Traces Of Death
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''Traces of Death'' is a 1993
Z movie Z movies (or grade-Z movies) are low-budget films with production qualities lower than B movies. History and terminology The term "Z movie" arose in the mid-1960s as an informal description of certain unequivocally non-A films. It was soon adopte ...
mondo
shockumentary Mondo films are a subgenre of exploitation films and documentary films. Many mondo films are made in a way to resemble a pseudo-documentary and usually depicting sensational topics, scenes, or situations. Common traits of mondo films include por ...
that consists of various scenes of
stock footage Stock footage, and similarly, archive footage, library pictures, and file footage is film or video footage that can be used again in other films. Stock footage is beneficial to filmmakers as it saves shooting new material. A single piece of stock ...
depicting death and real scenes of violence. Unlike the earlier ''
Faces of Death ''Faces of Death'' (later re-released as ''The Original Faces of Death'') is a 1978 American mondo horror film written and directed by John Alan Schwartz, credited under the pseudonyms "Conan Le Cilaire" and "Alan Black" respectively. The fi ...
'' which included fake deaths and reenactments, ''Traces'' consists mostly of actual footage depicting death and injury, and consists also of public domain footage from other films. It was written and narrated by Damon Fox. Since its release, ''Traces of Death'' has been followed by four sequels. The first sequel, ''Traces of Death II'', was released in June 1994. This was followed by ''Traces of Death III'' in December 1994, ''Traces of Death IV: Resurrected'' in 1996 and ''Traces of Death V: Back in Action'' in April 2000.


Film content

In the first two films of the series, Damon Fox was the narrator. Darrin Ramage, who would later become the founder of
Brain Damage Films Brain Damage Films is a US-based worldwide independent film production company and distribution company. It was founded in 2001 by Darrin Ramage. A division located in the UK was launched in September 2009. The company distributes a variety of ...
, would become the host for the third, fourth and fifth volumes. Unlike ''Faces of Death'', the footage throughout the entire films are real and are not staged or reenacted. Starting with ''Traces of Death II'', scenes were accompanied by background music from
death metal Death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. It typically employs heavily distorted and low-tuned guitars, played with techniques such as palm muting and tremolo picking; deep growling vocals; aggressive, powerful drumming, feat ...
and
grindcore Grindcore is an extreme fusion genre of heavy metal and hardcore punk that originated in the mid-1980s, drawing inspiration from abrasive-sounding musical styles, such as thrashcore, crust punk, hardcore punk, extreme metal, and industrial. G ...
bands. Also contained in the series, especially in the first one, is footage of step-by-step autopsy procedures, which are shown from a coroner's point of view. Most of the other footage is recognizably notable. Among the footage samples seen on ''Traces of Death'' and in the sequels that followed are listed below.


''Traces of Death'' (1993)

