Faces of Death PDF's

Managers of the Video Factory keep a
supply of blank labels on hand They stick
them on the cover of the box that holds
''Alien Prey,'' but undaunted video shoppers
peel them off They want a look, at
the picture of an alien eating a man's abdomen.
The video-renting public is going for
the gore.
Graphically violent horror movies,
often referred to as ''slice and dice'' or
''splatter" films, are among the hottest
videos for rent nationally and locally, according
to area retailers
' The horror racks are usually the emptiest
— that and comedy," said Alice Jankunas,
manager of Entertainment To Go
(ET) Video, \vhich has five local stores
The gerre, \vhich includes such titles as
''2,000 Maniacs," "Tie Toxic Avenger."' I
Spit on Their Grave" and "Faces of Death
parts I, n and III," is rife with mutilation,
torture, suffering and death, and, most
disturbing to some feminists and others,
violence against women.
The movies are frequently unrated by
the Motion Picture Association of America
and, unlike pornography, children have
the legal right to rent them. Local retailers
surveyed, however, say they do not
rent to children younger than 17.
The public appetite for horror, whetted
by lurid packaging, belongs to a cross
section of America.
People of all ages and both sexes rent
the videos, although retailers say most
consumers are men between the ages of
20 and 35
The genre does as well in the suburbs
as inner-city stores, said Bob Stilson, purchasing
and promotions director for
Video Factory, which has one store in
Syracuse and six in Buffalo.
''Surprisingly enough, quite often we've
seen families come in together and rent
the things," Stilson said
"I think you could open a splatter boutique
and survive in any major city," said
John INucifora, owner of Chimnejs Video
Superstore. Including Syracuse, he added.
Most retailers contacted by The Post-
Standard say they find the videos disgusting
if not offensive They also say the
public has the right to see what it wants
and that the videos make money for
them
''The thing that really frightens me
about these films," Nucifora said, ''is
their twisted views on females and their
total disrespect for human beings in general."
Nucifora isn't the only one horrified by
the horror flicks Young people's potential
access to the videos is a subject of concern
across the countrj.
Chicago-based film critics Gene Siskel
and Roger Ebert recently spent part of
their nationally broadcast television
show, "At the Movies," examining teen
interest in the genre.
The Junior League of Syracuse Inc. is
about to mount an educational campaign
to help make sure parents understand the
nature and accessibility of the videos The
project is modeled after a campaign by
the Junior League of Bronxville, West-
Chester County.
' We're concerned that so much of the
stuff that the kids are watching is excessively
violent, and so much that is violence
against women, which is also our
concern," said Junior League of Syracuse
president Barbara Pickard.
The league has purchased a videotape
of a network television news segment on
horror videos and plans to snow it to interested
parent and community groups
League member Mary Dougherty, who
chairs the campaign, said she has learned
from talking with local parents that kids
as young as middle-school age are watching
the horror movies
The children have access not necessarily
because local retailers rent to them,
Dougherty said, but because unwitting
parents let children watch what they
want.
There are no legal restrictions on who
may rent horror videos, even those that
carry R ratings or no ratings from the
Motion Picture Association of America
Many unrated videos would merit an X
rating, area retailers say.
Only the sale of pornography is regulated
— jou must be 18 or older to rent
sexually explicit movies
Even if a video carries an R rating, it
need not be displayed. But it's easy to
spot the violent movies — packaging typically
describes the gore and may carry
a warning for the squeamish
The New York State Legislature last
week turned down a bill sponsored by a
downstate senator that would have required
the display of ratings, when a rating
has been assigned, to any horror
video
The bill passed in the Senate, but is
stuck in the Assembly Codes Committee
with an uncertain future, according to an
aide of Senator Mary Goodhue, the bill's
sponsor
Goodhue, whose district includes Westchester
County, said concern from the Junior
League of Bronxville and local parent-
teachers associations prompted her to
draft the bill.
But the ratings display law would have
left holes, she said
For instance, some of the most violent
movies are unrated and young people
would still have access to the genre.
Tighter regulation is impossible, Goodhue
said, because the United States Supreme
Court ruling restricting access to
pornography does not extend to horror
movies
"The way we look at it. it is unconstitutional
— you run right into the First
Amendment,4' Goodhue said
That leaves it up to parents and the
people behind the counter to decide
whether minors may rent the videos.
It is a responsibility some retailers say
they are uncomfortable with
' The basic thing that it keeps coming
down to is that it is not really up to us to
judge what is tasteful and not tasteful,
and what crosses the borderline,'' said
Stilson
Owners of a half dozen video outlets in
the area say their policy is to rent unrated
or R rated videos only to people ever
17 or 18 years old, unless parental permission
is given
Permission often is forthcoming.
