Faces of Death received generally negative reviews, but it was a huge success at the box office, reportedly grossing over $35 million worldwide.

After performing an open heart surgery, pathologist Francis B. Gröss tells the viewer that he is interested in the transitional periods of life and death thanks to a recurring dream.

Footage is played of various animal deaths, including a man killed by an alligator, which Gröss calls a "violent retaliation from a creature who has suffered continued abuse from mankind".

Gröss visits the Los Angeles County coroner's office, where Dr. Thomas Noguchi is embalming multiple corpses after their autopsies.

One cadaver, Samuel Berkowitz, has his bodily fluids replaced with a liquid with a low freezing point and stored in a freezer to preserve his body for future science to revive him.

The segment ends with footage of Nazis being obliterated in battle and symbols of Nazism destroyed, with Gröss saying that Hitler "lost control not only of his army but of his mind."

The segment ends with photographs, footage, and air traffic control audio from the crash of PSA Flight 182 and its grisly aftermath of scattered body parts and destroyed houses.

After studying Binder's case, Gröss concludes that "when we die, it isn't the end" as "the soul in each of us remains a traveler forever."

Schwartz wanted to depict very real death with "an analytical view, rather than a purely exploitive purpose", but the film's inclusion of fake scenes have brought this to debate.

The movie features Michael Carr as the narrator, and 'creative consultant' called "Dr. Francis B. Gröss", whose voice is reminiscent of Leonard Nimoy in the popular TV show In Search of... (which Schwartz worked on).

[6] Schwartz states that the movie's budget was $450,000 and there are estimates that it has grossed more than $35 million worldwide in theatrical releases, not including rentals.

With the exception of the slaughterhouse sequence (which uses methods of killing that are long outdated), chicken beheading and African tribe sacrificing a cow, several scenes of animals were inauthentic: a seal clubbing which featured choreographed clubbing to avoid harming the seals, and a "violent dog fight" that was simply two dogs covered in theater blood playing with dramatic editing and music, whilst a scene showing a monkey being "killed and having its brains eaten" used cauliflower and theater blood for "brains".

[7] White and Allen Apone's newly formed special effects company had been given no details about the film upon being hired; they conceived of the police shootout, the alligator attack, the monkey brain dinner, the decapitation sequence and the cannibalistic cult scene with Schwartz himself playing the leader.

The camera pans long enough to capture paramedics scooping up blood clots, brain matter and clumps of hair from the tarmac; this incident is authentic and culled from newsreels.

[citation needed] One sequence involves cryogenic patient Samuel Berkowitz, who was frozen in July 1978 and stored in northern California.

[11] In the United Kingdom, the film was prosecuted and added to the "video nasty" list, as it was deemed to violate the Obscene Publications Act 1959.

[18] Writing for the Kansas City Kansan, reviewer Steve Crum denounced the film as "crude, tasteless exploitation footage.

"[19] Joshua Siebalt of Dread Central had mixed feelings about the film: "as a curiosity piece, Faces of Death is well worth a look, especially if you've not seen it in a very long time.

"[20] Christopher Kulik of DVD Verdict wrote, "The YouTube generation will be unable to comprehend what purpose the film served thirty years ago, and thus it's difficult to ignore how hopelessly dated Faces of Death really is.

"[21] In his review, Screen Anarchy's Ard Vijn was dismissive of the film, remarking that "many of the segments have lost their ability to shock, or can easily be recognized as fake by today's more media-savvy audience.

[27] It contained real footage of a dead body being pulled from under a pier, Guerrilla death squads in El Salvador, napalm bombings in Vietnam, Buddhist self-immolations, the drugging of a monkey, a dolphin slaughter, a train disaster in India, Cambodian patients with leprosy, a death museum featuring Joaquin Murrieta's preserved head, a driver high on PCP and a boxer going down for his "final" count.

Much like the PSA Aircraft crash, the assassination attempt on US President Ronald Reagan occurred recently before the film's completion, and was included as well.

[29][30][31] It featured real footage of the German Autobahn, drug smugglers getting blown away by the Coast Guard, a parachutist landing in a crocodile pit, a videotaped rape/murder (the killer being played by Schwartz), a car thief getting ripped apart by two junkyard dogs, and footage of the last public execution by guillotine in France featuring a very young Christopher Lee.

The narrator claims that it resulted in many deaths, where various shots of injured musicians, corpses and ripped limbs were shown over the end credits.

However, when the footage was shown on other TV shows, such as Maximum Exposure and Stupid Behavior: Caught on Tape, it clarified that while 43 people were left injured, no one was killed by the collapse.

Released only in Germany, and made by unknown individuals, it is a collection of mostly unrelated gore scenes from around the world, with no narration, and no on-screen credits, aside from its title.

[citation needed] In May 2021, it was reported that Legendary Entertainment had purchased the rights to the film, and a remake was in development, with filmmakers Isa Mazzei and Daniel Goldhaber attached to direct.

Two of his students, Diane Feese and Sherry Forget, claimed they were so traumatized by the film that they both "developed an unnatural fear of dying and suffered emotional distress."

[56][57] Due to its graphic content and legal difficulties, the film has never been broadcast on television, but was briefly available to stream on Tubi & Shudder.