Faces of Death — Faces of Death (VOD)
Daniel Goldhaber (Cam, How To Blow Up A Pipeline) works wonders with this neat 2026 meta-horror he directed and co-wrote with Isa Mazzei. Not bad going when the inspiration is a notorious moment in horror cinema history.
The Mondo Faces of Death sparked controversy, critical dismissal and a healthy box office return when it was released in 1978. Presented as a documentary, a pathologist talked audiences through various representations of death (“I’ve compiled a library of the very faces…”); thankfully, many of those deaths, it would later emerge, were faked (although a few may have been sourced from pre-existing footage).
As the reimagining shows, it was ahead of its time. Although reimagining seems too simple a term for the brand-new Faces of Death: it consumes and repurposes the idea, folding it into a narrative that says a lot about modern digital lives.
This Faces of Death flips the camera: the moral challenge of online content is pushed into the screen, observed by us, often with the protagonist moderator, as the spiral of horror drags us all in.
Barbie Ferreira’s Margot is that moderator working for the large TikTok-lite platform, Kino, who comes across disturbing videos featuring mannequins apparently committing real executions. But, infamous herself for an online stunt gone wrong, she struggles to be heard by her co-workers, police, or horror-obsessed flatmate. As she becomes increasingly obsessed with uncovering the truth, the user posting the clips inspired by the 1978 Faces of Death adds her to their list.
Faces of Death is sumptuously filmed, with a soft retro picture of deep shadow and colour melting against a glorious synth soundtrack. That’s not the only similarity it shares with Prano Bailey-Bond’s 2021 film Censor. But this doesn’t have the arm’s-length callback to anything like the video nasty era—it’s wholly relevant to current doomscrolling.
It’s hard not to take to Ferreira as her character undergoes her journey to claim the name ‘train girl’ even as we discover how she earned it in one pretty shocking moment (in the company of the killer). Opposite her, Dacre Montgomery makes a riveting psychopath, clearly relishing some beats shared with the dark hearts of films like Longlegs (2024) and The Silence of the Lambs (1991). He’s most menacing without a mask, but there’s no denying the image of him removing one red contact lens to use the scope on his rifle when one of his captives makes a break for it.
Goldhaber uses some stunning techniques and transitions to drive home this intelligent take on the concept. The first half of the movie, where Margot’s moderation is intercut with the ‘user’ carrying out his crimes, is hugely effective. He also doesn’t miss the chance for some interesting abstraction: at points, we’re watching unsettling montages of horror that are easily the upgrade of the original Faces of Death this film could have been stuck with. Instead, Goldhaber and Mazzei lean into the meta and digital edge, sticking with a strong structure that pays off in closing scenes that are joyously bloody and squishily sound-designed. It’s there; Goldhaber’s lovely layering draws out the similarities between the ‘final girl’ and killer in the digital age.
“The algorithm loves remakes,” urges the killer at one point. It also loves sequels. Faces of Death could form a franchise; it has the distinct swagger of the original Saw (2004) in its brilliant execution. But there’s also something satisfyingly final in its conclusion.