD still needed cuts of 2 minutes 19 seconds.
• The cryogenic patient shown in the film was a real man frozen in July 1978 and stored in Northern California; when his funding relatives lost interest and turned down a free head-only suspension, he was thawed in October 1983, submerged in formaldehyde, given a funeral and buried, with no attempt to preserve the brain.
• In June 1985 a mathematics teacher at Escondido High School in California showed the film to his class; two students' families sued the school district and received a combined $100,000 settlement, and the teacher was suspended for 15 days without pay.
• Effects artists White and Allen Apone were given no details about the film when their newly formed company was hired; they conceived the police shootout, alligator attack, monkey-brain dinner, decapitation and cannibal cult scenes, with Schwartz playing the cult leader.