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It\u2019s been decades since \u201cFaces of Death<\/a>\u201d stirred panic among parents of teens trading the 1978 pseudo-snuff VHS. The \u201cvideo nasty<\/a>\u201d spawned a number of sequels, spinoffs and now a remake<\/a> starring Barbie Ferreira<\/a> and Dacre Montgomery<\/a> that hit theaters this month. <\/p>\n But back in the 1980s, the original film caused an uproar at Southern California schools.<\/p>\n Days before school was out for summer in 1985, Escondido High School math teacher Bart Schwartz, then 28, used a spare two hours during finals week to squeeze in a film screening with his class. Schwartz wanted to show the film because it was \u201cinteresting.\u201d<\/p>\n According to the Times coverage of the incident and subsequent lawsuit, the scenes shown in the classroom included autopsies, decaying cadavers and live animals being butchered, mutilated and tortured. The original \u201cFaces of Death\u201d also includes scenes of a man being electrocuted, a decapitation and an orgy during which a man is gutted by a flesh-eating cult. <\/p>\n Although today\u2019s audiences might be more desensitized to such gruesome scenes thanks to hyperrealistic special effects in modern horror movies<\/a>, and the commonplace spread of graphic clips online, audiences of the \u201880s were reportedly traumatized and scandalized. Not only was the film considered macabre, but it also was widely believed to be composed entirely of real footage.<\/p>\n \u201cThe ultimate taboo,\u201d \u201c100% real\u201d and \u201cbanned in 46 countries!\u201d were taglines for the original film. It wasn\u2019t until decades after the film\u2019s release that director John Alan Schwartz publicly confirmed that while some footage was real and pulled from news and autopsy archives, much of the movie was staged and the shockumentary\u2019s host pathologist, Dr. Gr\u00f6ss, was an actor. <\/p>\n \u201cEach new generation discovers it,\u201d Schwartz told New York Public Radio<\/a> in 2012. \u201cAnd even though things look hokey now, there are still segments that people actually believe are real that aren\u2019t.\u201d <\/p>\n The 2026 remake, by comparison, is clear about its fictional plot, but also includes real clips of death that were \u201ccarefully trimmed,\u201d according to director Daniel Goldhaber.<\/p>\n Back to 1985 \u2014 Escondido High\u2019s Schwartz, who had previously been named \u201cteacher of the year,\u201d reportedly would not allow students to leave the classroom while the film played. One student, then 16-year-old Diane Feese, said the teacher fast-forwarded through the dialogue and forced students to watch the film\u2019s most gruesome scenes. She covered her eyes, according to reports from the time, but was still subjected to other students\u2019 commentary and the audio of the deaths depicted on-screen. <\/p>\n That fall \u2014 when school was back in session \u2014 Feese sued the teacher and the school principal for $3 million. Schwartz was suspended with pay for 30 days, then an additional 15 days without pay. <\/p>\n In 1986, another student in Schwartz\u2019s math class, Sherry Forget, followed suit and took the math teacher to court for being subjected to the film. In 1987, the lawsuits were settled<\/a> with Feese receiving $57,500 and Forget, who asked for $1 million, netting $42,500.<\/p>\n