* The 1993 murder of Maritza Martin Munoz * The 1988 police chase of armed bank robber Phillip Hutchinson * The 1980 Iranian Embassy siege * The 1989 suicide attempt of Terry Rossland * The 1984 race car crash of
Ricky Rudd Richard Lee Rudd (born September 12, 1956), nicknamed "The Rooster", is an American former racing driver. He is the uncle of actor Skeet Ulrich and former NASCAR Busch Series driver Jason Rudd. He retired in 2007 with 23 career wins. He was named ...
* The 1990 race car crash of
Allan McNish Allan McNish (born 29 December 1969) is a British former racing driver, commentator, and journalist from Scotland. He is a three-time winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, most recently in 2013, as well as a three-time winner of the American Le Ma ...
* The 1990 racing incident of
Willy T. Ribbs William Theodore Ribbs Jr. (born January 3, 1955) is a retired American race car driver, racing owner, and sport shooter known for being the first African-American man to have tested a Formula One car (he did so in 1986) and to compete in the Ind ...
* The 1992 racing crash of
Kerry Madsen Kerry Madsen (3 December 1971) is an Australian sprintcar driver that has raced with the World of Outlaws in both his home country, and predominantly the United States. For years, the Saint Mary's, New South Wales, Australia native has drive ...
* The 1986
Rally de Portugal The Rally de Portugal (formerly: Rallye de Portugal) is a rally competition held in Portugal. First held in 1967, the seventh running of the race, the 7º TAP Rallye de Portugal was the third event in the inaugural FIA World Rally Champi ...
crash * The 1992 crash of the
monster truck A monster truck is a specialized off-road vehicle with a heavy duty suspension, four-wheel steering, large-displacement V8 engines and oversized tires constructed for competition and entertainment uses. Originally created by modifying stock pic ...
Bad Medicine * The 1966 motorcycle stunt crash of
Evel Knievel Robert Craig "Evel" Knievel (; October 17, 1938 – November 30, 2007) was an American stunt performer and entertainer. Over the course of his career, he attempted more than 75 ramp-to-ramp motorcycle jumps. Knievel was inducted into the Motor ...
* The 1967 Caesar Palace jump stunt crash of
Evel Knievel Robert Craig "Evel" Knievel (; October 17, 1938 – November 30, 2007) was an American stunt performer and entertainer. Over the course of his career, he attempted more than 75 ramp-to-ramp motorcycle jumps. Knievel was inducted into the Motor ...
* The 1990 Dinamo–Red Star riot * The 1986
Calgary Stampede The Calgary Stampede is an annual rodeo, exhibition, and festival held every July in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The ten-day event, which bills itself as "The Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth", attracts over one million visitors per year and featu ...
chuckwagon accident * The 1989 horse riding accident of Bill Peck * The 1990 parachute skydiving accident of Mike Mcgee and Greg Jones * The 1992
Maracanã Stadium Maracanã Stadium ( pt, Estádio do Maracanã, standard Brazilian Portuguese: , local pronunciation: ), officially named Estádio Jornalista Mário Filho (), is an association football stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The stadium is part o ...
collapse *
Anatoly Kvochur Anatoly Nikolayevich Kvochur ( rus, Анатолий Николаевич Квочур; born 16 April 1952) is a Soviet and Russian test pilot. Honoured Test Pilot of the USSR (1990) and Hero of the Russian Federation (1992). Biography Anatoly K ...
's plane at the 1989
Paris Air Show The Paris Air Show (french: Salon international de l'aéronautique et de l'espace de Paris-Le Bourget, Salon du Bourget) is a trade fair and air show held in odd years at Paris–Le Bourget Airport in north Paris, France. Organized by the French ...
crashing after a
birdstrike A bird strike—sometimes called birdstrike, bird ingestion (for an engine), bird hit, or bird aircraft strike hazard (BASH)—is a collision between an airborne animal (usually a bird or bat) and a moving vehicle, usually an aircraft. The term ...
* The 1987 press conference suicide of R. Budd Dwyer The first film of the series also contains allegedly staged footage from '' Savage Man Savage Beast'', where a tourist, Pit Dernitz supposedly gets mauled and eaten by African lions. Other scenes that feature animals include undated footage of a pig experiment by military scientists at the Burn Center in
Fort Sam Houston Fort Sam Houston is a U.S. Army post in San Antonio, Texas. "Fort Sam Houston, TX • About Fort Sam Houston" (overview), US Army, 2007, webpageSH-Army. Known colloquially as "Fort Sam," it is named for the U.S. Senator from Texas, U.S. Represen ...
(derived from a 1987 mondo film entitled ''True Gore''), an animal control officer, Florence Crowell being attacked by a pit bull in Los Angeles, California in 1987, and a black bear getting shocked off a utility pole in Albuquerque, New Mexico in 1989. The first two films both contain scenes of sex reassignment surgery, which is featured in the 1974 mondo film ''
Shocking Asia ''Shocking Asia'' is a 1974 mondo documentary film written and directed by Rolf Olsen with Ingeborg Stein Steinbach. The film was however banned in Finland due to its graphic content. A sequel titled '' Shocking Asia II: The Last Taboos'' was r ...
''. Some autopsy footages were taken from the 1961 U.S. Army training film ''Basic Autopsy Procedure''. Also included is an interview with James Vance, who had attempted suicide with a shotgun at a church playground in Sparks, Nevada (taken from the documentary ''Dream Deceivers''). The only known footage showing evidence of
Ilse Koch Ilse Koch (22 September 1906 – 1 September 1967) was a German war criminal who was an overseer at Nazi concentration camps run by her husband, commandant Karl-Otto Koch. Working at Buchenwald (1937–1941) and Majdanek (1941–1943), Koch bec ...
is included as well.