' The children are interested in the horror
movies, and surprisingly the parents
are not concerned about that," said Penny
Sherman, manager of Network Video,
which has two local stores
One school of thought among mentalhealth
professionals holds that viewing
the violence may be beneficial, said Dr.
Robert Seidenberg, a psychoanalyst and
president of the Greater Syracuse Chapter
for the National Organization for
Women.
NOW has concerns about movies featuring
violence against women, Seidenberg
said But. ' We really don't know
whether they have a bad effect,"' he
added.
Some professionals think watching violence
"drains off" aggression that should
not be acted on, Seidenberg said.
Parents have a responsibility to be informed
about and involved with their
children's video viewing, he said. But repressing
children by forbidding them access
could have a negative, long-term effect
and make the movie more titillating
to the child, he said.
For children and society, censorship is
not the answer, Seidenberg said.












Death videos: latest pornography of violence
One of the most memorable moments I
ever experienced watching a film was
when I saw a documentary on the Spanish
Civil War made about 25 years ago. The
scene was in the chamber of deputies
under the rule of fascist Francisco
Franco.
Someone in the chamber makes a reference
in the movie to the destruction of the
Basque city of Guernica. The German air
force, at Hitler's instructions, leveled the
city to help Franco's forces win the civil
war of the 1930s. Many women and children
were killed. It was the moral shame
of its time, later immortalized in a classic
painting by Pablo Picasso.
At the point of the reference to Guernica,
a fascist deputy in the movie springs
to his feet, gives a spastic Nazi salute and
shouts, "Lone live death."
^ <^>
What brought back that memory of
warped humanity was the disclosure the
other day that there is a new craze in
movies sold as videotapes. These are
movies with no plot and only one theme:
violent death.
The news from Southern California is
that these films, which depict such excruciating
scenes as executions, mutilation
and animal slaughter, are that area's most
Robert C.
Maynard
popular rental movie fare.
They are without question the latest
pornography of violence. They promise
the ultimate vicarious visualization for a
' society satiated with portrayals of sex and
violence. Some of the patrons of this latest
degradation exclaim they get a new
"rush" from seeing living things in the
agony of being sadistically dispatched.
Waleed B. Ali of Oak forest, 111., distributes
two of the most popular of the genre,
"Faces of Death" and "Faces of Death II."
He says those two films, without advertising,
are the hottest items in video rentals
in Southern California. Their sales are increasing
across the nation.
"I think the reason for the creation of
this program," Ali said, "is that it is an
extension of the nightly news. Americans
have become hardened to death and murder."
Perhaps, but not for long if recent actions
in Great Britain are any harbinger of
things to come in the United States. Originally
made for overseas distribution, the
death films have stirred up a legal hornet's
nest in England.
At least one distributor has been sentenced
to six months in jail under a new
law that forbids such displays of senseless,
plotless violence.
"If it is pleasurable to watch a video of
somebody being slowly hacked to pieces
... the fear must always be that someone
will be tempted to do it for real." said Britain's
Home undersecretary. David Mellor.
<? O
His is not an idle, theoretical concern.
Perry Johnson, Michigan's director of corrections,
said recently:
' "Some of the most heinous crimes I've
ever seen have been copied from TV
shows." He said the link between video
violence and real violence is undeniable,
that such programs "desensitize us. They
lessen our natural revulsion to violence."
As death for profit becomes more popular,
and violence in our society escalates,
those of us who have been concerned
about the preservation of the rights of expression
are mandated to take a close look
at whether this kind of exploitation deserves
to be protected by the First
Amendment. 1, for one, have serious
doubts.
<? <7
No bluenosc myself, I nonetheless think
civilized communities are entitled to draw
some boundaries. Where and how those
lines are to be drawn deserves discussion
and debate, but I am not prepared to throw
the cloak of the First Amendment around
material that has the potential to escalate
our already demonstrated proclivities toward
heinous brutality. Such films are a
long way from what the framers of the
Constitution set out to protect.
Waleed Ali may be correct that the
nightly news contains a good deal of violence,
but the news is news. Even though I
am among those who believe television
markets much too much violence, it has
yet to come anywhere near the vicious
violence of the latest video craze. Nor
would community standards and the law
allow such Tare on commercial television.
