Faces Of Death (2026)

I'm absolutely sure that my reaction was in line with most other horror movie fans when I heard that someone was "remaking" Faces Of Death. Why? That title, as notorious as it is, now feels like a laughable and rightly-forgotten relic of a bygone age. While it used to have a certain value to it, in terms of it being a shorthand connection for those who sought out the kind of titles that were hard to find in the video nasty era, it has now been greatly overshadowed by photos and footage that can be found with just one or two key strokes on any device connected to the internet. But that's what works about this interestingly meta reworking of the concept.

Barbie Ferreira plays Margot, a young woman who works as a content moderator. She's also had her own moment of viral infamy, a tragic incident caught on camera that makes her less inclined to venture out to places where others may recognise her. Things become very serious for Margot when she discovers one or two clips that she suspects may actually be footage of real murders, overlaid with audio from the old Faces Of Death. Is someone trying to create a modern version of those clips, or is it all just as fake as so many other staged internet footage?

With such consideration given to what is real and what is fake, the performances here need to be as strong as possible. Sadly, they're not. I'm not sure I have seen Ferreira in too many other roles, but she's a disappointing choice for the lead role here. While she exudes a sense of unhappiness and mental fatigue, there's nothing else to her performance. She never quite convinces when trying to display real fear or remorse, or any of the few other emotions she's asked to perform. Dacre Montgomery is asked to play a villain with no real depth or character, but I was suitably impressed by his performance when I finally figured out that I'd last seen him in the very different guise of Billy Hargrove in Stranger Things. Aaron Holliday is a friend to the main character, Charli XCX has brief moments of being antagonistic, and Josie Totah is a stereotypical influencer, so obsessed with her online life that she pauses to reconsider things when she is scared after being kidnapped and held captive, but informed by her captor of the amount of attention and likes being garnered by the situation.

Directed by Daniel Goldhaber, who also co-wrote the screenplay with long-time collaborator Isa Mazzei, Faces Of Death is relevant, yet also already slightly outdated already (thanks AI). There are ideas here that are interesting and worthy of exploration, but they end up being cast aside in a third act that has to deliver more of standard movie moments. Early scenes will work best on people who have had a photo flagged because there may have been some hint of a nipple visible, but have then found themselves unable to report something violent and/or graphic and bloody on the same platform. It's an obvious double standard, one that is often replicated in censorship in so many other areas. Later scenes will work best on people who can be entertained by something that becomes increasingly implausible with each passing minute. I appreciated the unpleasant and dangerous tone that was created at times, but that completely dissipated by the time the end credits came around.

6/10

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