''Traces of Death II'' (1994)

* Iranian soldiers slaughtered by the Iraqi Regime during the
Iran–Iraq War The Iran–Iraq War was an armed conflict between Iran and Iraq that lasted from September 1980 to August 1988. It began with the Iraqi invasion of Iran and lasted for almost eight years, until the acceptance of United Nations Security Council ...
* The 1981
assassination of Anwar Sadat Anwar Sadat, the 3rd President of Egypt, was assassinated on 6 October 1981 during the annual victory parade held in Cairo to celebrate Operation Badr, during which the Egyptian Army had crossed the Suez Canal and taken back a small part of t ...
* Boston bomb expert Randolph G. LaMattina blasted in the face by a
pipe bomb A pipe bomb is an improvised explosive device which uses a tightly sealed section of pipe (material), pipe filled with an explosive material. The containment provided by the pipe means that simple Explosive material#Low explosives, low explosi ...
following its removal in 1985 * A robber blowing himself up after holding up a bank and being cornered by police at gunpoint in
León, Spain León (; ) is a city and Municipalities of Spain, municipality of Spain, capital of the province of León, part of the autonomous community of Castile and León, in the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula. It has a population of 124,303 (2019), ...
in 1983 * A 1984 fire in a Rio de Janeiro apartment building, which led to four women falling to their deaths * The 1974
Joelma fire ''Edifício Praça da Bandeira'', formerly known as the Joelma Building, is a 25-story building in downtown São Paulo, Brazil, completed in 1971, located at Avenida 9 de Julho, 225. On 1 February 1974, an air conditioning unit on the twelfth flo ...
* The 1979 Egyptian Embassy Siege in
Ankara Ankara ( , ; ), historically known as Ancyra and Angora, is the capital of Turkey. Located in the central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5.1 million in its urban center and over 5.7 million in Ankara Province, maki ...
,
Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...
* The 1983 public execution of double murderer Ibrahim Tarraf * Animal attacks such as a
rodeo Rodeo () is a competitive equestrian sport that arose out of the working practices of cattle herding in Spain and Mexico, expanding throughout the Americas and to other nations. It was originally based on the skills required of the working va ...
horse stomping its rider's face and goring from
running of the bulls A running of the bulls ( es, encierro, from the verb ''encerrar'', 'to corral, to enclose'; oc, abrivado, literally 'haste, momentum'; ca, correbous, 'run-bulls') is an event that involves running in front of a small group of bulls, typicall ...
* The 1963 self-immolation of Vietnamese monk
Thích Quảng Đức Thích Quảng Đức (; vi-hantu, , 1897 – 11 June 1963; born Lâm Văn Túc) was a Vietnamese Mahayana Buddhist monk who burned himself to death at a busy Saigon road intersection on 11 June 1963. Quảng Đức was protesting the persec ...
*
Nelson Piquet Nelson Piquet Souto Maior (, born 17 August 1952) is a Brazilian retired racing driver and businessman. Since his retirement, Piquet, a three-time World Champion, has been ranked among the greatest Formula One (F1) drivers in various motorspo ...
fighting with
Eliseo Salazar Eliseo Salazar Valenzuela (born 14 November 1954) is a Chilean former racing driver. , he is the only Chilean to have participated in a Formula One World Championship. He made his Formula One debut on 15 March 1981, and ultimately contested 37 r ...
after a collision during the
1982 German Grand Prix The 1982 German Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at the Hockenheimring on 8 August 1982. It was won by Patrick Tambay for Scuderia Ferrari. Report Qualifying Hockenheim had been modified from the year before, with the first chicane b ...
* A brawl at a press conference in
Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...
,
Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...
* The 1985
Sanrizuka Struggle The Sanrizuka Struggle (三里塚闘争, ''Sanrizuka tōsō'') refers to a civil conflict and riots involving the Japanese government and the agricultural community of Sanrizuka, comprising organised opposition by farmers, local residents, and ...
riots * The
1980 Scottish Cup Final The 1980 Scottish Cup Final was played on 10 May 1980 at Hampden Park in Glasgow and was the final of the 95th Scottish Cup competition. Old Firm rivals Celtic and Rangers contested the match, which Celtic won 1–0 after extra time. Rioting a ...
riot *
Football hooliganism Football hooliganism, also known as soccer hooliganism, football rioting or soccer rioting, constitutes violence and other destructive behaviours perpetrated by spectators at association football events. Football hooliganism normally involves ...
