Traces of Death

Traces of Death is a 1993 direct-to-video, Z movie shockumentary that consists of various scenes of stock footage depicting death and real scenes of violence. Unlike the earlier Faces of Death which included fake deaths and reenactments, Traces consists mostly of actual footage depicting death and injury, and consists also of unlicensed and public domain footage from other films. It is banned in the United Kingdom by the BBFC for not having any "journalistic, educational, or other justifying context for the images shown." It was written and narrated by Damon Fox. Since its release, Traces of Death has been followed by four sequels. Among the footage seen on Traces of Death is the R. Budd Dwyer press conference suicide, footage of actor Vic Morrow's death which occurred during the filming of Twilight Zone: The Movie (which can be seen in Traces of Death II bonus footage DVD), the Sarajevo market place shelling that killed almost 100 people, the murder of Maritza Martin, the attempted suicide of Terry Rossland, the police chase of armed bank robber Phillip Hutchinson, who was shot dead by police in a stolen pickup truck, montages of dead children and babies, a bicyclist flattened by an overturned bus, and a man, Pit Dernitz, being eaten by lions in front of his family, a scene which originally appeared in the 1975 Mondo film Ultime grida dalla savana. Beginning with Traces of Death II, the films feature the use of death metal and grindcore music to accompany the footage, occasionally giving it a satanic and evil feel. The original feature mostly used spooky keyboard music. The Traces of Death series is distributed by Darrin Ramage of Brain Damage Films. Brain Damage Films specializes mostly in distributing low-budget independent horror films like Vulture's Eye, Strange Things Happen at Sundown, and Terror Toons.