AllMovie

A type of semi-documentary or quasi-documentary film originated in Italy with the so called mondo films. The difference between mondo films and other travel or ethnographic documentaries lies in the crude sensationalism of the former, aiming at a shock effect on the audience. Some, like the Faces of Death series are enormously popular and are nothing more then unbroken strings of "real-life"deaths caught on film. While many have been disproved as staged, there are a number of films which have confirmable footage on them and are quite disturbing. The modern-day or television equivalent would be the reality-based TV programming that features violent animals, high-speed car chases and dangerous weather.