in Germany in 1988 * The 1985
Heysel Stadium disaster The Heysel Stadium disaster ( it, Strage dell'Heysel ; german: link=no, Katastrophe von Heysel ; french: Drame du Heysel ; nl, Heizeldrama ) was a crowd disaster that occurred on 29 May 1985 when mostly Juventus fans escaping from a breach by ...
* A courtroom outburst in
Mobile, Alabama Mobile ( , ) is a city and the county seat of Mobile County, Alabama, United States. The population within the city limits was 187,041 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, down from 195,111 at the 2010 United States census, 2010 cens ...
, in 1992 * Riots in
Seoul, South Korea Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 of ...
in 1987 * The death of
Karl Wallenda Karl Wallenda (; January 21, 1905 – March 22, 1978) was a German-American high wire artist and founder of The Flying Wallendas, a daredevil circus act which performed dangerous stunts, often without a safety net. Personal life Wallenda was bo ...
* The 1984 shooting of Jeff Doucet by
Gary Plauché Leon Gary Plauché (November 10, 1945 – October 23, 2014) was an American man known for publicly killing Jeff Doucet, who had kidnapped, raped, and molested Plauché's prepubescent son, Jody. The killing occurred on Friday, March 16, 1984, and ...
* The 1986
Peruvian prison massacres The Peruvian prison massacres occurred on June 18–19, 1986, after a series of riots in the San Pedro, Santa Mónica, and El Frontón prisons in Lima and Callao. The military repression of these riots resulted in the loss of at least 224 l ...
* The 1987 assault on Prime Minister
Rajiv Gandhi Rajiv Gandhi (; 20 August 1944 – 21 May 1991) was an Indian politician who served as the sixth prime minister of India from 1984 to 1989. He took office after the 1984 assassination of his mother, then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, to beco ...
* The execution of
Ishola Oyenusi Ishola Oyenusi (died 8 September 1971), popularly known as Dr. Ishola, was a notorious Nigerian armed robber who was active during the 1970s. His ''modus operandi'' was carjackings, bank robberies and heists committed during hold-ups. Trial and ...
* A 1984 hot air balloon accident * The
murder of Mark Kilroy On 14 March 1989, University of Texas at Austin student Mark James Kilroy was kidnapped in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico, while vacationing during spring break. He was taken by his abductors to a ranch where he was tortured and sodomized for ho ...
* A deadly airshow crash in San Diego in 1978 * A
Blue Angels The Blue Angels is a flight demonstration squadron of the United States Navy.
air show crash in 1985 * The
Controlled Impact Demonstration The Controlled Impact Demonstration (or colloquially the Crash In the Desert) was a joint project between NASA and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) that intentionally crashed a remotely controlled Boeing 720 aircraft to acquire d ...
* The 1988 crash of
Air France Flight 296 Air France Flight 296Q was a chartered flight of a new Airbus A320-111 operated by Air France for Air Charter International. On 26 June 1988, the plane crashed while making a low pass over Mulhouse–Habsheim Airfield (ICAO airport code LFGB) ...
* The
1981 Belgian Grand Prix The 1981 Belgian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Zolder on 17 May 1981. It was the fifth race of the 1981 Formula One World Championship. It was the last of 12 victories for Carlos Reutemann and the last win for an Formula One driv ...
racing crash * The 1966 Indy 500 crash * The death of
Eddie Sachs Edward Julius Sachs Jr, (May 28, 1927 – May 30, 1964) was a United States Auto Club driver who was known as the "Clown Prince of Auto Racing". He coined the phrase "If you can't win, be spectacular". Early life Sachs was born May 28, 1927 in A ...
* The death of
Riccardo Paletti Riccardo Paletti (15 June 1958 – 13 June 1982) was an Italian motor racing driver. Paletti was killed when he crashed on the start grid in his second Formula One start, only two days before his 24th birthday. Life before racing Born in Mi ...
There is one unusual piece of footage taken at a monster truck show in Baltimore, Maryland, on March 23, 1992. What makes this footage so unusual is that the robot transformer at the show malfunctioned. A large rod from the malfunctioning robot went into the actor of the alien suit's chest, and exploded. Another notable air show crash in the film took place in Plainview, Texas, on September 11, 1983, where the pilot lost both his plane's wings in mid-air and plummeted into the field below. There are many other various plane crashes and race car crashes during the middle and towards the end of the film.


