By Jacob Cameron

Faces of Death is a remake of the 1978 film of the same name. The original film spawned what is referred to as a “video nasty.” It was a film that blurred the line between fiction and reality sparking controversy and censorship. Almost 50 years later, the remake takes aim at blurring those lines to great success.

Faces of Death was directed by Daniel Goldhaber, who had previously directed 2018’s Cam. It starred Barbie Ferreira, Dacre Montgomery, and others. It tells the story of Margot, played by Ferreira, who works as a content moderator at a social media company called Kino, similar to TikTok. She comes across a video that depicts a gruesome murder that appears to be too real to ignore. The videos are posted anonymously by Arthur, played by Dacre Montgomery, who commits these murders in order to go viral.

Barbie Ferreira does a great job. Without giving too much away, her character has many flaws, including an addiction to stimulants, but her mission is a noble one. Social Media and the chasing of notoriety had dire consequences for herself and her family. She has been burned by social media and wants to try and improve it in some way. While maintaining her own sanity, looking into this dizzying situation.

Dacre Montgomery is the standout performance of the film. He effortlessly transitions from nondescript to sadistic. A character that, like Margot, has flaws such as germaphobia and his own vanity. Using the original film as a reference guide to committing these deeply troubling crimes. Arthur uses Kino as a camouflage of sorts, hiding his devious behavior in plain sight.

A great strength of this film is in its use of the original film and its commentary. This is a meta film that can be tiresome. But this is one of the more effective meta films in recent years. Taking time to comment on the effects of algorithms, the desensitization to violence, and the effects of horror cinema. All of this is done while the movie remains interesting and disturbing in some cases. In a way, this film is similar to an underseen movie called Spree, where a rideshare driver livestreams his crimes in order to get famous.

The biggest negative of the film comes near the end. Where Arthur makes an incredibly stupid tactical error that almost derails the conclusion. There is a true ending to this film which is very well realized. But the contrivance near the end was noticeable nonetheless. This combined with Arthur’s intelligence dropping a few IQ points for the sake of the plot.

Ultimately, this is a film that is a combination of Spree, American Psycho, and Red Dragon. With any fans of any combination of those films finding distinctive enjoyment in this film. All while being profound and relevant in places which were unexpected for films like this one. Paying homage to the original film while forging its own path. This one is quite a pleasant surprise.

4 stars