| REVIEW | Lisa Fremont
- Director: Daniel Goldhaber
- Writer: Daniel Goldhaber, Isa Mazzei
- Stars: Dacre Montgomery, Barbie Ferreira,
In June of 1983, the Director of Public Prosecutions in the UK released a list of films believed to violate the Obscene Publications Act. Colloquially referred to as video nasties, this list of films became infamous and, ultimately, simply made any film on it seem like something that must be consumed if you want to maintain any kind of horror street cred. Number 19 on this list is Faces of Death.
Released in 1978, Faces of Death is the kind of film that gets way more attention than it deserves via unstoppable word of mouth. Watching Faces of Death is up there with playing Bloody Mary or trying to summon a ghost via Ouija board: if you didn’t watch it under the cover of darkness with your friends, did you even have a childhood? Or, if you did watch it, was there anything left of your childhood? Presented as a documentary, it features two hours of “real” death. Outside of being painfully boring, it’s also not as real as it purports to be. Back before the internet existed, though, this was truly shocking entertainment.
Faces of Death (2026) could have very easily been a quick, gory cash grab that fed off the Gen X nostalgia of seeing the original at a slumber party and the Millennials’ fond memories of logging onto rotten.com. Each of these rites of passage seems like a Saturday-morning cartoon compared to what we see on the news every day now. Writers Isa Mazzei and Daniel Goldhaber make this point abundantly clear without veering too far into preaching territory. Rather, Mazzei and Goldhaber make the 1978 film seem like a necessary cog in the horror history machine, to be revered. But only by people who actually “get” it. Unfortunately for Margot (Barbie Ferreira), Arthur (Dacre Montgomery) views it as a how-to guide. In the age of views and likes, Arthur is taking the “if it bleeds, it leads’ motto to heart and recreating scenes from Faces of Death. Unlike the 1978 film, though, his scenes are all real.
Margot works at a TikTok-like company, screening uploaded content and either deeming it acceptable or flagging it as inappropriate. After two of Arthur’s videos come across her desk, she gets the uneasy feeling that she’s seeing real snuff films. Margot has her own troubled history with internet fame, which compels her to find out the truth behind these videos. Ferreira is great as Margot: she’s sweet, but damaged, and when the time comes, she is an absolute power house of rage that has you saying, “good for her.”
Montgomery proves to be more than just a pretty face after his career-making turn in Stranger Things. Arthur is a true psychopath who’s seen one too many viral videos. Billy Loomis and Stu Macher wish they had the patience, foresight, and huzpah of Arthur. He turns his personality on and off with chilling precision.
Goldhaber (Cam) manages to make the film look both sleek and gritty at once. Despite having a throwback synth soundtrack and feeling like an early 80’s exploitation flick, the overall result is polished, concise, and just the right amount of violent. Children of the Columbine age, Goldhaber and Mazzei have a unique take on violence as entertainment and the degree to which humanity has slowly allowed itself to be desensitized to it. When Arthur gives his speech about his “whys” for recreating Faces of Death, it’s just this side of eye-rolling sanctimonious nonsense, and that’s why it works. Faces of Death is surprisingly timely, engaging, and good.
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