''Traces of Death III'' (1995)

* The first Markale Massacre in 1994 * The 1994
Hadera bus station suicide bombing The Hadera bus station suicide bombing was a 1994 Hamas suicide attack on a passenger bus departing from the central bus station in Hadera for Tel Aviv, Israel. Six were killed and 30 injured. The attack came exactly one week after another Hamas a ...
* Killings of children during the
Algerian Civil War The Algerian Civil War ( ar, rtl=yes, الْحَرْبُ الْأَهْلِيَّةُ الجَزَائِرِيَّةُ, al-Ḥarb al-ʾAhlīyah al-Jazāʾirīyah) was a civil war in Algeria fought between the Algerian government and various Is ...
*
Necklacing Necklacing is a method of extrajudicial summary execution and torture carried out by forcing a rubber tire drenched with petrol around a victim's chest and arms, and setting it on fire. The term "necklace" originated in the 1980s in black townsh ...
in South Africa * Villager killings during the 1984 elections in
El Salvador El Salvador (; , meaning " The Saviour"), officially the Republic of El Salvador ( es, República de El Salvador), is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south b ...
*
El Cordobés Manuel Benítez Pérez (born 4 May 1936), more commonly known as ''El Cordobés'' (The Cordovan), is a Spanish bullfighter, matador, and actor active in the 1960s who brought an unorthodox acrobatic and theatrical style to the bullring. Career ...
during his career in the bullring * The
Sabra and Shatila Massacre The Sabra and Shatila massacre (also known as the Sabra and Chatila massacre) was the killing of between 460 and 3,500 civilians, mostly Palestinians and Lebanese Shiites, by the militia of the Lebanese Forces, a Maronite Christian Lebanes ...
* The 1991 discovery of
Ötzi Ötzi, also called the Iceman, is the natural mummy of a man who lived some time between 3350 and 3105 BC, discovered in September 1991 in the Ötztal Alps (hence the nickname "Ötzi") on the border between Austria and Italy. Ötzi is believed to ...
* A 1988 crash involving the monster truck Wild Stang, which was one of the first monster truck crashes to be captured on film * The 1985 race car crash of Bosco Lowe * Rare scenes of body parts from victims of the
Cambodian genocide The Cambodian genocide ( km, របបប្រល័យពូជសាសន៍នៅកម្ពុជា) was the systematic persecution and killing of Cambodians by the Khmer Rouge under the leadership of Communist Party of Kampuchea genera ...
and Burundian Genocide in 1972 * The assassination of a Haitian lawyer in 1994 * The 1994 assassination of
Luis Donaldo Colosio Luis Donaldo Colosio Murrieta (; 10 February 1950 – 23 March 1994) was a Mexican politician, economist, and Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) presidential candidate, who was assassinated at a campaign rally in Tijuana during the Mexic ...
* Discoveries of skeletal remains in the
Killing Fields The Killing Fields ( km, វាលពិឃាត, ) are a number of sites in Cambodia where collectively more than one million people were killed and buried by the Khmer Rouge regime (the Communist Party of Kampuchea) during its rule of t ...
in Cambodia The third edition starts with crime scenes in urban American cities such as New York City, ranging from murders to traffic crashes. These pieces look as if taken from the '60s and '70s. This volume also shows what it is like to survive an attack, as in a 1991 press conference of Frank Tempest, an English man disfigured in the face when he was attacked by two
pit bull Pit bull is a term used in the United States for a type of dog descended from bulldogs and terriers, while in other countries such as the United Kingdom the term is used as an abbreviation of the American Pit Bull Terrier breed. The term was f ...
s. Also included is graphic content of gang violence in Russia, various
motocross Motocross is a form of off-road motorcycle racing held on enclosed off-road circuits. The sport evolved from motorcycle trials competitions held in the United Kingdom. History Motocross first evolved in Britain from motorcycle trials competi ...
and amateur race car crashes, and
cockfighting A cockfight is a blood sport, held in a ring called a cockpit. The history of raising fowl for fighting goes back 6,000 years. The first documented use of the ''word'' gamecock, denoting use of the cock as to a "game", a sport, pastime or ente ...
held in the Philippines.


''Traces of Death IV'' (1996)