Purveyors of this fare are not all that far
away from that member of the chamber of
deputies in Spain. The difference, in my
opinion, is that they say, Long live death
... for profit.
Nothing like a tax audit to put the zip back into life









. 4"tX*h*esJ-€ q .
k FXY:fu r L= * S-"HF^ EFe;."' f
"'.CJ Ulag !i c ! Es;;* 3;;€: ; s
-J= C*X'<*- E.,i 'T* * ">.?-= *51
- n * - * CJ ^
gL = * t1
-eilE-bg5i&zE ;r
io;.es i 2{?* I z A- ": Ilrt*j* ;5s;-*i::€:E ;'u
E:*fr*E7Fsi-"x LYugar"a#r-*Erv
E*:"*ii, m: a *
EtiE 5E i*irE
s?.H;c; *5+E*
i#;.f;EE H v# i i
;>#x Ii 6 q) ! It:E#; if i [* H;F-=*,i.:;58€
iH3;*o;;t#r'-sj l{-E--dXpifiOA . | : Hsn-t:F*'qgEEl:
€i i*I€:qS-6g*c#_Hu^; *" : *Fj.3F^CZs- *q*?"E8YE,';*.3
?-:hSA*X'nr4*EE
1ts ! s Jl a{ U J f ,
dj g* F C rt Ut t'* v
F=
a!
scfi
t{
r 911
t?"'(
.#
I
#
4,
F#*{
Hfld
h
&*d lc
@
{n
f"4
M
rtg
pedq
frF
ffi
44^{
'"#)
L
e
L
FA;
rh
hW&
-f%k*
&M
I%#
-1
s1
e>
%
%
rua
w&\
w
€
FM
\s
-1
s
\"-!*
:%h",.
e. I
&\ wT&
%&
M
h%J
I
LAf)
{L*-
@
"k>
%
&
ra€
R;
&w rM
f%bl
&\
W
*M
I% {-
@
giiEitEii,lgit;i ff ; 'E;;iE,iIFi ffE$*-i' E*Iu * ifif'r igg!*'';.g; c;$;iFeEs;; Eg€ =r E gE sst;siif IcE5isfE,*€* sE F; EfEffg$ E,{ s
-
* r g
EfiI€iEEgEi gi; igElf *Eiii 3fI€I isesE: :Eg !Eg: s;6acjg Eii E gg€-€t -E ti i
g[gIFgilEif gEf iItg iIEi
*; : ffi;;Erift gE:if flEa€i ,€ts #€:siEg g;;;';t E.g'gigj
tiI;j ifgi giif ilf gi giEgrg g'lic
tr
"i
(! ,r, o tr ,trE o,J.! !!r tr .o {),r..!
- '.6 ,C: O g' C.- O-C Y+ xE HE: ; € EF E" *> -'E +F€s
*E #iEE E =i
"agiigg :'EEil
--q uif I €
'eE 9g:!E;$ IEtr ; $E!E€{ Eg ! Esf iEq: ,E8e e=
et ; ra : ! *sX€$ E{ ; :s,e$.E; . r *s ErF {*r : 3Bsj=€jigiEi5i3EE E;€ I I 9E* EFE'EE Eol; 8ri E=F-. - I t#:Eg:€:I *Tf :eFr ; ,s EFg#E
,s s
M,r
$*
Frf
o)
.ks? a\
h)
€Rq
R
,*
\J S

















Video nasties' prompt tape label laws
Madonna Associated Press
Rock star Madonna performs before a sold-out audience Saturday
night at Anaheim Stadium. Her show in Anaheim is part of a
world concert tour called "Who's That Girl?"
Sing a song
of religion,
and of sin
NASHVILLE, Term. (AP) — "The
Ballad of Jim & Tammy" is out, courtesy
of veteran actor-singer Sheb
Wooley.
Wooley has just released a song about
former PTL minister Jim Bakker and
his wife, Tammy Faye.
"He got a little loviri' at the good ole
PTL and he paid a lot of money so that
Jessie wouldn't tell," the song says,
refering to Bakker's tryst with church
Larry King loves
call-in kooks
KALISPELL, Mont. (AP) - Talkshow
host Larry King says he loves •
kooks, especially when they call in and
raise a stink.
King, who hosts nightly talk programs
on the Mutual radio network and television's
Cable News Network, said about 5
percent of the callers to his radio show
are a little strange.
"But I love 'em," he said, because
theyadd spontaneity to the program.