* The 1972 assassination attempt of
George Wallace George Corley Wallace Jr. (August 25, 1919 – September 13, 1998) was an American politician who served as the 45th governor of Alabama for four terms. A member of the Democratic Party, he is best remembered for his staunch segregationist and ...
* The stunt accident of Alexandre Kareem * The 1992 Agdam Massacre, which was a massacre of Azerbaijanian civilians by Armenian militants during the
First Nagorno-Karabakh War The First Nagorno-Karabakh War, referred to in Armenia as the Artsakh Liberation War ( hy, Արցախյան ազատամարտ, Artsakhyan azatamart) was an ethnic and territorial conflict that took place from February 1988 to May 1994, in th ...
. * Executions of Kurdish civilians during the
Anfal Genocide The Anfal campaign; ku, شاڵاوی ئەنفال or the Kurdish genocide was a counterinsurgency operation which was carried out by Ba'athist Iraq from February to September 1988, at the end of the Iran–Iraq War. The campaign targeted rur ...
* A terrorist attack on a yacht perpetrated by the
PLO The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO; ar, منظمة التحرير الفلسطينية, ') is a Palestinian nationalist political and militant organization founded in 1964 with the initial purpose of establishing Arab unity and s ...
in Cyprus in 1985. * The
Amiriyah shelter bombing The Amiriyah shelter bombing was an aerial bombing attack that killed at least 408 civilians on 13 February 1991 during the Persian Gulf War, when an air-raid shelter ("Public Shelter No. 25") in the Amiriyah neighborhood of Baghdad, Iraq, was d ...
* The 1968 execution Of
Nguyễn Văn Lém Nguyễn () is the most common Vietnamese surname. Outside of Vietnam, the surname is commonly rendered without diacritics as Nguyen. Nguyên (元)is a different word and surname. By some estimates 39 percent of Vietnamese people bear this s ...
* Riots in Seoul, South Korea in 1994 and 1987. * Riots in
Moscow, Russia Moscow ( , American English, US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia. The city stands on t ...
, in 1993 * Bosnian soldiers caught in sniper crossfire during the
Bosnian War The Bosnian War ( sh, Rat u Bosni i Hercegovini / Рат у Босни и Херцеговини) was an international armed conflict that took place in Bosnia and Herzegovina between 1992 and 1995. The war is commonly seen as having started ...
* The 1984
Kent and Dollar Farm massacres The Kent and Dollar Farm massacres were one of the earliest massacres carried out by the LTTE during the Sri Lankan Civil War. The massacres took place on 30 November 1984, in two tiny farming villages in the district of Mullaitivu in north-e ...
* A 1986 stabbing attack in
East Jerusalem East Jerusalem (, ; , ) is the sector of Jerusalem that was held by Jordan during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, as opposed to the western sector of the city, West Jerusalem, which was held by Israel. Jerusalem was envisaged as a separat ...
, where a
Palestinian Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...
terrorist is shot in the head by Israeli soldiers after they witnessed him stab a Jewish resident to death in the town square. * A mortar attack in Bosnia that killed six people waiting for water in 1993. * A mortar attack in
Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...
,
Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...
(now
Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...
) that killed 16 civilians in line for water and bread on May 27, 1992. * Villager killings during the 1984 elections in El Salvador Another piece of notable footage in the fourth volume is a moose killing a man in
Anchorage, Alaska Anchorage () is the largest city in the U.S. state of Alaska by population. With a population of 291,247 in 2020, it contains nearly 40% of the state's population. The Anchorage metropolitan area, which includes Anchorage and the neighboring Ma ...
on January 9, 1995. Towards the start of the film graphic photographs of birth defects are shown. There is also footage of traffic crashes from the graphic driving education film, ''
Signal 30 ''Signal 30'' is a 1959 social guidance film made by the Highway Safety Foundation in the vicinity of Mansfield, Ohio. The film, shown widely to high school students across the United States during the 1960s through the 1980s, was produced by Ri ...
''.


''Traces of Death V'' (2000)

* The 1980 murders of U.S. missionaries in El Salvador * The
1998 Cúa hostage crisis The 1998 Cúa hostage crisis occurred on April 5, 1998, in Cúa, Venezuela, when 18-year-old Hector Duarte attempted to rob a bakery with a revolver. After his robbery went wrong he took a woman hostage and threatened to kill her. He then engaged ...
* The 1992
attack on Reginald Denny Reginald Oliver Denny (born 1953) is a former construction truck driver who was pulled from his truck and severely beaten during the 1992 Los Angeles riots. His attackers, a group of Black men who came to be known as the "L.A. Four", targeted De ...
* The 1990
Poll Tax Riots The poll tax riots were a series of riots in British towns and cities during protests against the Community Charge (commonly known as the "poll tax"), introduced by the Conservative government of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. The largest pro ...
* The
1990 Temple Mount riots The 1990 Temple Mount riots, or the Al Aqsa Massacre, also known as Black Monday, took place at the Temple Mount, Jerusalem at 10:30 am on Monday, 8 October 1990 before Zuhr prayer during the third year of the First Intifada. Following a decisio ...
in Al Aqsa, Jerusalem, Israel * South Korean student clashing with riot police * The 1998 suicide of
Daniel V. Jones Daniel Victor Jones (April 15, 1958 April 30, 1998) was an American man who committed suicide on a Los Angeles freeway in 1998. The incident was broadcast on live television by news helicopters. Jones committed suicide as a form of protest towa ...
*
backyard wrestling Backyard wrestling (BYW), also referred to as yarding or backyarding, is an underground hobby and sport involving untrained practices of professional-style wrestling, typically in a low-budget environment, such as a backyard. Although not legit ...
The last volume starts with three police chases. The first was in Los Angeles in June 1996. The second was also in Los Angeles, but it took place in June 1995. The third took place in
Whittier, California Whittier () is a city in Southern California in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, part of the Gateway Cities. The city had 87,306 residents as of the 2020 United States census, an increase of 1,975 from the 2010 United States ...
in September 1995. All were televised live by helicopter pilot
Zoey Tur Hanna Zoey Tur (formerly Robert Albert Tur; born June 8, 1960) is an American broadcast reporterNew Yorker Magazine-August 1, 1994. and commercial pilot who created Los Angeles News Service with fellow reporter and then-wife Marika Gerrard. ...
.


Soundtrack

The music clearance were provided by Subtempeco Muzik (pseudonymously credited as T.O.D.), which derived from various film soundtracks. Later in ''Traces of Death 3'', the first soundtrack album was released on CD.The soundtrack for the first installment were tracks by J.R. Bookwalter from the 1989 film ''Robot Ninja''.


Traces Of Death III Soundtrack

The soundtrack for ''Traces Of Death III'' was released on CD by
Relapse Records Relapse Records is an American independent record label based in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania. It was founded by Matthew F. Jacobson in 1990. The label features many grindcore, death metal, metalcore and sludge metal artists. History The label was ...
in 1995. The music featured in the film include: # Regina Confessorum by Dead World # Orgy Of Self-Mutilation by Dead World # Brainpan Blues by
Pungent Stench Pungent Stench is a death metal band from Vienna, Austria, formed in 1988. Their last known lineup consists of Martin Schirenc (vocals/guitar), Danny Vacuum (vocals/bass), and Mike G. Mayhem (drums). Pungent Stench achieved early on prominence in ...
# Revenge by
Core (band) Core is an American stoner rock band from New Jersey, formed in the late 1990s. Biography Core debuted with their first album, ''Revival'', in 1996 on Atlantic Records. The album was produced by Billy Anderson and supported by tours with Fu Ma ...
# Traces Of Death by
Mortician (band) Mortician is an American death metal band from Yonkers, New York, founded in 1989. _Biography_))).html" ;"title="AllMusic ((( Mortician > Biography )))">AllMusic ((( Mortician > Biography )))/ref> They have released most of their albums since t ...
# Frozen In Time by
Kataklysm Kataklysm is a Canadian death metal band. They have released fourteen studio albums, one EP and two DVDs as of 2020. Kataklysm won their first Juno Award (Canadian equivalent of the Grammy) for best album of the year in the "heavy metal" categ ...
# Slaughtered by
Hypocrisy (band) Hypocrisy is a Swedish death metal band formed in October 1991 in Ludvika by Peter Tägtgren. History After spending three years in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, in 1990, founder Peter Tägtgren returned to his homeland of Sweden, to form his own ba ...
# Stained by Purge # Sadistic Intent by
Sinister (band) Sinister is a death metal band from Schiedam, the Netherlands, formed in 1988. They have released fourteen albums, most recently '' Deformation of the Holy Realm'' in 2020. The band was idle between 2003 and 2005, after which Aad Kloosterwaar ...
# Violent Generation by
Brutality (band) Brutality is an American death metal band from Tampa, Florida. The group was signed to Nuclear Blast Records in the 1990s. History The group formed in 1986 under the name Abomination and soon after released their first self-titled demo. In 1988, ...
# Skin Her Alive by
Dismember (band) Dismember is a Swedish death metalMudrian, ch. 6, "Mass Appeal Madness", p. 181. band formed in 1988. They split up in 2011 but reunited in 2019. Pioneers of Swedish death metal, Dismember is now considered one of the country's "big four", along ...
# Into The Bizarre by
Deceased (band) Deceased (often stylized as DECEASED...) is an American extreme metal band from Virginia. In 1990 they were the first band to sign with Relapse Records, and released four albums and a number of EPs before parting ways with the label in 2003. Th ...
# Low by
Gorefest Gorefest was a Dutch death metal band from Goes in Zeeland. It was founded in 1989 by Jan-Chris de Koeijer, Frank Harthoorn, Alex van Schaik and Marc Hoogendoorn. History Within two months of existence Gorefest recorded their first demo. A ...
# Vanished by
Meshuggah Meshuggah () is a Swedish extreme metal band formed in Umeå in 1985. Originally, the band's name was Metallien. The band's current lineup consists of lead vocalist Jens Kidman, guitarists Fredrik Thordendal and Mårten Hagström, drummer Tomas ...
# Open Season by
Exit-13 Exit-13 was an American grindcore band from Millersville, Pennsylvania, United States. The band were formed in 1989 by Relapse Records founder and co-owner Bill Yurkiewicz (vocals), guitarist Steve O'Donnell and bassist Joel DiPietro. Their earl ...
# Nightstalker by
Macabre (band) Macabre is an American extreme metal band from Chicago, Illinois, United States.Birchmeier, JasonMacabre Biography, AllMusic. Retrieved April 1, 2015 Since their formation in 1985, the band has featured the same three members with no lineup chan ...
# Blood Everywhere by Dead World # Down On Whores by
Benediction (band) Benediction are a British death metal band formed in 1989. Their first album, ''Subconscious Terror'', was released in 1990. Their latest album , ''Scriptures'', was released in 2020. Members Current * Dave Ingram – vocals (1991–1998, 201 ...
# God Is A Lie by
Hypocrisy (band) Hypocrisy is a Swedish death metal band formed in October 1991 in Ludvika by Peter Tägtgren. History After spending three years in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, in 1990, founder Peter Tägtgren returned to his homeland of Sweden, to form his own ba ...
# Bodily Dismemberment by
Repulsion (band) Repulsion is an American grindcore band from Flint, Michigan, founded in 1984. History Matt Olivo and Scott Carlson, with bassist Sean MacDonald, formed Tempter in 1984, a metal act covering Bay Area thrash metal bands, such as Slayer and Met ...
# Darkened Soul by
Core (band) Core is an American stoner rock band from New Jersey, formed in the late 1990s. Biography Core debuted with their first album, ''Revival'', in 1996 on Atlantic Records. The album was produced by Billy Anderson and supported by tours with Fu Ma ...
# I Lead You Towards Glorious Times by
Merzbow is a Japanese noise project started in 1979 by , best known for a style of harsh, confrontational noise. Since 1980, Akita has released over 400 recordings and has collaborated with various artists. The name Merzbow comes from the German dada ...