King told the annual convention of the
State Bar of Montana on Friday night
that the best guests possess four King
essentials: "An ability to explain what
you do, a passion for what you do, a selfdeprecating
sense of humor and a little
bit of a chip on your shoulder."
Frank Sinatra is one of the best, he
said. Hubert Humphrey was another.
Jimmy Hoffa had no sense of humor;
President Jimmy Carter did, but he
couldn't laugh at himself.
secretary, Jessica Hahn, who subsequently
received payments from PTL.
Wooley most recently portrayed a
school principal in the movie
"Hoosiers." For five years, he was Pete
Nolan on the old "Rawhide" western on
television. He also recorded the hit song
"Purple People Eater" 'about 20 years
ago.
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Concerned
that children are getting their hands on
such "video nasties" as a three-part
tape showing a human autopsy and the
slaughter of animals, many states are
toughening laws on labeling cassettes
and restricting youths' access to them.
The autopsy-slaughter video, called
"Faces of Death," carries no Motion
Picture Association of America rating
and has been rented at video shops by
children as young as 12.
"A youngster cannot see an R-rated
movie at the box office. But he can rent
it and see it in his home," said Christie
Gorsline, a Junior League official in
Riverside, Calif. "The system that is
working at the box office is not working
at the video stores."
Gorsline said her group will propose a
law requiring MPAA ratings on videos.
California lawmakers are considering a
bill making it a misdemeanor to sell or
rent unrated vides to minors without
parental consent.
Georgia, Illinois, Tennessee and
Maryland now require MPAA rating
labels on videos. Convicted video
dealers face maximum fines ranging
from ?25 in Maryland to $100 in Georgia,
but the MPAA's Gail Markels knows of
no prosecutions. Video label bills are
before New York, New Jersey, and
Massachusetts lawmakers.
"We have reviewed these bills and in
general have opposed them," said
Markels, noting that most videos
already carry MPAA ratings.
Some bills bar juveniles from renting
R- or X-rated videos, which Markels
calls "clearly unconstitutional" for
using voluntary ratings "to determine
what can or cannot be seen in a state."
The Video Software Dealers Association
has joined the motion picture
association in its fight against labeling
laws, said Richard Karpel, of the
dealers group. His personal opinion is
that the content of unrated- videos is
made clear by the title and pictures.
With or without labels, warn film'
critics Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert,
more kids are watching "video nasties"
— tapes featuring graphic scenes of
blood and violence.
The grisly horror tapes, with titles
such as "Bloodsucking Freaks" and
"Make Them Die Slowly," are watched
at "video nasties" parties by kids who
compete to see who can look the longest,
say Siskel and Ebert.
"I think a lot of parents who hear their
kids screaming in the family room may
think they are looking at a horror film
"I think a lot of parents1 who hear their kids
screaming in the family room may think they
are looking at a horror film like they saw 20
years ago . . .But these movies are really in a
different category. One of the things they often
have in common is the mutilation and sadistic
torture of women." t
—Roger Ebert
like they saw 20 years ago," said Ebert.
"But these movies are really in a different
category. One of the things they
often have in common is the mutilation
and sadistic torture of women."
"The movie 'Bloodsucking Freaks,"
for example, has a magician who has
shows at his home for invited audiences
in which women have their heads
crushed in iron bands and electrical
shocks applied through clamps to their
nipples," Ebert said in a telephone
interview.
"What we're finding is the kids do the
selection," said Jane Brown, an associate
professor of journalism at the
University of North Carolina at Chapel
Hill.
Brown, an expert ori youths' use of
videos, which she called "the new baby
sitter," cited her own and other studies
showing possible harmful effects of
video violence on children.
"It's clear from a lot of previous
evidence that these kinds of violent
depictions are imitated, and people who
watch a lot of that are desensitized to
violence," said Brown. "They may be
more likely to consider violent behavior
reasonable in solving problems and
interpersonal conflicts."
The unrated "Faces of Death" series
features actual footage of dead bodies,
people being killed and slaughtering of
animals. An opening scene shows a
human body being sliced open and
organs being removed in an apparent
autopsy.
"We've had a number of complaints
about 'Faces of Death'; any time there
is a film or a video with an extraordinary
amount of violence," said
Shari Jones, a California Parent-
Teacher Association official. In Ohio, a
bill has been introduced to prohibit sale
or rental to youths under 18 of videos
that show animal killings or human
autopsies.
In theaters, an "R" rating alerts
parents the material may not be suitable
for children under 17, while an "X"
rating prohibits admission to youths
under 17. Some Junior League official
are calling for an "R-V" rating to identify
movies that are particulary violent.