Home media

In 2003, a box set of the entire series was released on
DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...
by
Brain Damage Films Brain Damage Films is a US-based worldwide independent film production company and distribution company. It was founded in 2001 by Darrin Ramage. A division located in the UK was launched in September 2009. The company distributes a variety of ...
.


Controversy

The original ''Traces of Death'' has run into controversy worldwide due to its graphic content. In 1997, Amy Hochberg, a woman living in Coaldale, Pennsylvania rented the film from a video store and was so disgusted by the film's content that she considered keeping the tape as to avoid children from procuring it from the store. She also contacted multiple animal rights groups after witnessing a scene in the film wherein a pig is experimented on with a blowtorch. She also lodged a complaint with the video store she had rented it from, as she thought the film was simply "
911 911 or 9/11 may refer to: Dates * AD 911 * 911 BC * September 11 ** 9/11, the September 11 attacks of 2001 ** 11 de Septiembre, Chilean coup d'état in 1973 that outed the democratically elected Salvador Allende * November 9 Numbers * 911 ...
calls with a little more". In 2003, a DVD boxset of the film and its sequels were confiscated by the
Australian Customs and Border Protection Service The Australian Customs and Border Protection Service was an Australian federal government agency responsible for managing the security and integrity of the Australian border and facilitating the movement of legitimate international travelers and g ...
, after being deemed to "contravene Regulation 4A(1A)(a) of the Customs (Prohibited Imports) Regulations." In 2005, the
British Board of Film Classification The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC, previously the British Board of Film Censors) is a non-governmental organisation founded by the British film industry in 1912 and responsible for the national classification and censorship of f ...
refused to give the first film an age certificate, effectively banning it. The BBFC considered the film to have "no journalistic, educational or other justifying context for the images shown", while also suggesting that the film could potentially breach UK law under the
Obscene Publications Act Since 1857, a series of obscenity laws known as the Obscene Publications Acts have governed what can be published in England and Wales. The classic definition of criminal obscenity is if it "tends to deprave and corrupt," stated in 1868 by Lord ...
.


See also

* ''
Banned from Television Joseph R. Francis (born April 1, 1973) is an American entrepreneur, film producer and the founder and creator of the Girls Gone Wild entertainment brand. Francis worked as a production assistant on the syndicated program ''Real TV'' before rele ...
''


References


External links

*{{IMDb title, 0108373
Official Traces of Death page at BrainDamageFilms.com
Mondo films Obscenity controversies in film American documentary films American exploitation films American splatter films