Some video stores place "X" videos in
separate sections and will not rent them
to youths. But "R" tapes are more
easily available.
In a spot check conducted by The
Associated Press, two daughters of an
AP staffer, aged 12 and 14, had no
problem renting 'Faces of Death" and
the R-rated French film "Heat of
Desire" after showing their family's
membership card at a. suburban Los
Angeles video store. "Heat of Desire," a
steamy French bedroom mystery,
shows nudity and marital infidelity.
"We just walked in and did it," said
the 12-year-old.
Video store employes tell another
story. When asked about the rental
policy on "Faces of Death," the youthful
clerk who handled the transaction said,
"You have to be 17 to check it out."
"I haven't gotten any calls from
retailers telling me that people are
complaining that their children are
renting R-rated tapes," said Karpel of
the Video Software Dealers Association.
He called youth rental polices "a business
decision an operator should make
on his own, and the VSDA has not taken
a position on it."
Brad Burnside, a VSDA board member
who owns three stores in Chicago's
north shore suburbs, favors voluntary
regulation by parents and video
dealers. His computer system allows
•parents to indicate what types of tapes
children may rent under family memberships.
"The motion picture rating is not
regulated by law. 1 would be in favor of
the same thing in the video industry. It's
worked with the theaters. It can work
with video stores," said Burnside.
He added: "Parents can't relax from
supervising their children just because
a law has been passed."
** *A*ST*R*OL*O*GY* ***
**
**
Horoscope, Tarot Card Readings
by Mrs. Harris, Reader & Advisor.
Help on matters such as love,
marriage, business, health, etc.
^ Rt. 40 West, % mi. past
-^( Frederick Towne Mall
^ Cali 473-4691 for appointment
LJ Open 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily ^1
**********
JUG BRIDGE
THE FREDERICK TOWNE PLAYERS
Resident Company of the Weinberg Center
Proudly Presents
\Rodgers and Hammerstein's
CAROUSEL
MONDAYNJGHT
ALL YOU CAN EAT
Steamed
CRABS
AND SALAD
$Q95
Reservations starting at 6:30 pm
OPEN FOR LUNCH DAILY
2 Miles East of Frederick on Rt. 1-70
» GfiS-9898 694-6197
Carnival
Tonigh t's En tertainment
THE JOHNSON MOUNTAIN BOYS
Ride All Night For One Low Price
Firemen's Park Twin Arch Road & Rt. 27
July 23, 24, 25
July 30, 31 & August 1
All performances beginning at 8
p.m. at the Weinberg Center.
Croup rates available.
Made possible through a grant iavcd by the Maryland Stale
Arts Council through the Fra/t-rirlc County Arts CouiiriJ.
&
Call 694-8585 for ticket information.
THIS WEEK AT LUNCH
Lobster Salad
Seafood Platters
Great Salads
and
Sandwiches
43 SOUTH MARKET STREET
694-8696
Market Street Saloon
209 North Market Street 694-5697
DON'T MISS SUNDAY BRUNCH
Daily bunch Specials 69486% \
Frozen Drinks of the Day •Cool Summer Salads •
• Fresh Soups Quick Service •
i^sootf RAW BAR Spiced Shrimp$ 1.25 doz
£Tt*1 PARTY 4-6 pm
Crab Cake Platter $6.99
6-9 pm
., :••.
.Q;M>s & Spiced Shrimp
-
To keep your mixing bowls steady
when mixing or whipping something
in them, place them on a wet
folded cloth.
IWATSONSI
Full Catering Service
Deliveries or Delivery Set-up
Call Fredericks oldest,
most experienced
CATERER
300-A East Street
Frederick, Md.
(301) 663-4446
Watson's
Catering * *
Service
CRAB
SALAD &
LOBSTER CHOWDER
AT LUNCH $5.95
STUFFED SHRIMP
AT DINNER $9.95
MONDAY-THURSDAY
CHESAPEAKE DAYS
ARE COMING!
WALTZING MATILDA'S
American Express
Now Honored!
Thomas Johnson Drive, Frederick. MD • 662-5870
Lunch & Dinner 11:00 A.M. to 10:00 P.M.
TELEVISION
and VCR's
New And
Reconditioned Sets
CHANNEL
MASTER
ANTENNA SUPPLIES
WE DO ANTENNA INSTALLATIONS
Roast Prime
Rib of
Itf
-RESTAURANT0
MOTEL.«8js».INN
•• ju Sr^i il _H"p !!5Jl
THL'RMONT, MARYLAND (3111) 271-4301